[Waverly]

I broke fibula & dislocated my talus (the bone above the hinging bone in the ankle) at the end of February and could hobble around sans crutches since May 1. Now it is July and I am still too scared to go to the gym.

Since my insurance doesn't cover rehab, I have been doing a lot of stretching before heading out the door for the day but still have to take pain medication even before lunchtime. My dr. said I could go back to the gym when I could support all my weight on the ball of my injured foot (w/o pain meds), which was last Saturday.

Does anyone know any low impact exercises/stretches that could help strengthen my lower legs without the added hobbling and/or crying? I used to jog four days a week and hope to work my way back to my 30 min lunch runs before Christmas.

Thanks all

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

WAVERLY ~ Firstly, I think that you should make SURE that your injuries have completely healed up before trying any weight-bearing exercises. A doctor on the web (sorry can't recall his name) recommended some gentle exercises for ankles and calves --

1) Sit in a chair or on a couch stretching your legs out. Then just point your toes out and lift your foot til it's straight up again. \_ and then |_ ... kinda like that. Repeat this a few times; I counted up to 5 and then upped that to 7 and so forth to 10.

2) the second one is to put your legs out and just rotate your feet gently in a circle; first to the right and then to the left. This is supposed to help the muscles and the circulation improve too.

I injured the ball of my foot as a teenager playing baseball and I recall that it took at least 3 weeks before I could walk on it without my crutches -- that was a long time ago, so it's hard to remember. Then I wasn't able to run on it for another few weeks after that as I was going by my doctors' instructions at that time.

I sure know how you feel as I injured the ball of my foot first, then later broke the top of my foot and my ankle roller skating on the road ... My ankle used to lock up something terrible, but over the years, it has healed pretty good; and I only get a jab here or there on rare occasions, just as a reminder to be careful I think!

3) Sit on a chair, and with hand weights in your hands, rest them on top of your knees; then lift your feet up and down; repeat 12 times and work up to 4 reps of that. Only do these if you don't feel any pain and start slow!!! That one came from Jorge Cruise's book "8 Minutes in the Morning" which has lots and lots of good exercises in it.

Hope this helps you a bit ...