Exercising With A Leg/ankle Injury - Pic Inside.

[No Crust Racing]

Hey guys,

Had a mishap at paintball on the weekend and dislocated my ankle and fractured the fib.

I've got a plate and some screws and am currently laid up, working from home on the recliner.

My first appointment with the fracture clinic is this Monday where they will assess it, put a proper/full cast on it if the swelling has stopped, and give me some details on where we go from here.

I realise this is a 8-12 week injury and that it will take quite some time before I have full usage. I've been told NO weight bearing on that leg for at least 8 weeks. Oh and no driving... Given I'm 30, I don't expect a miracle 4 week recovery or anything like that.

In the meantime, I don't want to fall off the wagon too much in terms of the rest of my exercises.

I'm expecting at least 2 weeks of doing nothing to allow the swelling to subside from surgery and to allow that wound time to seal up a bit.

After that, I'm thinking that I could at least be doing some exercise to try and not lose too much strength in other unaffected areas, chest, bi's tri's etc.

Has anyone had first hand experience with this sort of thing or is anyone here a Physio that can comment? I'll ask at the clinic as well but the more info the better.

I've got free weights at home, and a bench press and have already discussed with the missus about possibly stacking the bar for me.

I'm old enough now to listen to my body and not to rush things so I won't be going crazy trying to push heaps of reps or weight, my main focus is to get the ankle/leg better and to try and minimise as much muscle loss, and keep fat down, as possible.

At present, I'm 6ft, 84kg, 12% BF on one of those cheapo electric home scales if that helps, nothing special I know, but it's taken me a little while to get back here after some gym related injuries and I don't want to go any further backwards than I have to.

Obligatory pic. Possibly more to come.

Edited October 17, 2012 by ActionDan

[NickR33]

ho...ly...shiiit

where you playing indoor or outdoor paintball? I've played both and the indoor was ridiculous... there was so much paint on the floor it was like ice it was that slippery... a mate twisted his knee pretty badly

I have no experience other than a broken elbow but for what its worth...

a break is a break, you have to wait for the bone to knit back together or your going to have all sorts of problems

its not worth damaging your leg permanently

that being said you can probably do quite a few exercises... bench press, bench rows, pull ups, dips, push ups, seated overhead press, seated curls, seated skull crushers... however on all these exercises I would put your leg up on a box or similar... layed on it supported by your calf, NOT sole down if that makes sense... as even though your sitting on a bench you will still put weight through your leg if the sole of your foot is on the floor

[No Crust Racing]

Outdoor, sprinting for cover during the last game where the buck had to cross the firing line, we had paintballs left so he did it again but chose his 3 groomsmen to come with him (I'm the best man in the wedding which is 3-4 weeks away, should be fun on crutches). So I was sprinting and put my left foot too close to a little gulley/creek (less than a meter deep) and the ground gave out, when I put my right foot down, shit got real and I cratered into the little gulley thing. Good times...

Yeah I plan on having a chair/box I can rest the leg up on so the foot is not on the floor. I realise it will take some power out, but that's cool.

[Mitcho_7]

Are you sure you only broke your fibula? You can walk on your leg usually with a fractured fibula.

The dislocated ankle might be making it look like you broke your tibia as well...

Edited October 17, 2012 by Mitcho_7

[eiresgaus]

^^ was going to say before your edit it probably the dislocation!

[No Crust Racing]

I've got the x-ray, tib is fine.

Been doing some reading and staying off it completely seems to be standard advice for a broken leg bone, regardless of which it is.

[eiresgaus]

I dislocated my ankle and tore 4 of its ligaments a few years back, so it's a bit different to having a fracture in there as well - that would be the main worry with any exercise, regardless if it's a complete fracture or hairline etc. You should be alright with most upper body exercises - just be sure of your balance as you could use the bad foot in a reflex if you aren't properly careful (as I did - it hurts!).

Also if you're sitting around a lot it would be worth having a look at basic range-of-motion exercises for your back and upper body as well as knees/hips if you can. And with the upper body work you can use much lighter weights and use it as more of a cardio exercise than for muscle.

Try and work your other leg a bit, though crutches will also give you a bit of a work out and the sole use of one leg will help it, the leg that won't be being used will be a fair bit skinnier in 2 months time!

I think just try out your exercises in a couple of weeks and find the ones you're most comfortable with and go from there. Sounds like you may get a full cast which is more intrusive I guess, I had a back slab of plaster down my calf and under my foot so I could shower without it when it eventually didn't hurt to try and remove - this also allowed me to get into a pool after about 6 weeks - lots of exercises can be done there particularly holding a board with your thighs to prevent any other leg movement.

[Mitcho_7]

Definently a rough looking dislocation!

I didn't mean you can walk around like nothing has happened with a fractured fibula, but people have been known to fracture it and not even know. Definently not good for the healing process!

Edited October 17, 2012 by Mitcho_7

[No Crust Racing]

Cheers Brian.

Yeah it wasn't the most comfy sensation Mitch.

[eiresgaus]

Not the same but may be similar - try researching exercises for older folk, limited movement/balance etc.!

[No Crust Racing]

Google search: Exercises for the mildy retarded + people who can't run without hurting themselves.

=\

[No Crust Racing]

Just got these from the hospital.

It's my right leg, so that lump is the Tib, not my ankle.

Edited October 17, 2012 by ActionDan

[NickR33]

I've had some really bad ankle sprains playing basketball and they HURT... ankle swells up like there is a tennis ball in there and its all colours of the rainbow... but that looks like nothing I've seen before... the pain must be severe!

so you rolled it the other way, onto the inside of your ankle? usually they go the other way, onto the outside

[No Crust Racing]

No it rolled outside, that lump you see is the Tibia with the foot having rotated almost 90 degrees clockwise when looking down on it.

I found out last night I actually have 7 small screws and one large one that goes through to the Tib to lock the whole thing in place, looks pretty crazy in there.

What can be done diet wie to maintain the muscle mass? Just protein? I use Dymatize Elite Fusion 7, it's a blended protein more aimed at recovery. I'm just having a half serve daily at the moment while I try and work out what to do. I'm trying to avoid high fat/sugar foods as I'm so inactive to hold off the fat build up also.

Here's some pics from the clinic, cast was too tight so they gave me a new one and I took the opportunity to get some snaps.

[NickR33]

No it rolled outside, that lump you see is the Tibia with the foot having rotated almost 90 degrees clockwise when looking down on it.

riiight... I just ate lunch... and it almost came back up lol

you did a very good job of that... no half assed ankle sprains for you!

[No Crust Racing]

Honestly, I'm a bit pissed. I cover 90-100ks a month of running/walking, not to mention the incidental amounts from Gym, work, daily movement etc Plus I do a little bit of leg exercise so I would have assumed my shit was more resilient than this. It was very disappointing to realise the extent of the injury and how long I'd be out for.

But enough woah is me. How do I maintain what's still there?

A guy at work has a small under desk mini exercise bike. I thought I could borrow that and use it with my arms for some cardio too.

What's the best approach with protein and avoiding muscle mass depletion?

Edited October 18, 2012 by ActionDan

[No Crust Racing]

Any thoughts on the best approach dietary wise guys?

[No Crust Racing]

As for exercise. My Surgeon had this to say.

Go as hard as you like so long as you're not putting ANY weight on the broken leg.

So after two test sessions I've found I can, with the aid of a chair for either propping the leg on or sitting on, bench at full weight, ezy bar curl with reduced ROM as I'm sitting, still do dips, abs, hammer curls (sitting), military press (sitting) and can do one legged squats, calf raises on the good leg and do some leg extensions from the knee on the bad leg.

He said all of this is fine, there's also literature to support that working the good leg partially translates to the bad so hopefully atrophy will be reduced on that leg.

All in all, enough to keep me going for now. He did say that it would be quite some time before I had 100% no holds barred use of the broken leg, up to a year depending on my commitment.

By that he means, 100% sprinting, turning, pivoting, lifting etc without a second thought. He said I should have fairly full usage of it well before that, but that it takes quite some time before you can really forget about the injury sustained.

Edited October 26, 2012 by ActionDan