There are many reasons for which people stop exercising for a while, especially when you are bedridden. When you have a broken ankle or an ankle fracture, there are symptoms to show this. Such as severe pain in your ankles, swelling, bruising and an inability to carry their weight on the foot. When you have a broken ankle or an ankle fracture, you must avoid exercising the injured foot. However, you can still indulge in other exercises while being bedridden.
1. Range-of-motion exercises
These are also called ROM exercises and are good for maintaining your flexibility as they cause blood circulation in your joints, maintenance of muscle strength and prevent blood clots. You can exercise your neck, elbows, shoulders, wrists, fingers, hips, knees and even your other ankle.
You can exercise your neck by turning your head, pulling your chin onto your chest and continuing till you go back to your first position. Remember not to use ROM on your injured leg and these exercises should be done in your bed as you need to rest your leg.
2. Leg exercises
You can still exercise your leg even after an ankle injury, although not your injured leg, instead, your other uninjured leg. This will strengthen your leg joints and muscles and maintain the flexibility of your legs. As you lie flat in bed, bend your knee and press your foot flat against the bed. Then slowly slide your heel along the bed toward your buttocks and then slowly slide it back to your former position.
In the same bent-leg position, slowly slide your foot out to the side and then back to center and then extend your leg straight with your foot flexed. As you tighten the muscles in your thigh, bend your knee and draw it toward your waist. Use your arms to hug the knee to your body for up to five seconds before returning to the starting position.
3. Arms and shoulders exercises
This exercise helps with the flow of blood unto your arms and shoulders and hence improves on your flexibility. First you lie on your back and extend your arm and make some circles clockwise then anticlockwise. Repeat this about 10 times then do the same with the other arm.
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