Warning: all suggestions on this site are indeed suggestions that should be approved by your doctor prior to attempting any of these.
For those who usually lead a healthy and active lifestyle, staying healthy after surgery is something we all know we must do, but do we know how we do it. I certainly didn't. As I prepared for surgery, I must have browsed dozens of websites and articles about this topic and in the end I was still clueless. From everything I read, it seemed that ankle surgery would keep me off my feet for weeks and I also knew that being immobile could lead to a lot of muscle weakness, weight gain, and depression. And none of that sounded like anything I wanted.
The bottom line is that post surgical fitness is essential to a healthy and speedy recovery. Although you may want to get started right away, make sure you take it slow and don't forget to consult your surgeon prior to getting started.
The Plan
Prior to surgery investigate ways you can stay fit and healthy. A good option would be to get some hand weights or medicine balls and keep them near the bed. So, figure out what tools you will need to stay healthy and go get them and have them ready before surgery. Remember, take it slow and ease yourself into more options as you begin to recover. Also make sure you take one last trip to the grocery and get yourself some healthy snacks. Set yourself up for success. Lastly, make use of one of those calorie counter websites or apps (i.e. MyFitnessPal or Weight watchers) and use this to keep track of your calorie intake to make sure you stay within your suggested daily intake. This is great at not only making sure you don't eat too much, but also to make sure you are eating enough. The more you know about what you are eating the better.
Get Started
This might be the hardest part of the process...getting started. There is no set time frame for when you should get started, so ask your doctor. So once the surgery is finished and you are sitting at home a few days later, well this would be a good time to get motivated and get started. Grab those hand weights next to your bed and lift. This might be a lot to ask but after laying in bed a few days it will be nice to get your blood flowing.
Suggested Activities
- Stretching -within the first week after surgery doing some light stretching can be a helpful way to avoid muscle stiffness and speed up the healing process. Be careful not to stretch near the site of the surgery because you will most likely have stitches there that could be torn
- Bed Exercises - Google some exercises you can do while laying in bed. You might surprise yourself by what you will be able to do and you might even break a sweat.
- Walk - if you can get up and walk then definitely make an effort to move around at least once a day. If you are on crutches or even a wheel chair, then that's no excuse to limit yourself to a bed or couch. Get yourself moving!
- Laugh, smile and cry - your day wont be full unless you laugh a little, smile a little and there is nothing wrong with tears. Recovery is hard work, so if you need to let it out, then just do it.
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