How fast can someone rebuild atrophied leg muscle after needing crutches for 2 months?

Your strength will return rapidly with proper rehab. But there is one thing that I must stress above all else: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE EVEN THINK ABOUT ATTEMPTING TO RUN UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN AMBULATING NORMALLY FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL WEEKS. If you attempt running too soon after getting off crutches, you will crush that atrophied foot/leg. Ask me how I know.

After horrific injuries, FT fibers increase so you will be able to build muscle back the fastest using a heavy lifting regimen. You should gain your mass back relatively quickly but not function.

You will then have to convert the FT fibers into ST to gain back pre-injury endurance/strength.

Isometric holds would be a safe way to introduce strength/ induce hypertrophy without incurring forces through impact.

Examples:

1) Calf holds- Raise onto balls of feet. Hold for 45 seconds (or until fatigued). Try both a straight-leg and bent-leg version.

2) Single-leg holds- Slightly bend at the knee while standing on one foot (barefoot is preferable to help with ankle/foot stability. Lean slightly forward (from the waist) to shift weight towards planted foot. Hold until fatigued.

3) Wall sits- legs at 90 degrees, arms straight and forward, back flat against the wall.

Hope that helps to get your back to health!

CC

financial n00b wrote:

Your strength will return rapidly with proper rehab. But there is one thing that I must stress above all else: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE EVEN THINK ABOUT ATTEMPTING TO RUN UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN AMBULATING NORMALLY FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL WEEKS. If you attempt running too soon after getting off crutches, you will crush that atrophied foot/leg. Ask me how I know.

The truth. Broke my foot and was out for 2.5 months. Came back and starting building hard into marathon training, and within a month or two developed a shin splint, terrible pain in my quad, and a bad strain in my hip flexor, all in the injured leg. Has pretty much destroyed my intentions to race this Spring. Rehab SLOWLY.

i've worked with athletes recovering from long term stints on crutches, and the biggest problem is probably going to be neuromuscular coordination, especially the hip flexors and hamstring of the leg that has been lame. isometrics are a good first step. once that is totally comfortable, id progress to low impact plyometric type movements just to get the muscle used to firing hard and fast when you tell it to. This isn't a question of strength, its a question of motor control. if you try to run before you have regained complete control over fast firing of the muscle, you're asking for trouble.

Thanks guys. Its a femoral SF by the way. It's still very painful, won't be able to walk without crutches (ambulate) for a couple more weeks probably. When the bone is healed, do you think training on the stationary bike would be the best (and a safe) way to build back the thigh muscles?

yagtash wrote:

i've worked with athletes recovering from long term stints on crutches, and the biggest problem is probably going to be neuromuscular coordination, especially the hip flexors and hamstring of the leg that has been lame. isometrics are a good first step. once that is totally comfortable, id progress to low impact plyometric type movements just to get the muscle used to firing hard and fast when you tell it to. This isn't a question of strength, its a question of motor control. if you try to run before you have regained complete control over fast firing of the muscle, you're asking for trouble.

I just wish I had access to some proper rehab...the only PT that comes to my college's trainers is complete garbage, and is the reason my fracture got this bad in the first place. I just don't want to fvck anything up.

Thor Yagen wrote:

I just wish I had access to some proper rehab...the only PT that comes to my college's trainers is complete garbage, and is the reason my fracture got this bad in the first place. I just don't want to fvck anything up.

You don't really need formal PT. Just resume normal ambulation and go from there. Start by going for short walks and gradually build up until you're walking 30-60 minutes a day consistently. After a few weeks of that, you'll be back to normal.

Would very light biking be okay at that time?