I’ve been in a car accident. I have a chipped back bone(l2), and my fema bone(in my leg) exploded into several peices. They bones were put together around a metal rod in my leg to heal, and the doctor says the back bone should heal on it’s own. What does this mean for my training? Is it possible to train right now at all? Upperbody maybe? I really don’t want to get fat and flabby! I’ve worked so hard this past year to acheive a body I coukld except! And, now this! I’d really like advice on how to cope with these injuries, and possibly some things i can do to keep in shape while healing, etc. It would mean a lot. Thanks.
Welcome to the club. I hit a patch of ice last night and introduced my front bumper to a telephone pole. I was going so slowly that I couldn’t believe I even went into a skid. The damn airbags didn’t even go off. I lucked out and only banged my knee on the steering column, but I’m sure it will make quad day tomorrow more interesting…My recommendation would be to use the next week as your off week from training. Focus on stretching and any sort of active rest techniques that you’re able to pursue. After that, try to slowly ease back into things by avoiding anything that causes pain. Above all, now is the time to be as strict as possible with your diet. I would try to get hooked up with a physical therapist with a bodybuilding background, as most doctors will just take the easy way out by telling you to just sit and heal. All the best.
Bro, i am sorry to hear that! dam! your fema bone is the strongest bone in your body!! you have a MAJOR injury to recover from. i’m no doctor but i would like to throw my 2 cents in. i think your body is going to be going through enough trying to repair your bone, muscles, tissue, etc. that was severly involved in this injury. i don’t think it would be a good idea to do ANY lifting for a while! Just don’t give up on your diet. lower your carbs and daily caloric intake so you only put on minimal weight. good luck!
I understand the pain and frustration. Last year I got my left leg literally ran over by a car, split my tibia in two (compound), broke my fibula, spent one week in the hospital, two months bed ridden, four months on crutches, three surguries so far and one more to go, lost fourty-six pounds of almost all muscle. At the time, weights were the centerpiece of my existence and not only was my leg crushed, my pride, but also my heart. I still haven’t trained legs for over a year, but thank god for muscle memory and the four completely devoted year in the gym prior to the injury. I am now actually bigger than ever, stronger than ever and have a better understanding for what is truly important in life. I questioned if I would ever even train again, but I came back like a fuckin’ nightmare and you definitely can too. Take time to gather your thoughts, look from the inside out, for your perspective on what is important may vary well change, don’t worry about training, your body needs all the nutrition and rest without the heavy stress of lifting. Fact 1, you will loose a lot of weight including a lot of muscle, fact two, you will walk again, fact 3, the one thing you can’t control is time and that is what it takes for you to heal both mentally and physically. Feed your body the best you can and realize that sometimes you have to loose a battle to win the war. Good luck and eventually you will see the good in all this eventhough life totally fucking sucks right now.
yeah man,
I know what your going through, i had gotton into a bad accident myself a year ago and i’m still recovering i had to get knee surgery and arm surgery it has messed up my training a great deal, I lost 20 pounds from surgery and since i couldn’t put a lot of weight on my leg that didn’t help much either. Just hang in there, it may seem bad now but it will get better it just takes patience. Just work around your injuries, start with machines(they are good for something) and until you can start using some free weights. I’ve learned to work around my injuries.
Good Luck!!
Now is definitely a time to LAY OFF THE WEIGHTS and maybe develop the areas of your life that have been neglected. You would be risking a lot to try to train on this. While your back may only show a chip, there may be other damage that doesn’t show on x-ray. This is in the lumbar region, which is very active in most lifts, even upper body. Also, the femur will heal stronger than it was, but it will take 8 weeks or more to get a decent amount of strength in it. Even then, it may take up to a year to get back to a point that would allow heavy weight training. TAKE IT EASY!! Any further injury will just set you back that much more, or may set up something permanent. If the impact that caused the femur to break up that much were applied elsewhere on your body, you may well be dead now. You are a lucky guy. Don’t blow it now.
Just thought you might be interested-I’m in rehab for a case of impingement in my right shoulder (although I’m able to continue training). This morning, I warmed up for my rehab session on an upper body cycle made by Biodex. I only did 8 minutes, but I was huffing and puffing at the end in spite of being in good cardiovascular condition. You can manipulate resistance and even do intervals. The cycle offered good support of the lower back and complete immobilization of the lower body. Obviously, you aren’t going to find these in your gym, but I’m sure that a physical therapist in your area could find you one. See if you can work out a deal to pay a flat rate to go in and use it on non-lifting days. I wouldn’t recommend doing it on days when you train upper body, though, as you’ll find that the upper body is not as accustomed to aerobic exercise as the lower body is, and needs extra time to recover. Good luck. By the way, I just got the estimate on my car: $4200. My deductible is $500, but I’m sure they’ll bend me over sideways on future premiums…
Defex, time to prove yourself as a true T-Man,
the challenge is on. You don’t have to get fat,
just because you can’t exercise the way you were used to. Just watch your diet. Try to get as much exercise as you can (and it doesn’t really matter much what you do). When did this happen, what do the doctors say about the time frame of recovery? What you can do in terms of exercise depends very much on your current situation, e.g. if your leg is in a cast there is little you can do but wiggle your toes. Recovery from injuries is a big deal in professional sports and there is a lot of information around on the web, I suggest you do a search. Then sit down and put your ‘recovery plan’ together. And talk with your doctors, if they’re any good they will support you.
Thanks everyone for your information and support. It means a great deal to me. It provides me with a bit of inspiration. Hopefully, I’ll come out of this without losing too much pride and muscle. I’m already losing a lot of both.
When did this happen<
It happened a couple Sat.'s ago.
what do the doctors say about the time frame of recovery?<
6-8 weeks on crutches, after that i can take small steps, and 6 months until i cn walk normally
cast there is little you can do but wiggle your toes.<
nope, just a rod on the inside. (That provides the support.)
Defex, you may loose muscle but you shouldn’t loose your pride. It’s not your physique that makes you what you are, it’s what you are that
helps you create your body (Unless your loss in pride is a result of other circumstances of this accident, I hope not).
From what you write there seems to be a lot of things you can do. You might be able to do full upper body workouts. Check with your doctors about your spine, there might be problems if you apply pressure on your back.
But the fact that you are allowed to use crutches seems to indicate that your back does not create a real problem. You should at least be able to do dips, pull-ups, anything sitting with dumbbells, except possibly movements with weights above your head like overhead presses or french presses (might create too much stress on the spine). Find out if you are allowed to do exercises where you lay on your back (you might need some padding for your back) - if yes, you can do any type of bench press etc. Be careful with the weight, start light to see how far you can go and always use a spotter. Because you are somewhat limited in your movements there will be less margin for mistakes. For legs you should have no problem training your good leg with leg presses and leg extensions. The really tricky part is to find out how much you can use your injured leg. Try to move it as much and early as possible. Maybe you can get one of these electro-stimulation devices and stimulate the muscles in your leg with that. Be creative.
Set yourself a goal to ‘come back’ as fast as possible without pushing it too hard and ending up with some kind of complication. Athletes often recover faster than the average guy because they try to minimize the negative effects of immobility (by avoiding immobility at all if in anyway possible) and because they show determination to come back. It is normal to feel down after an injury and being faced with a long recovery prognosis. You feel awful, are constantly in pain, have difficulties moving etc. But don’t let yourself hang (that in my humble opinion is the tough part - life kicked you in the balls and the T-man gets back up, brushes off the dust, and with a grin on his face says ‘is that all you got’). If you need motivation look for stories of athletes and their come-backs. There are truly amazing stories out there (As only one example the ski racer and 2-times olympic medalist Hermann Maier suffered compound fractures of his leg in August last year. The injuries were so severe that at the time he faced the real threat of loosing his leg. Now
in January he is back on the slopes. He probably won’t make the Olympic team but he’s back…).