Safe Exercise Routine whilst nursing a broken ankle?

alpinerover

Hi all. My normal exercise routine is walking my dog around the fairly hilly/mountainous region where I live. On average, I walk approximately 5km per day plus several hiking weekends in the mountains during the year. I broke my ankle 3 days ago and am struggling coming to terms with being relatively inactive, as well as nursing a plaster-cast from toe to knee. Are there any safe exercises or exercise routines that will help keep the fitness levels whilst not aggravating the affected ankle? I'm also wondering if there is anything I can do to prevent the muscle loss that I expect in my right calf.

Timberla82

That's not fun at all! I had an ankle reconstruction a couple of years ago and - it sounds really silly - I was told to keep working and building up the uninjured leg (left-legged rowing, left-legged cycling, 1-legged squats...it'll drive you nuts...). I don't know how true it is but I was told that the body somehow takes that as a sign to keep the injured one thriving (as much as possible when it's not doing anything). I had a lot of calf muscle wastage from 2 weeks in a cast, then 8 weeks in a moon boot 24 hours a day, but it built back up pretty quickly as soon as I could start using it properly again. I was also told to use the moon boot as a slightly-weighted exercise for my quads and glutes (on your back, raising and lowering the leg; on your stomach, bent knee and lifting the heel) but I don't know if that would be painful for you with a break. It's so frustrating not being able to get around like you normally do! I hope your cast-time goes quickly

alpinerover

Many thanks Timberla82. I tried some of those yesterday and haven't had any adverse reaction today so good news. I'm also finding that using the crutches seems to be a workout in itself. I've also managed to do some kitchen worktop pushups, keeping my broken ankle away from the floor and that seems to work also. I don't know how much the plaster-cast weighs, but it seems to be a decent ankle weight when using it for leg raises, as you suggested above.

Bianca42

When I injured my foot, I searched youtube for sitting exercises and found a ton of them. Maybe even search exercises for lower body injury. Good luck with your recovery.

azulvioleta6

Checking with your orthopod and a physical therapist would probably be the safest course of action. It sounds like you are already coming up with some good solutions!

In your situation, I would probably get in the pool, prop the bad leg up on a kickboard and do one-legged backstroke.

You could try a hand-peddle bike at the gym and you could probably do most upper-body lifts on weight machines.

Good luck! I broke my hand a couple of years ago and it really created some workout challenges.

SLLeask

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

Checking with your orthopod and a physical therapist would probably be the safest course of action. It sounds like you are already coming up with some good solutions!

In your situation, I would probably get in the pool, prop the bad leg up on a kickboard and do one-legged backstroke.

You could try a hand-peddle bike at the gym and you could probably do most upper-body lifts on weight machines.

Good luck! I broke my hand a couple of years ago and it really created some workout challenges.

Please don't do that with a cast on!! It is not possible to make a knee to toe cast 100% waterproof and a soggy cast is not the way to go!

Alisonswim46

I would definitely check with your doctor about swimming/aquajogging/walking. When I broke my ankle I was in the pool about three weeks after surgery. Mind you, I wasn't hell bent on exercising, my goal was just to move because like you, going from an active lifestyle to nonweightbearing was tough. I used an aqua jogging belt, and a pull buoy to swim a few lengths. The first time I went to the pool I used the lift to get in and out of the pool. Good luck!

rileysowner

I have never broken an ankle, but have injured my knee. I found crutching around far more of a workout than walking. I could place some weight on my injured leg, but only for short periods. I basically crutched around the block several times a day until things cleared up enough to get doing other things again. Having said that, there are a number of places I could sit down along that route if I needed to.