Our legs and feet carry us from place to place, but most of us will have a foot or leg injury at least once in our lives which will prevent us from being able to fully get around. Injury, such as fractures, inflammation and sprains, can impair our ability to walk and move around.
Even though these injuries do affect our ability to walk, it doesn’t mean we can’t do anything to improve the condition of our injured legs and feet. If you exercise with an injured leg or foot, you’re helping your foot and leg regain mobility by improving their strength, flexibility and range of motion while recovering.
Exercising with a leg and foot injury
We suggest to slowly adjusting back to an exercise routine if you have a leg or foot injury. Of course, it’s best to wait until your leg or foot heals before starting to exercise again. The following ways will help you ease back into a fitness routine by building up the functionality of your injured leg or foot.
Increase circulation in your legs and feet
Improved circulation helps boost blood flow in the legs and feet, more or less boosting their recovery process. If you’re bed-ridden after surgery or other treatments, this exercise can help boost circulation:
Slowly stretch and move your ankle up and down. Alternatively, slowly rotate and move your foot up and down, releasing if it gets too tired.
Increase your range of motion
When you’re feeling much better, start working on improving your range of motion. That’s what many physical therapy programs help people accomplish when they’re recovering from an injury. This exercise can help you improve your range of motion:
Lean down and stretch your fingers toward your toes. Stretch as far as you feel comfortable.
Improve your balance
Injuries of the legs and feet can cause us to lose control over our sense of balance. Balance training helps store that, and improves our posture and coordination as a result. This exercise helps you improve your balance:
Carefully balance on one foot. Hold the position as long as you can, increasing your time held each day. If you need to lean against a wall or chair, go ahead and do that.
Strengthen your muscles
When you’re able to stand on your legs and feet, you’re able to try some muscle strengthening exercises. Recovery might reduce some of your legs and feet muscle strength, so it’s important to restore it when you recover.
Exercises like mini-squats, toe raises, knee raises, and weight training all help restore and build muscle strength within the legs and feet.
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