Exercising with sprained ankle- HELP!!

bugsygal89

SO I've been incredibly good about exercising, making sure I do cardio daily and strength workouts at least 3 times a week. A couple days ago, I banged my ankle on a table while moving around and didn't think anything of it. I continued to work out on it because I figured it was only a bruise.

Apparently, working out on that hurt ankle led to me spraining my ankle. If I want to be able to work out in full capacity soon, I'm sure I need to be careful about how I work out. Any ideas on good cardio workouts that won't injure my ankle further? In other words, running is definitely out. Do you think biking will be okay?

I'm just upset because I was finally getting the hang of running regularly and I don't want to see my efforts go to waste :-(

Lucylaser

That sucks. Have you ever heard of Cranking? My gym has a class for it, and some gyms just have the machines. It's like a spin class but instead of pedaling you use your arms to turn pedal like cranks.

Halothane

Swim and stay off that ankle...RICE it!

ejohndrow

I rolled my ankle at work really badly and ended up with a stage 4 ankle sprain, and since I'm an idiot, I insisted on not seeing the doctor, working out on it, and then doing my prt on it.

While working out I did mainly bike and elliptical. There is also the rowing machine or if you can swimming would be a great exercise for the entire body that doesn't require a lot of pressure on the ankle.

There's also weight lifting/weight machines, just be careful when you do exercises like squats.

bugsygal89

Thank you so much guys! Yeah, I don't have access to a pool but I totally forgot about rowing machines and the like!!

I'm just super bummed I can't continue to do running buuuut I know avoiding it is better in the long run haha.

meredithd13

i'm still suffering from a bad ankle sprain (with torn ligaments etc) that i sustained ten years ago. i didn't get physio until weeks later, walked on high heels, exercised after the pain subsided. really i should have stayed OFF IT until it heeled, doing only the exercises suggested by a physio to strengthen it.

cycling is not good for it. there's a lot of rotation movement in the ankle and if you have your foot in the right spot on the pedal, it means flexing downwards in to the heel.

swimming is the only thing that you really should do. and rowing would be okay too. but if you take time now to let it heal, you won't still have problems with it years down the line.