Thread: Healing Ankle Friendly Cardio Workouts

Fairly minor complaint compared to a lot of the injuries in this forum but I'm casting a wide net for ideas.

I'm getting over yet another dumb fuck, garden variety ankle sprain (turn outward while hikey no lookey). After doing the right things for three weeks I'm walking OK and ready to get back into some cardio excercise at the gym.

I usually concentrate on eliptical trainers to keep impact to a minimum but that's out until the ankle heals. Tried treadmill (stupid idea), Bike (not as bad but seemed like it was doing more harm than good) and rowing machine (still felt the achlilles more than I wanted to).

Any thoughts?

Bike is by far the least irritating to a healing ankle. One other thing you could try is some pool based workouts. Something like an aquajogger (deep water running with a float belt). Or if your gym has an upper body bike. those are the only other thing I can think of right now.

Recumbent bike might be easier on the ankle.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll give the bike a shot today. The layoff is making my hops and barley consumption altogether too apparent.

Don't take an ankle injury lightly. Make sure that 3 weeks is enough time off before you start any sort of exercise program. I sprained my ankle a year ago in August and I can finally run without any pain.
I still can't wear heels but I am sure that might not be a problem for you.

Try these they've helped me tremendously. Good luck and take it easy it will
be worth it in the long run.

Phase 1: ROM, kill swelling, stay off it.

Phase 2: Strengthen anke and foot.
Therabands are great for this. Wrap them around your foot and do inversion, eversion, etc. They are color coded so you can increase resistance over time by switching colors. Add calf raises. Stretch calf often.

Phase 3: Proprioception / Balance
Get a balance board. vew-do are great.

Phase 4: Plyotmetrics