Workout Wednesday: Working Out While Injured

When I was diagnosed with my stress fracture, almost 5 weeks ago, I knew that I was going to need to find a way to keep my workouts going.  Sitting still isn't an option for me.  My mental health depends on it and it would be a quick dive back into depression if I backed off even a bit.

But this injury definitely limited what I could actually do.

The doctor I had talked to told me I could continue to work out as long as:

a) I didn't run
b) if it hurt at all to do a certain movement or activity - I was to stop immediately.

So...what HAVE I been doing?

Mostly stationary bike.  The doctor had recommended that I find a recumbent bike but I don't have access to one at home or at the gym and I wasn't going to buy one special for the duration of this healing process.  I have access to plenty of upright bikes and those don't hurt.

I have biked A LOT.

Most days - this has been blissfully pain free. There have been a few days where it hasn't hurt a stitch to bike, but my ankle has swollen right up afterwards or I have spent the rest of the day hobbling around.

My lovely puffy ankle

I have no way of foretelling when it will happen and I just have to hope that I am not hurting my recovery when it does.  I really REALLY want to get this thing healed up so I can move on and re-learn to run again.  I have become a pro at finding ways to elevate my leg and ice it at work.

I did try the elliptical one day - pain free - it was great to feel almost like I was running again.  But that thing ALWAYS makes my feet go to sleep so it didn't last for more than a kilometre and then a bike freed up at the gym.

I have been incorporating some bursts of upper body strength and a bit of core into my weeks.    Not as much as I had hoped.  Likely not enough to make any great difference.

In the end - sticking with the general rule of "if it hurts, stop doing it", I have managed to stay active through this stress fracture.   With any luck - I will soon be healed and we can start laughing at my misadventures as a new runner again.  I never blogged that first time I was learning to run four years ago - I am sure this will prove to be quite amusing as I figure it all out again and try to stay unbroken this time!