Tips For Recovering After Ankle Surgery
If you are a person that has just had ankle surgery done, you are likely feeling ready to get out of the house and get moving again. You might be worried that your weight is going to increase because you are not exercising too much or that you are going to have a hard time doing your job as effectively as before. Here are some steps for recovering after ankle surgery so that you regain your full range of motion in as short a time as possible.
1. Quit Smoking
This is going to be difficult, but if you are serious about getting your ankle to heal as quickly as possible after your surgery, you will need to stop smoking at least temporarily. Smoking makes it more likely that any exposed wound from the surgery is going to get infected. It also will make it take much longer for your bones and ligaments to heal and get back up to their full strength. Get used to switching to nicotine patches or other methods of staving off the desire to smoke, and commit to using these for at least 2 months after your surgery.
2. Lose Weight
Before your surgery, try to lose as much excess weight as you can healthfully. This will help reduce the pressure that you end up putting on your ankle and will therefore allow you to get around more easily earlier. After the surgery, make sure that you are watching what you eat and sticking to no more than the calories that you need to maintain your weight. If possible, consider cutting calories by two or three hundred to facilitate a very slow level of weight loss. Talk to your doctor before starting a weight loss regimen.
3. Continue Exercising
Continue doing the exercises that you can do, such as arm exercises and back exercises. This will help you keep your motivation up, help you stave off weight gain, and help you stay focused. Talk to your doctor about when you can start doing low impact exercise with your ankle, such as swimming.
For more information, talk to a doctor that specializes in ankle surgery. He or she will likely put you on a physical rehabilitation exercise routine before surgery in order to do as much strengthening as possible, setting in motion your post-surgery recovery. This will allow you to recover much more quickly than you have otherwise.