[Sportsandrec] Exercise Ideas for Julie and Swim Bouy

[Kelly Thornbury]

Hi Julie, 

If your doctor has cleared you to do any activities, then I suggest getting right back into your walking routine. You probably won't be at the same level as before, but regardless of what exercise program you use you will have to work back up to your pre-injury levels. Without a more in-depth review of your records or a mobility evaluation, my "best guess" based on what you've mentioned is that your at the "suck it up" part of your recovery, where you will have some discomfort performing your walking routine but this discomfort probably will not causing any further damage. Be sure to include lots of flexibility exercises and movements to strengthen the muscles that support the ankle. Some exercises might include deep calf raises off a step or curb, dorsal flexion (raising the top of the foot towards the shins) of the foot (try draping a folded sock over the top of the foot and standing on the ends with the other, then flex the foot against the resistance), and picking up items or crumpling newspaper pages with your toes. The last couple sound goofy, and feel even more ridiculous when you do them, but these are a couple of good ways to work all the small support muscles of the foot and ankle. I also have a few rotational exercises for the ankles if you want to contact me off list (a little to complex to describe in an open forum). 
kthornbury at bresnan.net

As for using the swim buoy (I missed who asked), be sure to also include some kickboard laps for the legs. In my experience, it has been a lot easier to put the whole swim stroke together when I work on the arms and legs independently first. I also found using the buoy great for working on rotating my shoulders in the front crawl/freestyle stroke (I don't know about other people, but the over-exaggerated rotation is the only way I can get my head out of the water to breathe, and I have a great aversion to drowning...Go figure). 

Kelly