Crutches, strength, broken bones

[coffeetime]

I fell down the stairs last week and broke my lower leg in two places, so I'm in a splint (post-surgery and will probably get a cast at some point). I'm glad I do so many split squats--that is what's giving my good leg the strength to deal with life on crutches, though it is extremely fatiguing. The other leg gets a workout in the quad and especially the hip flexor, but not the glute. And I'm going to be like this for up to 12 weeks.

I am impatient to get to the gym and do upper body, but right now just getting in and out of my second-floor apartment with crutches is all the workout I can manage...it is HARD, and my lats and traps are exhausted. My body is tired from the surgery. So no formal gym workouts yet.

How can I keep the glute on the injured side strong, and how can I stretch that aching, tired hip flexor given that I mustn't put weight on the foot? I can lower it for a few minutes, not too long because it swells and hurts.

Anyone with tips for recovering from or living with an injury like this, I'd welcome those too. Thanks!

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Really glad the links were helpful; I got so much good advice from people.

Okay, so hip flexor stretches -- if you can put the knee on the floor, you can do the standard kneeling stretch:

http://willgallucci.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/hipflexorstretch.jpg

Or this one could be ideal:

http://baudrytherapy.dreamhosters.com/wp-content/uploads/hip-flexor-stretch-300x225.jpg

Glutes and hamstrings of the injured leg -- hard to do anything heavy because you can't put weight through the foot, but you could do all the "quadruped" exerciss on hands and knees: donkey kicks, etc.. The weight of the cast will help add resistance. *g*

OTOH, if you're exhausted, you probably want to minimize the extra stress you're putting on your body.

Could be worth putting focus into stretching and massage stuff for everything that's getting overworked by life on crutches.