Any ideas...

ok, just as my legs were starting to strengthen again and look a little less like matchsticks i have to have another op to remove some of the metal work. I initially thought, piece of cake, will just have to wait for the stitches to heal. no problem. then i thought again and realised that there will be holes in my bones where they take all the screws out. soooo... i have to go easy on them for at least a month (lucky my bones heal fast).

can anyone think of any exercises (other than granny leg lifts) that i can do to stop the tiny bit of muscle i've built from disappearing again....? (and did you know it takes less than 48hrs of muscle inactivity for it to start breaking down? that is rubbish on the body's behalf!!!)

How long have you had the metal in?

I've had screws in my ankle for 10 years now. Can't see the point of having them removed if they don't cause a problem

I had the screws out of my collar bone about 6 weeks ago and it feels much better.

Listen to the advice of the doc rather than do things the plagarist way...(sorry Em). Mine said that the bone was totally sound but to avoid impacts as it would be weaker for a few months. So running, weights, cycle trainers anything that you can't fall of off should be fine. Do check first though.

it's been nearly a year. one of the screws is starting to rub throught the skin, and the wires grate when i do certain movements, so they are coming out....

consultant has said it's almost like having a broken leg again so take it very easy (boring) for at least a few weeks and no impact stuff for a month. can't even drive for 2 weeks. so dull.

I had 2 screws out of my leg in march last year and was out cycling 2 days later. You should have at LEAST 75%+ of the bone strength their so anything non-impact should be fine.

By the by, took well over 18months to put back muscle that I lost on my thigh (still not quite right) but I noticed it improved much quicker with copius amounts of protein shakes. Taste foul, make you fart but definitely work on rebuilding muscle.

Good luck with the butchers!

(edited because I don't know where exactly your screws went in and how close they are together apparently makes quite a big difference)

If you do free weights, then for the upper body stuff, drop your usual load by a few KGs and stand on two of those 'Bosu' thingies (the half-ball balance boards). This will help assist with the smaller 'stabilising' muscles that you've also been losing.

Following this, I then also tend to play rugby and break the fucker again.

Eat right and you won't lose muscle. They may appear smaller, that's just cos they're bot 'pumped' from excercise.

Also drink lots of milk- your body could use the extra calcium to repair your bones.

[quote=Jung;858915]

By the by, took well over 18months to put back muscle that I lost on my thigh (still not quite right) but I noticed it improved much quicker with copius amounts of protein shakes. Taste foul, make you fart but definitely work on rebuilding muscle.

Good luck with the butchers!
quote]

oh my god, they made me drink malnutrition shakes when i was in hospital (i lost 2 stone due to trauma) and they were FOUL. made worse by the fact that the fridge wasn't working so I had to drink them luke warm.
I have been drinking build up shakes since and they are just like chocolate milkshakes. I don't know why they couldn't have given me them.

With my collar bone, I was told after my 2 month (?) check up that they couldnt see any evidence of the bones fusing together again (apparently this happens with about 2% of patients). I freaked out and went and bought a pile of those pills designed for old people whose bones start to degenerate (osteoporosis) - calcium plus zinc etc. Did the trick. Three weeks later, all hunky dory.

that's brilliant! i am taking glucosamine, chrondroitin and everything else under the sun already as i have been told i will get arthritis. yey.
they were worried that my leg wouldn't fuse, as apparently it's quite common for high impact, high trauma breaks to not fuse. they don't know why. luckily it healed much quicker than expected. phew.

this is my leg....

1 Attachment

(they aren't taking the metal bar in my tibia out)

Swimming is not impact and after sex the the best form of excercise. Not sure what effect the cloreen in the water would have on wounds though.

(spell check fail)

Wow, are all the staples stiches?

swimming, maybe yoga?

this is my leg....

Eeeek! The accident/surgery mustve been gruesome, the scattered placement of all them staples is frightening!

Well done you for getting through it all. My younger brothers had several similar operations so Im fairly familiar with the unpleasantness of major surgery and long recoveries.

I have found an extremely effective yet gentle exercise for similar muscles as cycling but with more emphasis on glutes & inner quads (ive been doing it for knee recovery)

Basically, stand sideways on a step with one foot on the step and the other dangling. Point your heel down and toes up on the dangling foot. Keep the step foot firmly flat.

Lower yourself down by bending the leg on the step, till you can lightly touch the dangling heel on the floor. The come back up pushing firm power though other foot and contracting glutes.

Try to keep torso as vertical as possible throughout.

48 hrs?! Damn i'd better do something...

Your doc/ nurse/ health assistant might have some suggestions that would help you out. But swimming sounds like a good one. Nice and supported by the water. Avoid the fun hour and wave machines though! ... Yoga...well I'm squeamish about the idea of you stretching where there are wounds, and them being pulled open.

Speaking from experience, having broken a fair few bones in my time, and injured myself more times than I can remember.....maybe thats the concussions ;)
Doctors always know best, but sometimes they are a little over cautious...
I had much more severe metal work in my femur, mine was removed in two seperate ops, after the first op I was only just about walking anyways so it was no big deal that I couldn't do much. But after the second op I was already well into my recovery, so it was kind of annoying when it hurt like fuck after they removed it, but I was back exercising around 10 days afterwards, and bmxing a month later.
Best advice I can give is don't do stuff thats high resistance, e.g. don't go trying to do any big weights in the gym, no heavy sprinting on the bike, take it easy, little and often is the best approach.
High rep squats with your bodyweight or just the barbell are a good idea, swimming is excellent, getting on the bike should be fine, but you want stuff with a little bit of impact to help the bone knit and to strengthen it, brisk walking is also ideal.
In terms of diet protein shakes are fine, you want longer digesting protein than just the whey stuff though, I would recommend whey protein shakes in the morning and lunch and then casein/micellar casein type proteins afternoon nighttime, a casein based shake, or some natural cottage cheese is excellent before bed as well.
Try to get as much as you can from food sources though, plenty of calcium and vitamin C (both very important), try and eat a generally healthy diet, lay off the alcohol completely if possible, as it will slow healing and certainly aid inflammation.
I found all the above helped me a great deal and I was back to normal in a month or two after the second op (apart from the odd twinge here and there).

Also healthy fats such as fish oil, avocado oil, and olive oil have excellent anti-inflammatory properties, so make sure you get a reasonable amount of those in your diet.

Also healthy fats such as fish oil, avocado oil, and olive oil have excellent anti-inflammatory properties, so make sure you get a reasonable amount of those in your diet.

Both posts truly excellent advice. Just as a side point I found meat fats, particularly pork and beef had exactly the opposite effect (I.e made inflammation worse).

Looking at the metal work and comparing it to mine, I think even if they took the lot out (bar the tibial nail) you'll be fine for bone strength for all the excercise CJ suggested.

Still shit though. I hate surgery. Trying to avoid the need for a tendon transfer on my ankle because of nerve damage caused in the original break. Invasive and 3 months in a cast while the tendons knit. That would friggin suck.

Thats because most red meats contain trans-fatty acids which are known to cause inflammation, particularly a certain one called arachadonic acid I think which can really fuck with your joints, if consumed in high amounts, hilariously though if your body is deficient in it other health problems can be caused, but you need such a tiny amount of it in your diet, and very often you body can produce plenty on its own utilizing other food sources.

Having seen someone go through all this, I hope you heal up well, just don't give up when you get frustrated

lil.

a good friend of mine had similar problems after a nasty accident and with a bit of patience, most of the exercises mentioned so far in the thread and lots of extra protein in his diet his muscles were back to normal in about 4 months.

good luck and hope you have a speedy recovery.

I think running/cycling will build the muscle naturally rather than doing boring physio exercises.

If you are too delicate for that at the moment swimming pool action is good - running motion in deep end/squats in water etc

Nutrition important too however my recommendation would be guinness ....

Get well soon.

Wow, are all the staples stiches?

yes, i lost most of my inner calf muscle and across the front of the tibia, so they took a muscle from my back (latissimus dorsi) and spent 10 hours sewing blood vessels and veins together. then they stapled round the edges. then skin grafted onto it 3 weeks later. amazing what they can do! if that had failed it would have been amputation. also amazing what the body will accept!

thank you all for your advice, i really appreciate it and will definitely take it! I eat very healthily anyway and am very aware of what I eat, so it shouldn't be too hard. And I know what a difference it makes.