Help?? Broke my ankle in three locations, limited activity

missusmainsqueeze
missusmainsqueeze Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
From August 2013 to January 2014 I skated with a roller derby team 10+ hours a week. January 20th I broke my ankle in three separate locations, acquiring two plates and eleven screws. 7 weeks into my injury I was allowed to do light weight baring walking with my boot and crutches. Obviously any sort of cardio that involves my ankles are out of the question. I'm nine weeks into my injury and not much has changed, I see the doctor again April 4th.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what weight loss activities I can do with my movement restriction? It's driving me crazy to not be working out and watching the weight gain.

Thanks.

Replies

  • PinkCoconut
    PinkCoconut Posts: 655 Member
    So sorry to hear about the injury! That sounds painful. Yikes!

    You might not be able to do a lot of lower body exercises but you can still do upper body and that can still help you burn some calories along with paying SUPER close attention to your nutrition. I'm a huge fan of martial arts based workouts like TurboFire and Combat and I know that I can still work up a good sweat with just doing the upper body portions of those workouts (so taking out the kicking and jumping and just doing the punching). Seriously, try punching the air for 30 seconds and see what happens! LOL

    Just an idea!

    Feel free to friend me!
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    You don't have to gain weight due to injury...you just need to reduce your calories. I would probably eat a maintenance...being in a deficit is going to take away from your body's ability to heal.

    As far as exercise goes...what about a rowing machine? That might not be too much stress on the ankle. Or just concentrate on upper body weight lifting.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    From August 2013 to January 2014 I skated with a roller derby team 10+ hours a week. January 20th I broke my ankle in three separate locations, acquiring two plates and eleven screws. 7 weeks into my injury I was allowed to do light weight baring walking with my boot and crutches. Obviously any sort of cardio that involves my ankles are out of the question. I'm nine weeks into my injury and not much has changed, I see the doctor again April 4th.

    Does anyone have any suggestions of what weight loss activities I can do with my movement restriction? It's driving me crazy to not be working out and watching the weight gain.

    Thanks.

    Chair workouts?

    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jessica smith chair workout&sm=1
  • anacsitham5
    anacsitham5 Posts: 810 Member
    This is great info. My son broke his ankle in 3 places and just had his plates and screws put in on Friday. He's only 18 and in great shape, but a little worried about a long and lengthy recovery and minimal activity. Right now he is on strict flat out bed rest until 04/04/14. Then we will go from there. Once he is allowed to get off his back and his foot doesn't have to be elevated, I'll get him going on upper body again.
  • theashtrees
    theashtrees Posts: 104 Member
    I recommend going to a physio or asking your doctor about the pool.

    I did something similar snowboarding a few years back. My physio designed a work out that kept my leg strong (without impacting the ankle) and focused on other parts of the body. I was even allowed to walk the pool and do minor water aerobics (keeping the foot elevated).
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    That's rough. I understand how it could be "driving you crazy." I broke my ankle a couple of years ago, and not being able to do much of anything wore me down, and I was a lot less active than you at the time. If weight is an issue, your best bet is to adjust what you're eating. I wouldn't recommend doing anything that might put the ankle at risk until you get an all clear from your doctor. My ankle gave me serious problems for a good year after I broke it, and it still acts up at times (though it's gotten much better since I became more active).
  • neveragain84
    neveragain84 Posts: 534 Member
    From August 2013 to January 2014 I skated with a roller derby team 10+ hours a week. January 20th I broke my ankle in three separate locations, acquiring two plates and eleven screws. 7 weeks into my injury I was allowed to do light weight baring walking with my boot and crutches. Obviously any sort of cardio that involves my ankles are out of the question. I'm nine weeks into my injury and not much has changed, I see the doctor again April 4th.

    Does anyone have any suggestions of what weight loss activities I can do with my movement restriction? It's driving me crazy to not be working out and watching the weight gain.

    Thanks.

    This'll sound silly, but any kind of punches will be a good cardio exercise. It's upper body exercise, so your ankles won't be involved. You can sit and do them. I do it sometimes when I'm bored.
  • koyangi
    koyangi Posts: 14
    Don't you have physical therapy? Ask one of your trainers. They know you and your injury and what you can/cannot do. You also have to eat less. You have my sympathy, I tore my ACL and was out 6 months. During that time I gained weight because following my doctor's instructions limited my activity quite a bit. I also turned to a higher protein diet at that time to give my muscles the material they needed to repair themselves. When I got back to my normal routine then I started to lose again. No big deal, it just added some time to my goal.

    Someone above mentioned the upper body part of martial arts workout programs. I would be very careful about this. Some of those programs encourage reps over form and can lead to injury. If you go that route I would highly recommend you learn proper form for all of the punches and start slowly and build up. Also keep in mind that the idea behind these punches is to usually strike an immovable or semi-movable object. If you lust swing hard and don't have anything to stop the blow then you are putting a lot of stress on your muscles and tendons as they attempt to keep your fist and arm held together. If you injure your shoulder or elbow (pretty easy to do with poor form) then you will be out two limbs instead of one.

    Good luck and just remember this is a temporary set back.

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