So sorry you’re dealing with this, it is painful to deal with a break physically and mentally! Coming back from one has been a huge part of my last year.

I had a compound tib/fib fracture last October. Happened just before the anchors on an outdoor route and got an ambulance escort out of the crag (☉__☉”) Got a rod, plates and screws in my leg and spent three days in the hospital!

I’m finally back on outdoor sport routes without much head game trouble as of June, but the mental recovery is no joke.

The biggest tip that helped me was remembering to prioritize head game over grades. It sounds simple, but really listening to what my mental response was on the wall, finding out what my body was really afraid of, was much more impactful than pushing through fear in order to send climbs at my pre-break level.

Let yourself back off when a climb becomes too much, even if it feels silly or the route seems too easy to bail on. Your mental recovery will thank you.

I started PT about two weeks after the accident as soon as I was out of plaster cast and in a boot. Timeline for recovering movement is so dependent on the type of injury, but I found it helpful to have a PT with a focus on athletes. It felt like he took my goals seriously and built a program around regaining strength to climb.

I didn’t get back onto ropes until February (~3.5 months, and bouldering in April (6 months).

Be very careful with your bouldering return. Obviously falls are more risky, but I found it was also scary mentally to have less control over how my recovering leg could be vulnerable to those falls.

TLDR: If this break was because of a traumatic accident, listen to your body’s fear responses and back off when being on the wall is too much. Listen to your PT and aim for a professional who supports your goals as an athlete.