broken leg - recovery period experience ?

[Carlos Fandango]

Hi,

Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
3-4 weeks.

Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?

I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

TIA

C

 

[Michael Macclan]

"Carlos Fandango" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would ask a physiotherapist, preferably someone who deals with sporting injuries and is used to
the demands of people who want to get back in action as soon as possible.

I once broke my leg and judging from my experiences the best advice I can give is not to overdo
things. The day my plaster came off I went shopping in town. Big mistake! I couldn't walk for about
3 days afterwards!
___
Michael MacClancy

 

[Michael Macclan]

"Carlos Fandango" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would ask a physiotherapist, preferably someone who deals with sporting injuries and is used to
the demands of people who want to get back in action as soon as possible.

I once broke my leg and judging from my experiences the best advice I can give is not to overdo
things. The day my plaster came off I went shopping in town. Big mistake! I couldn't walk for about
3 days afterwards!
___
Michael MacClancy

 

[Richard Bates]

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:58:36 +0000 (UTC), in <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Carlos Fandango) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
>3-4 weeks.
>
>Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
>might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?

What did you break? If the cast ends above your ankle then you can continue to exercise your calf
muscles by extending and flexing your ankle. If you are in a below knee cast then upper leg exercise
is no problem.

If you are in a long leg cast then I'm afraid you are rather buggered for a few weeks.

I would have thought that your local hospital would have organised physio as an outpatient??????????

--
Sig got lost during a reinstall

 

[Anonymous]

Carlos Fandango posted ...

> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

Heh .. I broke Tib and Fib, centrally, many years ago and the hospital kept putting too small a cast
on it, so they literally pulled the ends away from each other .. until they finally ended with a
cast from my toes to my crutch, with a supporting waist and shoulder strap. About 6 months in cast
and about 6 months recovering the muscles etc, and this was at age 18/19, when I was pretty fit and
strong ..

Best thing you can do when the pot comes off is not do anything for a few days..seriously, let your
leg get used to having air round it. when I started bending my leg straight away the skin around my
hip knee and ankles kept 'chafing' on itself and became very sore, as did all the tendons and other
bits that push pull and tether the muscles and bones together.

Don't do too much work to try and start the re-growth of muscles too quickly, you'll just take
longer anyway, 'cos you'll screw them up. Muscle generally 'tears' to get re-built, and if there's
little muscle there, the tearing is a high percentage and instead of repairing and building it'll be
only repairing and _will_ hurt .. a lot.

Easy to say all the above, but I do know, I did it all wrong ..

--
Digweed ....

 

[Richard Bates]

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:58:36 +0000 (UTC), in <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Carlos Fandango) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
>3-4 weeks.
>
>Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
>might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?

What did you break? If the cast ends above your ankle then you can continue to exercise your calf
muscles by extending and flexing your ankle. If you are in a below knee cast then upper leg exercise
is no problem.

If you are in a long leg cast then I'm afraid you are rather buggered for a few weeks.

I would have thought that your local hospital would have organised physio as an outpatient??????????

--
Sig got lost during a reinstall

 

[Michael Macclan]

"Carlos Fandango" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would ask a physiotherapist, preferably someone who deals with sporting injuries and is used to
the demands of people who want to get back in action as soon as possible.

I once broke my leg and judging from my experiences the best advice I can give is not to overdo
things. The day my plaster came off I went shopping in town. Big mistake! I couldn't walk for about
3 days afterwards!
___
Michael MacClancy

 

[Vincent Wilcox]

Carlos Fandango wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

I broke my leg in January and was in plaster for 3 months and watched my leg atrophy, however it
wasn't as bad as I had expected and it comes back relatively quickly. The worst thing is the ankle
as this completely locks up and the knee if you have a full leg cast. I started riding straight
after the plaster came off and was back on a fixed gear within a week. Ok heres what I found on a
regular thursday ride me and a friend which culminated in going up Hampstead Hill. Hardly a hill
really. This was on top of a 14 mile commute and some weekend riding but was what I used to guage my
progress as before the accident he was slower than me by dint that he wasn't a regular rider rather
than any Lance Armstrong genes on my part.

1st ride, stopped three times up the hill. 2nd ride, stopped once. 3rd ride, didnt stop. 4th ride,
could stay within long distance sight distance of friend. 5th ride, mid distance sighting. 6th.
Within a short distance. 7th Kept up with him. 8th Beat him.

So two months and after that it was pretty much back to normal. It helped me to have consistent
weekly ride and also to have someone to do it with and compare.

If you've got a full leg cast theres not much you can do. I used to tense my calves and try and move
it as much as possible but it's pretty frustrating. If I were you forget about doing to much and use
the time productively to catch up on all that great literature you've missed or those films you
could never get round to seeing. I know its very frustrating.

Check out http://www.mybrokenleg.com/ as I found it quite useful.

Good luck.

Tip; If you use spds take the tension right off as twisting your ankle out is a real *******.

 

[Anonymous]

Carlos Fandango posted ...

> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

Heh .. I broke Tib and Fib, centrally, many years ago and the hospital kept putting too small a cast
on it, so they literally pulled the ends away from each other .. until they finally ended with a
cast from my toes to my crutch, with a supporting waist and shoulder strap. About 6 months in cast
and about 6 months recovering the muscles etc, and this was at age 18/19, when I was pretty fit and
strong ..

Best thing you can do when the pot comes off is not do anything for a few days..seriously, let your
leg get used to having air round it. when I started bending my leg straight away the skin around my
hip knee and ankles kept 'chafing' on itself and became very sore, as did all the tendons and other
bits that push pull and tether the muscles and bones together.

Don't do too much work to try and start the re-growth of muscles too quickly, you'll just take
longer anyway, 'cos you'll screw them up. Muscle generally 'tears' to get re-built, and if there's
little muscle there, the tearing is a high percentage and instead of repairing and building it'll be
only repairing and _will_ hurt .. a lot.

Easy to say all the above, but I do know, I did it all wrong ..

--
Digweed ....

 

[Roger Fretwell]

Carlos Fandango wrote:

> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would try and see a good sports physiotherapist as soon as possible.
If you can find one that does pool-based therapy that might help.

My girlfriend broke her leg last year; she was in plaster for four weeks and then she had a
removeable boot for a further two weeks. She went to a see a physiotherapist the day the plaster
came off, and started doing pool-based remedial work the same day, to regain strength and mobility.
Two weeks later when she dispensed with the boot she was already well on the road to recovery; she
was back to full strength not much later.

Roger Fretwell

 

[Vincent Wilcox]

Carlos Fandango wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

I broke my leg in January and was in plaster for 3 months and watched my leg atrophy, however it
wasn't as bad as I had expected and it comes back relatively quickly. The worst thing is the ankle
as this completely locks up and the knee if you have a full leg cast. I started riding straight
after the plaster came off and was back on a fixed gear within a week. Ok heres what I found on a
regular thursday ride me and a friend which culminated in going up Hampstead Hill. Hardly a hill
really. This was on top of a 14 mile commute and some weekend riding but was what I used to guage my
progress as before the accident he was slower than me by dint that he wasn't a regular rider rather
than any Lance Armstrong genes on my part.

1st ride, stopped three times up the hill. 2nd ride, stopped once. 3rd ride, didnt stop. 4th ride,
could stay within long distance sight distance of friend. 5th ride, mid distance sighting. 6th.
Within a short distance. 7th Kept up with him. 8th Beat him.

So two months and after that it was pretty much back to normal. It helped me to have consistent
weekly ride and also to have someone to do it with and compare.

If you've got a full leg cast theres not much you can do. I used to tense my calves and try and move
it as much as possible but it's pretty frustrating. If I were you forget about doing to much and use
the time productively to catch up on all that great literature you've missed or those films you
could never get round to seeing. I know its very frustrating.

Check out http://www.mybrokenleg.com/ as I found it quite useful.

Good luck.

Tip; If you use spds take the tension right off as twisting your ankle out is a real *******.

 

[Roger Fretwell]

Carlos Fandango wrote:

> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would try and see a good sports physiotherapist as soon as possible.
If you can find one that does pool-based therapy that might help.

My girlfriend broke her leg last year; she was in plaster for four weeks and then she had a
removeable boot for a further two weeks. She went to a see a physiotherapist the day the plaster
came off, and started doing pool-based remedial work the same day, to regain strength and mobility.
Two weeks later when she dispensed with the boot she was already well on the road to recovery; she
was back to full strength not much later.

Roger Fretwell

 

[Richard Bates]

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:58:36 +0000 (UTC), in <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Carlos Fandango) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
>3-4 weeks.
>
>Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
>might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?

What did you break? If the cast ends above your ankle then you can continue to exercise your calf
muscles by extending and flexing your ankle. If you are in a below knee cast then upper leg exercise
is no problem.

If you are in a long leg cast then I'm afraid you are rather buggered for a few weeks.

I would have thought that your local hospital would have organised physio as an outpatient??????????

--
Sig got lost during a reinstall

 

[Anonymous]

Carlos Fandango posted ...

> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

Heh .. I broke Tib and Fib, centrally, many years ago and the hospital kept putting too small a cast
on it, so they literally pulled the ends away from each other .. until they finally ended with a
cast from my toes to my crutch, with a supporting waist and shoulder strap. About 6 months in cast
and about 6 months recovering the muscles etc, and this was at age 18/19, when I was pretty fit and
strong ..

Best thing you can do when the pot comes off is not do anything for a few days..seriously, let your
leg get used to having air round it. when I started bending my leg straight away the skin around my
hip knee and ankles kept 'chafing' on itself and became very sore, as did all the tendons and other
bits that push pull and tether the muscles and bones together.

Don't do too much work to try and start the re-growth of muscles too quickly, you'll just take
longer anyway, 'cos you'll screw them up. Muscle generally 'tears' to get re-built, and if there's
little muscle there, the tearing is a high percentage and instead of repairing and building it'll be
only repairing and _will_ hurt .. a lot.

Easy to say all the above, but I do know, I did it all wrong ..

--
Digweed ....

 

[Vincent Wilcox]

Carlos Fandango wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C

I broke my leg in January and was in plaster for 3 months and watched my leg atrophy, however it
wasn't as bad as I had expected and it comes back relatively quickly. The worst thing is the ankle
as this completely locks up and the knee if you have a full leg cast. I started riding straight
after the plaster came off and was back on a fixed gear within a week. Ok heres what I found on a
regular thursday ride me and a friend which culminated in going up Hampstead Hill. Hardly a hill
really. This was on top of a 14 mile commute and some weekend riding but was what I used to guage my
progress as before the accident he was slower than me by dint that he wasn't a regular rider rather
than any Lance Armstrong genes on my part.

1st ride, stopped three times up the hill. 2nd ride, stopped once. 3rd ride, didnt stop. 4th ride,
could stay within long distance sight distance of friend. 5th ride, mid distance sighting. 6th.
Within a short distance. 7th Kept up with him. 8th Beat him.

So two months and after that it was pretty much back to normal. It helped me to have consistent
weekly ride and also to have someone to do it with and compare.

If you've got a full leg cast theres not much you can do. I used to tense my calves and try and move
it as much as possible but it's pretty frustrating. If I were you forget about doing to much and use
the time productively to catch up on all that great literature you've missed or those films you
could never get round to seeing. I know its very frustrating.

Check out http://www.mybrokenleg.com/ as I found it quite useful.

Good luck.

Tip; If you use spds take the tension right off as twisting your ankle out is a real *******.

 

[Antti Aalto]

Hi,

This is more of a question than a suggestion since I've never had a broken leg myself and I
certainly don't want anyone trying this unless advised by a professional.

Anyway, a friend of mine broke his leg some years ago. This didn't completely restrict him from
working on his other foot and he was actually encouraged to carefully do so. Its called
cross-transfer when when training the uninjured limb helps to maintain the strengts of the
injured one. Now, I really dont' know if this is backed up by any scientific studies, and a quick
lookup with google only brought up references to nonsensical "health" publications. Any facts
about this anyone?

If you feel like doing something why not get a physicians opinion and maybe feel a whole lot better
atleast trying to keep some of the strength?

Regards

Antti

 

[Roger Fretwell]

Carlos Fandango wrote:

> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?

I would try and see a good sports physiotherapist as soon as possible.
If you can find one that does pool-based therapy that might help.

My girlfriend broke her leg last year; she was in plaster for four weeks and then she had a
removeable boot for a further two weeks. She went to a see a physiotherapist the day the plaster
came off, and started doing pool-based remedial work the same day, to regain strength and mobility.
Two weeks later when she dispensed with the boot she was already well on the road to recovery; she
was back to full strength not much later.

Roger Fretwell

 

[Antti Aalto]

Hi,

This is more of a question than a suggestion since I've never had a broken leg myself and I
certainly don't want anyone trying this unless advised by a professional.

Anyway, a friend of mine broke his leg some years ago. This didn't completely restrict him from
working on his other foot and he was actually encouraged to carefully do so. Its called
cross-transfer when when training the uninjured limb helps to maintain the strengts of the
injured one. Now, I really dont' know if this is backed up by any scientific studies, and a quick
lookup with google only brought up references to nonsensical "health" publications. Any facts
about this anyone?

If you feel like doing something why not get a physicians opinion and maybe feel a whole lot better
atleast trying to keep some of the strength?

Regards

Antti

 

[Antti Aalto]

Hi,

This is more of a question than a suggestion since I've never had a broken leg myself and I
certainly don't want anyone trying this unless advised by a professional.

Anyway, a friend of mine broke his leg some years ago. This didn't completely restrict him from
working on his other foot and he was actually encouraged to carefully do so. Its called
cross-transfer when when training the uninjured limb helps to maintain the strengts of the
injured one. Now, I really dont' know if this is backed up by any scientific studies, and a quick
lookup with google only brought up references to nonsensical "health" publications. Any facts
about this anyone?

If you feel like doing something why not get a physicians opinion and maybe feel a whole lot better
atleast trying to keep some of the strength?

Regards

Antti

 

[Let]

Year ago I broke my lower leg and had it pinned together. After about three weeks I started riding
my bicycle (the cast came up to just below my knee) The exercise was nice because there was no
impacts or jarring. The best part was that when the cast was removed, I hopped off the table and
walked away with no atrophy of the muscles or weakness in that leg. Check with your doctor and
follow his instructions though. Mine was nice enough to put on a water-proof cast so I could shower
after my exercise.

Good luck - hope it heals quickly and completely

"Carlos Fandango" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> Following a road accident, I've been in paster for 2 weeks and expect to stay this way for another
> 3-4 weeks.
>
> Whilst in the position, I've watched my leg wither away. Following 6 weeks of inactivity, how long
> might it take to get the muscles back to full strength/size ?
>
> I'm not allowed any load bearing movement ie standing on it, but everything else seems ok. What
> exercises can I do to minimise the losses and speed up the recovery period once the cast is off ?
>
> TIA
>
> C