Ugh... Reinjured my ankle. And my knee.

knitwit0704

As the post said, I reinjured by ankle and my knee (more my ankle, though). My knee, a year and a half ago, I had a bone chip which tore a meniscus in my knee as well as a couple ligaments, one of which (my doctor said - not very clearly) was *possibly* (his words, not mine), my ACL. He chose not to give me surgery.

Six months after that, I totally severely tore - severed - a ligament in my ankle. Ever since those injuries, neither have totally healed, and I've been minorly injuring them around every other month or something, and they've never totally healed. But recently, both have been acting up and I found I've re-injured them both (more my ankle). I'm going to be in a boot (cast) and a brace for a while. How can I do this? How can I start lifting as I planned to next week?

bumblebums

Talk to a physical therapist!

If you can put weight on the leg, you can in principle do things like Romanian deadlifts and good mornings. Otherwise, be patient, and focus on upper body work or body weight exercises like pull-ups, dips and push-ups. They'll get your core, if not your legs.

Also, seriously, look for a new doctor. I had a torn meniscus in my knee and an idiot doctor told me it would heal on its own. When I finally went to another doctor, his eyes popped out of his head when I told him what the first one told me. This was before the internet so it was hard to be an informed patient. But yeah, cartilage cannot heal itself after a tear. And ligaments usually need some help--otherwise you get scar tissue and lasting problems.