I've torn a ligament in my foot and I'm in a cast for 6-8 weeks...on crutches...and i'm not allowed to put any weight on it at ALL!! i'm trying my best to follow doctor's orders so that i don't have to have surgery on it later on!

This is my 2nd time THIS YEAR on crutches!! Earlier in the year, I sprained my ankle severely and was on crutches for about a month. After that time, I weighed more than I ever have in my life since I wasn't exercising, wasn't moving around much and I live by myself and couldn't cook for myself! Even now it's all I can do to hop to the kitchen and microwave a meal for myself, then hop veeeerrry slowly with it to the table!! I also got very depressed after I sprained my ankle because i couldn't go out and do much since teaching school wiped me out all day and all i did at night was sleep! Even after I started to get better all I did was sleep and hardly cooked or ate right since I'd lost a lot of my stamina to move around like normal!

Now, my boyfriend lives closer to me to take care of me some and help with food and stuff, but I am DETERMINED to not get fat and depressed again this time!!! I'd just gotten back into a good routine of eating right and exercising when I had my current accident (on vacation in Mexico, no less!), and I do not want to end up back where I was! I'd lost 13 lbs at the beginning of the summer, and it's looking like I'm getting it all back this past month after vacation and now this injury!! If I don't do something, I'll get above where I was after the first injury!

Any good ideas on exercises that I can do?? I can't do anything standing up, which cuts out a LOT of choices! I can't do an exercise bike or anything similar b/c of putting weight on my foot(or pushing with my foot). I can do sit-ups (which i stink at!!) and leg lifts with my good leg, but i'm not too sure about anything using my hurt foot! The doc says if my bones in my foot shift around too much, I'll have to get surgery!

ANY ideas would be greatly appreciated!!! I go back to the doctor next week to see how things are coming along (i'll be in the cast 2 weeks then) and will probably ask him for some ideas...but i have to start something now!

Thanks!!!

They make sitting exercise videos... I think they are geared for obese/elderly/handicapped people but I'm sure they might be useful if not just for getting exercise ideas from. I'm not sure if there are any good ones. I haven't seen them myself.

Do you have access to a gym? There are plenty of upper body and one-legged weight-lifting exercises that would keep you moving, build some strength, and mentally help you keep on track.

Sorry to hear about the injury. Ouch!
Kim

I do have access to a gym.....if I could get there!! I have to depend on others to drive me from place to place, so i don't know if i could ever get there!! Good idea though!

If I didn't have the cast, I could swim! I may have to look into that after the cast comes off!

I was in pretty much the same situation as you this time last year. I had tendon and ligament surgery and was in a no-weight cast for 8 weeks. The only way I kept in any kind of shape was keeping some 5lb weights next to the chair i spent most of my time in to do bicep curls and presses and whatnot. I also crutched everywhere I possibly could, as often as I could, and as fast as I could (without being in danger of losing my balance). You can burn some mean calories just going from the house to the end of the driveway and back!

Go to collagevideo and they have some sitting exercise videos/DVDs. Type in the name Jodi Stolove and watch some clips from her videos. I've tried the "Chair Dancing Around the World" one and it's lots of fun.

I went back to the doctor this week, and although things look good- no bones have shifted around, i'm still in a cast for another 4 weeks!! which means i'm getting my cast off the week of my best friends wedding, in which i am her maid of honor! right now, i'm just hoping to be able to walk down the aisle with out a cast or boot, etc!

i've been trying to do crunches lately, but i just started back to school and setting up my classroom has WORN me OUT this past week! just doing that, hopping up and down stairs to and from my apartment, and hopping in my apartment has been quite a workout! i have sore muscles in places i didn't know existed! i also have bumps and bruises all over from crashing into walls! nothing too bad though! i just feel kinda dumb!

i don't usually sweat a lot, even when i work out hard, but wow, i've been sweating like crazy! we are one of the hottest summers ever in TN and plus all the extra effort I have to give to every movement is making all the sweat I haven't sweated before come out!!

Thanks for all the tips....I'm going to check out those videos!

Also my principal at my school is dead set on us working out together once i can walk a bit! she's looking into getting me a free membership at the same gym she got one to. one of the families at my school owns it, and i'm thinking i'd have a good chance at getting it free since i'm their kids homeroom teacher this year! my principal is recovering from cancer AND knee surgery, so i know she's bound and determined to get health and will kick my butt into gear once she's able to!!

Hey Daisy
Sorry to hear about your injury a few years ago I feel down a flight of stairs and crushed the bone in my right leg and I was in a cast up to my knee for 6 weeks, well obviously the doctor didnt leave it on long enough a week after the cast came off I triped over a rug but my brother caught me and gently set me down, I didn't even twist or do anything to my ankle/leg but it rebroke in the same exact area and I was in another cast for 8 weeks this time. I wasn't allowed to bear anything weight at all either I wasn't even allowed to use crutches (the doc said I was too clumsey)lol

Anyway, I know its hard to get rides to places and tote yourself around, so to keep active I would do A LOT of arm and upper body exercises at the house, and I would do a form of leg lift where I would Sit on the couch, reach back over my shoulders and hold onto the back of the couch and i would lift both my legs up as high as i could, its a good stomach/leg workout and you wouldn't have to worry about any of ur bones shifting around ...It didnt bother me at all.

I hope this helps a little
Good luck!!!