Broke my Ankle

Mousaroni

Fell off a horse today. I don't think I'll be able to make any progress for a while

Have you ever gotten injured? How do you keep your morale up? I'm feeling pretty sucky right now. I fear myself when I'm stuck home in bed, because all I do is laze around with no motivation for anything—cooking, reading, anything productivr. Ugh, I wish this never happened.

DebLaBounty

Oh, no! So sorry. I once tore my Achilles tendon, which meant a lot of limping and no exercise for months. It was tough, for sure. That took forever to heal. I guess after a couple days, though, I was so bored I decided I had to snap out of it. I made sure to take a shower every day, which made me feel more normal. I asked people to come over and visit. I asked to borrow good books from friends, then read them. I made soups and salads. And sometimes I just sat on my back deck and drank iced tea wishing things were different, then convinced myself that eventually I'd get back at exercising again. And I did! Anyways, I hope that you take good care of yourself.

Momepro

Oh ouch! Did that a couple years ago, it sucks. Don't let it derail your progess though. Find chair based workouts where you can do everything but the leg. Maybe try taking up a hobby while you're stuck, and start workjng on Christmas presents.

heybales

I had a trimalleolar fracture from a bike accident, and the plates/screws throughout.

I did a few 1 legged spinning classes.
When I was allowed to do some flex and apply 5-10 lbs, I confirmed my shoes attached to spin bike kept within that angle and pushing was at that limit (no standing).
As I was allowed to do more, I could push harder.
That was 1-2 times weekly.

Mainly I crutched around the circuit machines and did all that didn't require pushing with foot. Got total body workout. Even calf of problem leg got workout in boot with allowed amount of weight. Nothing like 10 lbs and 10 degrees of motion with many reps to keep the calf strong. More and more as progress was allowed.

Came out of 3 months stronger than I went in, since I don't normally do weights during summer.

2 days after being released from boot (already had a few weeks at full weight load, just limited range of motion) I did 40 mile group bike ride.

You might be limited for the first week after surgery just because.

But once past that - it's merely excuses. You can do more. No need to be lazy and give up.

Now put that thinking cap on and what do you have available to use for some full body workouts?
Shoot - got empty gallon milk jugs, and an old broomstick handle?
You've got a total upper-body workout available at home.
Got a table to sit on?
You've got an almost total lower-body workout available at home.

mca90guitar

Injured my shoulder and back at separate times. Shoulder I still tried to do cardio at least,. My back I couldn't do much and gained weight.

madelinecamille

Oh man that's so frustrating!

I dislocated my shoulder last July and regained all of the weight I had lost (15 lbs). I sat around feeling sorry for myself instead of being proactive. I could have worked my lower body and could absolutely have stuck to logging calories. Don't do what I did! You can still work your upper body and stay focused on CICO. Good luck

erienneb66

I broke my toe in Feb this year. Like, seriously broke it. Had surgery, external pins, all that jazz for FOUR months. I power lift, and I couldn't do anything for the whole time. It was awful. I couldn't walk either. So I did what I could. It sucks. It's hard to stay on track with diet when you're dealing with an injury but it's important to remember your body also does need to heal.

Just do what you can. Can you sit and do shoulder workouts, for example? Can you be more diligent with food tracking in order to stay on target?

I know it sucks. It'll heal and get better, jut do what you can.

Mousaroni

Thanks guys! Doctor says I broke my distal fibula, the outside bone right above the ankle. Even just shifting hurts it; I've never hated gravity more lol

I work on a horse ranch, so that was my exercise. I'm going to have to find out how people exercise at home/in a gym because I've never done any of that before!

If anyone has good resources for total beginners, that'd be amazing

snickerscharlie

OP - how long before you're allowed to weight bear again?

Mousaroni

I still have to go to the orthopedic folks. I got an xray at Stat Health, so now I need to get a cast on and see if any ligaments/etc were affected.

This just happened yesterday (6/10)

GirlWithCookies

I broke my ankle in a car accident last year. I broke my fibula and the joint itself. Had surgery and they put in a plate and three screws. I was non-weight bearing for about 3 months (first a cast, then a boot, then an air cast).

When you're in this kind of situation it does seem like it would be really easy to slack on nutrition, but for me I became hyper-focused on making sure I ate very consciously while I was recovering. Because I wanted to recover as fast and as well as possible, and give my bones and muscles everything they needed to remain strong. I didn't gain any weight (I actually lost weight because my GI system reacted badly to the antibiotics they put me on).

As for activity, I'm still not 100%. I found out in January that I now have progressive arthritis in that ankle because of the injury, and was told to avoid high-impact/aggressive exercises. Now, I do what I can when my ankle can handle it. I love walking outside, so that's great for me now that it's summer. But, some days the ankle just isn't having it and bad limping ensues, so I grumpily go easy on it on those days.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, listen to your body and give it what it needs

heybales

Mousaroni wrote: »

Thanks guys! Doctor says I broke my distal fibula, the outside bone right above the ankle. Even just shifting hurts it; I've never hated gravity more lol

I work on a horse ranch, so that was my exercise. I'm going to have to find out how people exercise at home/in a gym because I've never done any of that before!

If anyone has good resources for total beginners, that'd be amazing

What do you have to work with at home already?

Unless it's likely to be used going forward (and if you haven't felt a need for it yet, perhaps won't be), you can try to use what you've got.

As I mentioned above, broomstick (or if you have longer that's better), empty gallon milk jugs (or if you have bigger sealed containers that's better), and some string, and a place to sit that lets leg and more clear the floor for a swing (like a table), you've got the makings of a complete body workout for all major muscle groups, except the calf.
A pull-up bar would be even extra, rope useful in that case.

Because giving you a Be your own gym workout, which relies heavily on feet on the ground - would be useless at this point.
Giving you a dumbbell workout, which for about half would need feet on the ground - would be tad useful.
Access to a gym with machines - you got it.

So the options available to you depends on what you got available.

mca90guitar

Hope you heal fast. My brother sprained his ankle really bad a few months ago. Was in a boot for about a month and a half and has to wear a brace for 6 months now. Was so gross looking, foot looked like a purple balloon for weeks.