Hey Sue,

Are you a member of a gym, or do you have anything that can be used at home?
How big is your cast? How long is it on for? and are you in any pain at all now?

Sorry to answer with questions but I need a little more info before I can help.

Dan

Hi Dan,

thanks for getting back. Yes I am a member of a gym. The cast is just below the knee. I do not have much pain I just feel clips pinching.
I broke ankle in three places so they had to put in a plate and some screws. Stitches are clips, I have about a dozen on inside and twenty on outside. I hope to have these taken out at end of the week.
I do have an ab curl at home and some free weights. I am pretty fit but really concerned I may lose my fitness. I simply want to make sure stay trim and reasonably fit as I do not want to end up puttin on weight and losing my muscle tone. I am aware I will be limited in what I could do but I am a gutsy woman and will do my best to stay on top form. I really want to run again and will not do anything to prevent that so I will take advice given.
Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Sue :)

Hi Dan,
Forgot to say, cast is suppose to be on for 6 - 8 weeks, it has only been on for a week and a day so far.
Sue

Well Sue I have to say I'm impressed. Its good to see such enthusiasm through injury!
Last questions then I promise, I forgot to ask if you can kneel, and does your gym have any upper body C.V. equipment e.g. arm cranks, dual action bikes etc.?

Sorry to be pain, I should have thought of theses questions earlier.

Dan

Without knowing too much about the injury etc, for muscle strength, I have used isometric conditioning with those in casts. This is a static contraction without any lengthening or shortening of the muscle - no movement. Although not totally functional, can help reduce the atrophy (muscle wastage).

For c.v. based training, one legged recumbant bike with injured leg not pedalling. You can try the upright bike, but harder to make clearance for the pedal of the injured leg side.

Hi Sue,

Apologies for the delay, I used to be a member of a fitness first in peterborugh a few years back, but if you struggle to get there we can have a look at what you can do at home.

I agree with Alex that whilst in cast, your injured leg can only be worked with isometrics (tensing and relaxing the muscles in the cast).

I am not exactly fond of the ab curlers, and would rather hear you were using basic floor exercises for abs. Two cheap investments to aid home training are dynabands and wobble boards. I really like the swiss balls but they do take up a lot of room so would leave that out if space is an issue.
How confident are you with free weights by the way? I will only post simple exercises to be safe. The bands and wobble board should be enough without the swiss ball anyway.

Ideas for exercises are:

Press ups/box press ups/ 3/4 press ups - progressing onto press ups on wobble board.
Bicep curls
Tricep kickbacks
Tricep dips in chair/on coffee table etc. (be a little inventive)
Seated row with dynaband around feet (or maybe foot if u want)
Upright row with dumbbells
Shoulder shrugs with dumbbells

A good idea would also be to do some rotator cuff work while you have dynabands and enthusiasm -especially the lateral rotators, they are more often weak then strong.

You could also take the time to look at your core stability, your intests all seem to include balance so it wouldn't hurt to spend some time on your core while you have the time and are in need of a distraction.

I appreciate that sitting around can be frustrating but bear in mind you have to have rest time to recover! Don't overdo it an prolong your recover.
If you can get to the gym, use dual action bikes (one leg), rowers (arms only), recumbant bike (one leg), and arm cranks if they have them.

I would also advise that you try and keep stretching both legs - especially the hamstrings as there is potenital for for loss of flexibility whilst you are not weight bearing. This is a very limited list so if you want any more ideas feel free to ask.

Are you a member of water sports club or an individual enthusiast? I am particulary interested in any info about training or support services for surfers as I want to work with surfers one day.
Do you know of any clubs that have websites or anyone who already works in the area who may have any info?

Thanks
Dan