Table 2.

Themes, Categories and Examples of Participants’ Quotes With the Code in Brackets.

Theme	Category	Examples of participants’ quotes with the code in brackets
‘Being vulnerable’ was participants’ experience of biopsychosocial disruption to daily life, where they were dependent on others, struggled to walk and feel confident and were fearful of falling and causing further damage to their ankle.	‘Being injured’ conveyed the disruption to daily life and dependency on others that impacts on wellbeing.	You don’t realise that trauma affects your wellbeing or anything, even the few days after it all happened, I said I’m fine but you’re not. Little things had happened to you and your body goes into shock really. P12 female, 44C2 (the unknown) I think the word is vulnerable, maybe I feel a bit more vulnerable because you never think this is going to happen. P3 female, 44B2 (being vulnerable) Well that’s it yes and I’ve never come across it in life before. I’ve been fit and active all my life and stuck there with my leg stuck in the air for two months is not my cup of tea. P11 male, 44B1 (being stuck) Well I always said, what’s a year out of 76 if I get better, but then some days I thought, I’m never going to walk again and that’s a bit low making, and I’m still limping. P14 female, 44B3 (being low)
	‘Being able to walk again’ was a struggle and participants lacked confidence. They worried about falling and causing further damage to their ankle.	It was once the plaster came off and then it got tricky again, and that’s another whole story. I went back to square one and had to work forward again. With the plaster on it didn’t hurt and I could walk around quite well at the start, with a bit of support, mostly with this trolley with wheels. P8 female, 44B1 (back to square one) You can’t really still walk then, you can’t just put your shoes on and off we go. You’re still in a wheelchair or hobbling on a pair of crutches, and it takes you a bit of time to get a bit of courage to actually put your weight on it [your foot], but of course the physio teaches you to do that. I don’t think unless you saw a physio at that stage, you wouldn’t actually stand on both legs. P17 female, 44C3 (courage to weight bear) I think it’s a matter of confidence, isn’t it, this walking lark because I was frightened of falling because when I was in the trauma unit here I had the operation, and the next day they gave me crutches, and I fell. P14 female, 44B3 (fear of falling) A few days had gone on and I can do it, but I was frightened to go out anywhere without the boot in case I did any damage. Until the doctor said the x-rays show that your bones have healed up, you don’t need the boot anymore. P12 female, 44C2 (fear of damage)
‘Being safe’ developed from participants’ awareness of their body as fragile, a sense of being less robust or damaged, and their desire to conserve and sustain the integrity of their body.	‘Being fragile’ occurred where the memory of the event, sensations, pain and stiffness acted as bodily reminders of injury and generated a desire to protect their body.	If I’m standing outside a neighbour’s house and haven’t got a handrail, and I’m on the steps, I’m really careful not to step back or move. So I’m definitely more aware that it was a stupid thing I did when I did it. P3 female, 44B2 (heightened awareness) I feel that I haven’t got quite the same control in the ankle on the injured foot as I had before but not to a major extent, it just doesn’t feel quite right. P18 male, 44B2 (lacking control) Painful is the only way I can describe it. Once I’ve put my weight on both legs the ankle really hurts and I know I should have done exercises, and so that’s the way it complains. It reminds me I need to look after myself, but we don’t listen, do we? P7 male, 44A1 (pain reminds me) There’s always a little bit of residual stiffness or something, or lack of movement. P1 female, 44B2 (residual stiffness)
	‘Being careful’ was participants’ response to living with reduced functional ability combined with a heightened awareness of danger. They were more cautious and often avoided activities.	I just feel that I need to be that little bit more careful. P18 male, 44B2 (being careful) If I’m carrying something, I make sure I’ve got a hand on the rail and it does make you readjust how you do things, and so in that sense I’m more conscious of it I suppose, it’s a good thing to be quite honest. P13 female, 44B2 (conscious of risks) A bit more cautious really and thinking, what’s the point of taking the risk if I can avoid doing it, yes. P11 male, 44B1 (avoidance) Yes and certainly I do quite a few stretches now first thing in the morning and that’s the time when I tend to struggle, the first time I go down the stairs in the morning I’m quite often going sideways down the stairs because I don’t trust my ankle. P10 male, 44A3 (lack of trust)
‘Being myself’ was how participants moved forward to regain or retain prior activities that supported their self-identity and worked hard to move away from notions of old age, while being challenged by the use of mobility aids.	‘Being determined’ was to push away from a disrupted self-identity where they felt or were perceived as older. They became attuned to their body and its capacity to recover and worked with existing conditions.	I wanted to make sure that I could do it and I was determined not to be the little old lady with the leg that wouldn’t work now. I wanted to get back as much as I could to everything. P12 female 44C2 (being determined) Well it was hard going, it was a bit miserable. First of all you had to have a walking frame which I think reminds me of some very elderly people and I don’t consider myself one of those. P4 female, 44B2 (I’m not old) It doesn’t help that I’ve had a bit of arthritis in my ankle for years as well, just to make things even more trouble but I’m getting there slowly. P10 male, 44A3 (hindered by arthritis) Perhaps I’m trying to fend off old age and that’s probably it. I’m fairly fit, I get out quite a lot. I’ve got a garden and an allotment and everything. I want to be able to do that again, then I’ve got to get my leg going again and I can’t let it pull me back and so I’ve had to keep pushing it forward. P8 female, 44B1 (pushing forward)
	‘Being challenged’ was a continuous process of learning to be more mobile. Participants worked hard to learn new skills with mobility aids, support boots and build up pace, distance and stamina while enjoying life and hoping for future improvements.	I struggled to get more than a couple of hundred yards if I’m honest on the crutches. P5 male, 44B2 (struggling) Of course at my age this is just a point that I found quite difficult, was using crutches because I did find that quite difficult because of my balance. I think as you get older, this is just a point, I think people do lose their balance. P20 female, 44B2 (loss of balance) I’m trying to step out quite far but I haven’t got the oomph [energy], I’m still going very slowly. P14 female, 44B3 (slow pace) It was nice because the first month I could really see a massive improvement on a weekly basis and I’m not seeing those improvements now but l know I’m getting better, it’s just a matter of time. P10 male, 44A3 (getting better)