Injured, any advice?

[LankyFreak23]

I turned my ankle rather severely about 2 months ago. It was starting to improve but I re-aggravated it playing basketball and I never felt 100% in the first place. With that in mind, I'm going to shut it down for at least the next 2-3 weeks, possibly longer since it's an achilles problem and they take forever to heal.

I still want to lose weight though! I am very hungry to get in shape and have a flat tire, so I'm pretty discouraged. What do I need to do to keep progressing without running?

[Gill]

Is cardio the only thing you've been doing for your weightloss? Resistance training will burn more fat than running. If you haven't, try picking up weight lifting.

If thats not an option, then do low-impact cardio a la cycling. If you do a stationary cycle, it shouldnt bother your ankle much at all.

[BigMikeD]

Originally Posted by Gill

Is cardio the only thing you've been doing for your weightloss? Resistance training will burn more fat than running. If you haven't, try picking up weight lifting.

If thats not an option, then do low-impact cardio a la cycling. If you do a stationary cycle, it shouldnt bother your ankle much at all.

Agreed...

Bad Ankle sprains can take upwards of 6-8 weeks to heal and in cases of re-injury... possibly longer. Stay away from the high impact stuff for a while bud, do like Gill suggested and just plant your ass on the stationary bike until you are back to 100%.


Also, are you wearing a brace or anything like that? From my Football days i found that the leather lace up braces ($10-15 i think) work very well, especially during recovery from something like this. They aren’t the most comfortable things to wear but at least it should keep your from rolling that Ankle over again while you're recovering
.

[LankyFreak23]

I was weight-lifting but it was kind of secondary to the heavy cardio I was doing (mainly playing basketball). I'll definitely kick it up a notch on the lifting for sure.

I do have a sleeve for my ankle but I had heard that the lace-up braces were much better so I was going to look into that. I hadn't thought about the bike, that's a great idea.

Thanks for the input guys.

[dogsoldier]

Just don't do like I did after my motorcycle accident, sit on your ass and eat. The stationary bike is a good idea, but I had trouble with the downward push after the accident for several moths. I found a recumbent much easier on my knee and ankle. Also, there are plenty of barbell exercises you can do while sitting. So don't over look those.

[Rebecca]

I would avoid anything that may aggravate your ankle further, especially basketball. Have you tried swimming, a recumbant stationary bike, or a rowing machine? With these modes of exercise you can still get the heart rate up, but a lot of pressure will be taken off the ankle allowing it to heal.

And as said previously you can still continue weight lifting, especially any of the upper body muscles. You want to maintain any muscle you have so that your metabolism doesn't slow down.

Best of luck in the healing process. Hope you're back at it soon!