Broken ankle and squatting

[Ericsquats]

My Girlfriend broke her ankle a year ago. The break was a trimalleolar fracture with the most damage to the fibula. The fibula had a spiral fracture in 3 different spots up the ankle that is now being held together by a titanium plate and 7 screws. The tibia was broken at the lower tip and has two 3" screws up the bone to keep it in place. There was also a dislocation of the joint and severe ligament damage. Total non-weight bearing time was 5 months and then 3 months of physical therapy with a walking boot. She was cleared to begin activities as tolerated in August of last year. There were also two 4" screws going across the tibia and fibula that were removed. Since that removal, mobility has been better but was told that she will never regain full use of the ankle again. ( I will try to post some videos if necessary as soon as I can.)

This has caused some issues trying to squat. It seems when she takes the standard heels/feet shoulder width apart (or relatively narrow stance) she is unable to perform less than a half squat without incredible pain in her ankle. Both loaded and unloaded.

So of course she accommodated by taking a slightly wider stance but this causes issues with trying to push the knees out all the way resulting in knees caving in at the bottom as well as being unable to reach full depth, remaining just slightly above parallel.

For the narrow stance we have tried using different feet angles 10, 20, 30 degrees out and more. I have tried assisting her by keeping her in balance so she can sit back more without having to shift her knees as forward inclining the tibia that causes the pain (hopefully that description makes sense.)

For the wider stance the obvious tell her to "push your goddamn knees out" on every rep hasn't really worked as well as trying different feet angles. We faithfully tried the adductor machine where you spread your legs apart but that also didn't help.

Ideally it would be best if there were a solution to fix the narrow stance but if the wide stance has to do then that is fine too as long as there's a solution to getting her knees out more.

I may be missing an obvious clue here so any suggestion would help. Also she already wears weightlifting shoes which has helped a lot with keeping the more open ankle angle, about 3/4 inch in heel height.

[Sean Herbison]

It seems when she takes the standard heels/feet shoulder width apart (or relatively narrow stance) she is unable to perform less than a half squat without incredible pain in her ankle. Both loaded and unloaded.

How does she even sit down? I broke my ankle years ago, and while I still have some mobility issues due to that, I wasn't in pain a year later.

[Ericsquats]

How does she even sit down? I broke my ankle years ago, and while I still have some mobility issues due to that, I wasn't in pain a year later.

I added more detail that should help to answer your question. As I mentioned she can squat/sit down, but not with a narrow stance (being the correct stance for the low bar back squat identified in THEE book.) She can however do so with a wider stance which is probably how she sits down.

[melody]

Some video would probably help here. FWIW I have had a lot of girl who needed to start with a wider stance and then bring their feet in later.

[Ericsquats]

Some video would probably help here. FWIW I have had a lot of girl who needed to start with a wider stance and then bring their feet in later.

I'll try to get one soon when she squats tomorrow. I'm hoping she could adjust to bringing her feet in later down the road as well.