Breaking your leg is incredibly disruptive to your life.
Whether it’s tiny bones in your foot or major players like your femur or tibia, leg fractures require total rest in order to ensure recovery. This means that you cannot put any weight on the broken leg which rules out walking, driving, and any form of physical activity where standing is required.
These limitations to your usual routine can be exceptionally frustrating and can damage your mental wellbeing, especially if you were injured in an accident that was not your fault. However, time heals all wounds: after medical treatment and rehabilitation you’ll be back on your feet as before.
With the okay from your doctor, try incorporating these equipment and exercises recommendations for a smooth and speedy leg fracture recovery.
Increase mobility with resistance bands
After a period of inaction, you will experience joint stiffness and muscle weakness in your limb.
Resistance bands are a great way to gently reintroduce pressure and stretching into the leg without stressing the injured area. Common rehabilitating activities include range-of-motion exercises such as the passive straight-leg calf stretch and more active strengthening exercises like ankle rotation.
Improve balance with a partner
Relying on one leg for weeks or even months is guaranteed to leave you a little off balance when you get back on two feet. Thankfully, there are lots of easy exercises that will improve your balance.
Proprioception activities reawaken receptors in your tendons and ligaments that will have shut down while your injured leg was immobilised. While these simple exercises require no equipment, it helps to work with a partner so that they can monitor your form. You should also stay close to a wall, especially at first, in case you overbalance.
Experiment with cardio conditioning
Once your physical therapist gives you the okay to do so, you should experiment with cardio conditioning.
While your leg was out of action, your stamina levels will have dropped. Reintroducing cardiovascular exercise is a great way to test and increase your endurance which will help you on your journey to regaining your strength.
Popular gym equipment such as the cross-trainer, stair-climber, and treadmill are all great options for cardio workout, but be sure to start off slow and steady and stop if you feel any discomfort or pain.
Employ plyometric training exercises
Often the final step in the leg fracture rehabilitation process is to employ plyometric training.
This is the proper way of describing jumping activities that will help to improve your leg strength and power. They are usually saved until last because high-intensity exercises like jumping could damage breaks that are not completely healed.
In the gym, utilise the box to ensure good form and stability when jumping. You can use both legs to do a box jump into a squat which has the added advantage of testing your balance, or more cardio-focused exercises like explosive step-ups. You could also trial easier exercises such as skipping.
