Last week Steven van Broeckhoven had to undergo a surgery to clean out loose cartilage from his right ankle. Unfortunately Steven will be off the water for the next months for recovery. We caught up with Steven to get the latest update on his surgery and status quo.
Steven van Broeckhoven in Lanzarote
Steven’s removed cartilage
Continentseven: You’ve just had your surgery last week. How are you doing and how did the surgery go?
Steven van Broeckhoven: It went well but there was more damage than expected but the good thing is that everything is cleaned out and should recover. It just needs a bit more time.
Continentseven: How long will you be off the water?
Steven van Broeckhoven: I have no idea but expected 3 months no jumps but in few more weeks I will know more.
Continentseven: Why did you have so much loose cartilage in your ankle? Is this because of the stress on the ankle during the last years or was it caused by just one crash?
Steven van Broeckhoven: This injury is common in football and other impact sports. From what I understood is whenever you hurt your ankle more cartilage grows at this place and with impacts it can break. I had really a lot of loose pieces in the ankle and it probably was there for a while. I started to feel the problem in May when I over extended my ankle but it felt ok again at the end of June. I survived Lanzarote and Fuerte, but every morning I had pain for few minutes and then it was ok again. In September I felt that something was not right after a bike ride but still I didn’t listen to my body and focused on the event in Sylt. But in Sylt I had really trouble in those conditions. I had no stability and a lot of clicking noises of some of those pieces. I had have damaged some cartilage but luckily not in an important place.
Continentseven: This sounds like no winter trip to South Africa for you this year?
Steven van Broeckhoven: No, unfortunately not. I love Cape Town but this year I wanted to skip anyway and travel by camper.
Continentseven: What are your winter plans instead?
Steven van Broeckhoven: I will travel south and live in the camper for few months.
Continentseven: Did you already set your windsurfing goals for the next season?
Steven van Broeckhoven: Well, I have goals but at the moment I can’t say much.
Continentseven: Thanks for the interview. We wish a speedy recovery.
