Ankle surgery

amjmortensen48
amjmortensen48 Posts: 40 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Help! I had ankle surgery in May and my DR told me I shouldn’t exercise on it for a year so it can heal really well. How do I go about losing weight??

Replies

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,977 Member
    I had both rt foot and rt ankle surgery at different times separated by 10-15 yrs

    Each time, I was on crutches for 3 months, was in a boot for 3 more months.and then had PT for about 2 months

    Didn't gain any weight either timr but my rt calf atrophied and lost some muscle mass that has never returned despite many yrs of heavy lifting afterward.

    This didn't seem to affect my leg strength but the difference in the size of my left and righ calves is still apparent to this day.

    So, as long as you eat properly, IMO gaining wt should be the least of your worries.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,970 Member
    Kinda ankle - pilon fracture here. Unfortunately, it's never going to be 100%, but I specifically chose and worked with a sports ortho as I knew I was NOT going to be sidelined as long as "traditional" recommendations were.

    Still was zero weight bearing from the day I broke it (Dec 2) until he released me to weight bear (Mar18). Mind you , this was 4 years ago. I gave up the boot pretty much immediately, which he was okay with - basically he was like if it's more comfortable and you feel you need the support, wear it. Still took a few weeks before I was weight bearing, and a couple months before I could give up the cane all the time.

    Mind you, I was still riding/track/racing the week after being allowed to bear weight.

    Overall though, I was pretty healthy, ate well and adjusted my diet to help my healing, and was released a bit ahead of schedule - and he knew I was going to be on the bike pretty much immediately, so his directives took that into account.

    Much like @sgt1372 though, the atrophy in that calf was awful, and still is very noticeable. Some of that is my limited ROM so I simply can't work that calf like normal, but regardless, pretty sure it would still be noticeable despite returning to lifting as soon as I felt up to it.

    I wasn't really "working out" or lifting much beyond my bike and life stuff until almost a year after the initial break and after my final surgery to remove all the hardware (Nov 26 that year) - but in that time I had a grand total of 4 surgeries too.

    So follow your doctor's advice, if you're not sure on it, you can always get a second opinion.

    As far as weight goes - well, thing is, that is 80+% what you eat - so that can be controlled if you adjust accordingly. Initial healing, however, will require more nutrition and extra protein, so keep that in mind.

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