Exercise & Busted Ankle

chelekaz

Okay, I am a little freaked out here. I somehow busted up my ankle. It was bothering me last week but of course I didn't listen and pushed myself. I have a brace on it for support but it is still very sore and difficult to put pressure on it.

I am suppose to go to the gym tonight and Zumba tomorrow night. Gym possible if I modify my routine but Zumba is highly doubtful. At home I have all cardio dvd's which again, I cannot handle on the ankle.

Does anyone have suggestions on exercises that I can do that will not put too much pressure on the ankle? The pain surrounds the inside of the right ankle around the bone. I need to be able to stay active the next few days until I get 100%

Amarillo_NDN

first off, if you don't take it easy and let it heal, you willhave a bigger problem on your hands. To be honest, expect some weight gain at first.

There are things you can do sitting down, no law says you have to be standing. I also recomend doing wateraerobics, you can have very low impact and a great work out.

finncmh

My sister did a DVD when she crushed her ankle in a car accident. I dont remember what it was called- but it was something along the lines of Seated Aerobics. You may be able to find something cheap online along those lines. Good luck and heal quickly!

littlemamajamie

boxing is great cardio when you have a lower body injury

redefiningmyself

Swimming is an awesome full body workout with little to no pressure on your ankle. Actually almost any kind of water activity is probably the safest thing for you at this stage since you need to give your foot time to heal.

I hope you feel better soon!

lilRicki

geez woman what the hell? would the stationary bike hurt to much? i agree with the aquafit, that would be fun to try too...maybe there is one going on the same time you normally have Zumba, that way your routine won't be all effed up...

Kminor67

Chair aerobics are great for bad knees and ankles. At least you'd be moving and getting your heart rate up a little. There are several chair aerobics videos on You Tube and on Netflix.

edorice

Let that ankle heel. I messed up my ankle over a year ago and you just have to let it heel. However, you can still do some upper body workouts with weights.

LotusF1ower

Okay, I am a little freaked out here. I somehow busted up my ankle. It was bothering me last week but of course I didn't listen and pushed myself. I have a brace on it for support but it is still very sore and difficult to put pressure on it.

I am suppose to go to the gym tonight and Zumba tomorrow night. Gym possible if I modify my routine but Zumba is highly doubtful. At home I have all cardio dvd's which again, I cannot handle on the ankle.

Does anyone have suggestions on exercises that I can do that will not put too much pressure on the ankle? The pain surrounds the inside of the right ankle around the bone. I need to be able to stay active the next few days until I get 100%

Swimming, you don't put any weight on your ankle with swimming and you can burn approximately 600 calories if you do an hour's worth of breaststroke.

chelekaz

Thanks everyone for some great suggestions. I would love swimming unfortunately for me I did this in October when our pool is closed (PA has already seen some of its first snow flakes) and I cannot afford the local gym membership where they have a pool. I did check w/ our insurance to see if I could for 'rehab' purposes but nope; not covered. (No surprise, I had to fight tooth and nail to get the to approve potential life saving treatments for my husband).

I will definitely look into chair aerobics though! I do have a resistance ball that I can modify as well.

Hopefully with some rest, elevation and nurturing I can be back to exercising as normal within 2 weeks. Until then I will need to remain extra vigilant in my food choices and trying to find ways to still keep in shape.

lilRicki

good luck my dear

jerseygirl777

Glad to see this post. I injured my knee and am in need of cardio exercises as well. My first instinct was to just tough it out through the pain, but I know if I don't give it time to rest, it will only get worse. My gym doesn't have a pool which stinks. I'm definitely gonna steal some of these suggestions. Thanks!

hotpickles

I know the feeling! I sprained my wrist pretty bad this summer, and just as it healed up nicely, I sprained my thumb on the same hand. I couldn't do upper body weights for the longest time, and even some ab exercises hurt, depending on how I had to position my wrist/thumb.

I guess all I can suggest is doing upper body workouts and abdominal workouts, because at least you are building muscle and burning calories in the process. Maybe some yoga poses? Another one that comes to mind is pilates. I used to do those awhile ago, and they do give you a good workout. From what I can remember, the videos I did (Winsor Pilates) were mostly done on the floor with little pressure on the feet.

Good luck, and take care!

Azdak

First and foremost you need to determine the nature and extent of your injury. You might just need to let it heal. Switching to a totally different form of exercise (e.g. swimming, etc) that you have never done before may not yield much in the way of results if you are only looking at 1-2 weeks of recovery. Chances are you won't have the muscle endurance or skill to do an effective workout anyhow.

If the ankle can tolerate it, a bike would likely be the best "crossover" exercise, following by deep water running in a pool.

chelekaz

Thanks everyone. Last night I did some floor exercises and ab crunches just to keep the muscles from getting lazy. The gym where I take Zumba has pilates classes so I will have to see about maybe doing that until I can hit Zumba again.

I may hit the gym tonight to do upper body strengthening and try the bike to see if the ankle can take that pressure. Also have a call in to my primary to see about going for an x-ray or mri. Hoping rest and elevation will help it sooner rather than later though!

I'm also glad that my post was able to help others. That's what this site is all about after all.