Working out... with a broken fibula and tibia?

I haven't worked out in six months thanks my ordeal with a mobility van and fighting a mutated flesh eating bug disease (which almost resulted in the loss of my left foot). Seeing my hard progress slip away each day is depressing so I want to get back into the gym. It still hurts my leg too much to do any heavy lifting and its going to be another six months before I'm properly recovered. I'm off my crutches now and I've bought myself a new heavy bag to train with and I'm going back to the Boxing club next week. I had to take some time off (3 months) because my leg wasn't healing, according to my doctors I was putting too much stress on it. I've been given the go ahead, but no sparring, running or skipping.

This is what my leg looks like at the moment:

 

DAmn, cant see the pics....

 

Well, at least its better than this. When I break bones, I really break bones (my own of course).

 

Can you see them now?

 

Hmm... with that severe of a fracture... recovery is the best goal. You're going to be off it for some time. So obviously any load bearing lower body workouts are out of the questions. What is the current state of the leg now? In a cast? Some sort of framework with pins?

Oh wait I get it... the first pic is current is it? Ok reinforced (woot! Go Wolverine!) with pins. What's the feeling like at the moment? Did the leg muscle atrophy and lose mass at all?

 

Yes Ma'am. Thank you.

 

Hap, my achilles injury wasnt NEARLY as bad as yours no matter how you slice it yet even my comparitively minor injury has hindered me in many ways for several reasons - cheif among them though was not letting it properly heal before I started making it work.

Please, I know its hard, but take the time you need to heal fully. The changes you made will come again, and come more easily as you have muscle memory on your side. But more importantly think about how much further you'll be able to go if you can train at 100% instead of 50% with the nagging worry of reinjuring yourself looming over your shoulder?

 

Well, its gained mass if anything due to the swelling. I also have a rather large dent in my leg from the accident and my mutated flesh eating bug ordeal (yuck).

My leg looks retarded in comparison to my right. It feels really weird when I walk on it or put any weight on it because I can feel where it broke.

 

Yeah with a break that severe it'll be some time before you get back to any sort of impact along the long axis of the bone. Or any axis for that matter. Take your time. It's not a race. How much weight does it bear now? Can you load full bodyweight on it. Methinks that slowly working in bodyweight squats are a great idea. As well as chin ups and all manner of upper body and core work. Chins up done from standing position and then go to bent knees... no jumping for the bar and then dropping off it at the finish. For obvious reasons. If you ever had a reason to get your mid section ripped and strong this is it.

 

Yes, I can stand on it flat with my body-weight, but I can't stand on the ball of my foot yet.

 

Yeah that's going to take some time. The leverages on the leg when standing flat on the foot/heel are quite different than when standing on the ball of the foot. So by and large boxing and Muay Thai are out for a while. Take the time to recover properly.... don't rush this one... it's a MAJOR break... with a subsequent infection... so take your time.

 

Osu Hapuka,


Nice break of your leg here... what happened?

Did they insert a rod in your tibia?
The obvious here is to wait for full clearance from your doc before you attempt anything involving putting weight or shock on that leg; then Slipthejab's & BigMikey's advice apply, go slow towards full rehab... in the end, you'll save time by not re-injuring yourself.

Good news is bones usually heal quite well.

Can you swim? That means your skin is healed and your infection over.
Swimming is a good way to exercise your legs without gravity - or with little weight if you walk, do kata, or shadow sparring in the water... (might be a great way to work your footwork while in rehab)

Can you ride a bike (stationary to avoid falling)? that might be the second thing to do after swimming and water borne exercises.

Core, midsection and upper body can of course be exercised, as long as you are careful not to put that leg at risk (falling, hitting, weights falling on it, etc...)

Injuries are depressing - good luck and best wishes for a quick & full recovery


Osu!

 

Those X-Rays make me want to curl up in a ball.

 

Long story short, I was riding my motorcycle and a woman driving a mobility van failed to give way and as she was turning hit me head on. The doctors and the police said it should of killed me, her and her son (who was the passenger). Fortunately for them they walked away without a scratch while I was bleeding to death on the road (not the most pleasant feeling, it felt like my body in the blast freezer while my leg was in a furnace. I ended up losing half of my blood within a 30 minute period. Due to the low count of white blood cells in my body, thats how I caught the flesh eating bug disease. I had a rod and some pins inserted into my leg as well as chucks of rotten flesh was removed. I've actually got a photo here of my leg (before I somehow managed to break my ankle in the middle of ER, Morphine is powerful stuff )

I'm not a fan of swimming and I want to avoid any possible infection. I intend to go back to my gym and do biking instead.

Last time I tried, some idiot dropped a truck tire on my broken leg at training. :cry: And that happened three weeks after leaving hospital (so it was still tender) So yes, I intend to work with machine weights in privacy to avoid anything like that from happening.

Ah, indeed it sucks. I've become very insecure about my situation that its not often I leave the house these days. I fear running into people that might take advantage, not being able to defend yourself and well, you know what the average punter is like, In the town I live in, its not a good idea. Maybe its just me being paranoid but why take the risk?

I've started building my own little gym so I can continue practicing rather than sitting at home doing nothing but playing video games and drawing. Neither of them get you in any condition to spar in the ring.
I intend to start going back to my boxing club soon. Fortunately, I will never experience anything near as painful in the ring as what I went through during that ordeal. I hope that in a sense it has conditioned my mind to tolerate pain more easily. Though I won't know until I spar again, which won't be for a while, not until I can skip and run again comfortably.

 

Thats nothing compared to what else I went through...

WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!
Wanna see?

 

...Why did I click that...

 

Osu Hapuka,


Thanks for the details of your "adventure" (ordeal).
That's quite a wound on the picture!

Did you say you broke your ankle in the ER!!??

Once again, best wishes for your recovery.


Osu!

 

With such a serious injury, I would rest well and recover slowly.

Myself, I am having to take significant time off training (still get some in but on average 2 hours per week) due to studies/work/travel and other complications.

When I am at home, I work on my diet - I have lost weight through diet and minimal training and exercise.

In your case - due to the serious nature of your injuries, I suggest catching up with other important activities and/or develop new hobbies along with diet/nutrition, whilst waiting to recover - hopefully patiently.

 

My younger brother took that photo of my leg while the plastic surgeon was busy poking at it, shortly afterwards I broke my ankle...
Drugs + Broken and a masticated leg + Crutches = Not such a good idea.
The scar on my leg goes from the front of my shin and right around behind the ankle (I actually lost my heel in the crash, it had to be recovered and sowed back on). Still anything is better than losing a foot in my book.