How to Stay Active While You’re Waiting for Your Fracture to Heal

Whether you’re an athlete, a busy parent, or a fitness fanatic, a fracture can bring your life to a screeching halt. Don’t lose your muscle tone, balance, and strength while it heals — here’s how to stay active despite a fracture.

If you’ve been sidelined from your favorite sport or regular exercise routine due to a fracture, the odds are you’re itching to get back to your preinjury activity level. Although resting from exercise while your fracture is healing can be frustrating, downtime is exactly what your body needs to heal and recover properly.

However, being sedentary isn’t good, either. As your bone heals, modify your workout routine to stay active and fit while protecting your injury from further harm.

At Genesis Pain and Regenerative Medicine in Colleyville, Texas, pain management physician Don Enty, MD, leads our orthopedic and sports injury care team. Here, he highlights some practical ways to stay active while healing from a fracture.

Start small

Right after your injury, start with small steps toward your goal. Try dynamic stretching, yoga, or Pilates to maintain flexibility and range of motion. Focus on only bodyweight exercises before you add weights.

Work uninjured portions of your body

Once you can hit the gym again, focus on your healthy limbs.

For example, if you fractured your arm, elbow, or rib, work on lower-body exercises such as squats, lunges, and leg presses, as well as aerobic activities such as biking, walking, and wall sits.

If you have a lower-body fracture, work on your upper body. Some good strength-training activities include lat pulldowns, chest presses, and pull-ups. You can also still do aerobics using an upper-body ergometer (handcycle).

Although you may worry that strengthening your uninjured appendage will result in uneven strength and muscle tone, training the usable arm or leg can keep you from losing muscle in the injured one.

Know your limits

Although pushing through the pain might seem like a good life motto, it’s never a good idea regarding injury recovery. If your injury is already hurting before you start exercising, it will only worsen once you start your workout. It’s better to wait until the pain subsides.

In addition, if you notice increased pain a few days after exercising, it indicates that you need to scale back the intensity.

See our team for expert-level care

For any of your orthopedic injury needs, look no further than our team at Genesis Pain and Regenerative Medicine. We can tailor your treatment plan to encourage optimal healing while including healthy activity and exercise.

Schedule an appointment by calling or using our online booking feature today.