7mo ago

What are some good exercises or resources for trying to improve physical fitness with multiple limb injuries?

I have slow-healing/chronic injuries to both wrists and an ankle. Prior to my wrist injuries, I had been working to do some yoga to try to establish something resembling a routine but, that's not possible to continue any time soon.

Nearly every site that I've found has advice on exercises to do if an arm OR a leg OR one's back is injured but none that I've found so far address multiple injuries.

Right now, the only things coming to my mind are:

crunches
forearm planks
bicycle kicks

Anyone have any suggestions for others or resources to dig into?

Update: Thank you all for the advice. To be clear, I have already seen specialists and am waiting on an appointment with a hand and wrist specialist. Just impatient when the slow rate of healing and the timing of the wrist injuries.

36 comments

This really is something you should discuss with a professional physical therapist. You can do a lot of damage when doing the wrong excercises too early

This is when you bite the bullet and talk to a trained professional.
- Currently waiting on the appointment. Just impatient.
  
  Do yourself a favor and wait.
  There's a good chance you could make your condition worse.
  
  Last month, I had a shoulder replaced that I injured in March. Seven months to get the surgery, another month before PT could start.
  Waiting while in pain is brutal, but this is not a DIY project.
  Not to mention, if this affects multiple limbs, there’s a very real possibility you could e.g., fall while exercising and dramatically worsen the situation.

Like others have said: go see therapist, do not try following random advice online. That is coming from someone having to deal with A few lifelong health issues of their own.
Also, start small and slow. This was huge, for me. And allowed me to do so much I never imagined I would be able to, on the long run.

i was a personal trainer for a bit and honestly if you were my client id ask you to go get guidelines from a physical therapist first. swimming and light calisthenics should be fine, but listen to your body first and do not push it/make it hurt

I do think you should consult with a physical therapist. That said, I think machines are going to help you a lot.
With inured wrists you could do a lot with a cable machine and a wrist attachment. You could use a pec dec machine and your forearms to work your chest.
For legs you could try leg curls and leg extensions if you can lift far enough away from your ankle.

Are you able to swim? Braces necessary?
- I'd second swimming or in general doing stuff in water. The difficult part will be to find a place to do that which can accommodate your particular needs, i.e. if you don't wanna actually swim, does the pool have area for that, is it not full of kids (not just kids) who won't pay any attention to you and potentially hurt you while playing
- Braces, yup. Fortunately they are waterproof so, might be an option.

Swimming? You don’t have to swim fast to have good energy expenditure

Go to physical therapy if your insurance covers it or you can afford it. They're not omniscient but they do have some training and experience treating this stuff.

Like others have said. If you have injuries or body irregularities go to a medical professional. Do not trust some yahoo on the internet.

I was at the Mayo Hospital’s own chronic pain rehabilitation clinic, and have all the PT exercises they had their patients all do if interested.
- I would indeed be interested. I have a few from my orthopedic doctor but they're a bit limited.

You want to know things before meeting the therapist. Maybe read a few things like this:
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Rehabilitation_in_Sport
But ofc I agree with the others: listen to what your therapist recommends.

This might sound crazy, but if you can wear braces to protect yourself, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu might be an option.
I've trained for close to a decade, and have trained with people with spinal injuries, hand deformities, no legs, limited/no vision, and limited/no hearing. Obviously, combat sports with limb injuries without consulting a professional first is fucking stupid, but you can absolutely make it work with the right gym and coach. Sure, you won't be doing an iminari roll any time soon, but it might be a good workout and an option to test what you can and cannot do.
- That's a great suggestion, thank you. I've been meaning to get back to training in a martial art for a while now but injuries over the years have made Sambo not a likely get. I'll keep this in my pocket for after full recovery. :)
  
  Ah, well if you've done or know some grappling you'll have a great base for BJJ, especially Sambo since there's a lot of overlap. Even if you just do some drilling or stay on bottom to work escapes you should get enough exercise and social interaction that you might not get elsewhere.

Basically any movement or prolonged pose becomes it's own exercise.
"wall sit" might not be good for the ankle.
What you can do for your back, are exercises laying on your stomach, and then lifting and moving arms and legs. Up and down, can slow or faster, just holding them up isn't easy either. You'll figure out which poses tire and train which muscles. If you do it straight it's more for those along your spin, if you spread your arms it's more for the shoulders.
Side leg raises are probably another idea that shouldn't put strain on your injuries.
The rest kind of depends how much you can even just stand. Maybe something involving Therabands?

From top of my head, you can add superman, side plank, bridge, fire hydrant, donkey kick. Maybe you can attach weights to your forearms too for the arm muscles.

Catch
- both wrists
  
  Just go for it bro /s

I like doing chair yoga when I'm having severe flare ups! There's some good youtube videos on it, and it's safe for ankles and wrists!

Look into AthleanX. The guy who made it was a physical therapist for a MLB team, and everything in it is basically straight out of the PT manual.
Start with very low weight, and only move up when you can do 4 sets of 25 reps without any fatigue.
- I don't regard AthleanX as a good source of information. He made a name for himself creating fake things to worry about and none of his programs help people reach a definable goal.
  
  Dude is also clearly juiced out of his fucking mind.
  
  While I don't know about how he made a name for himself, that has little to do with his workout programs.
  The claim that the programs don't have a definable goal is flat out false. AX-1 is intended to improve general athleticism and fitness, and AX-2 improves on it. The TNT add on can be purchased if you want to do additional work on a muscle group.
  AX-1 is a well balanced program that gives focus to strengthening supporting muscle groups, which isn't something I've seen in a ton of programs. For example, essentially each week has some form of rotator cuff specific exercise, which I've never seen emphasized.
  For other goals, they have a short quiz that will give you a suggestion of the paths to take.
  All I can say is AX-1 allowed me to postpone my torn labrum surgery for 3 years, and is very likely why my recovery was half the expected time. During my PT, every prescribed exercise was something I had done in the program. (I got too confident in year 3 and pushed my muscles too hard, which is why I had to finally have it).

36 comments