As you may know, Russ trashed his ankle practicing back flips a few weeks ago. He will regale you with the story of his injury and how he plans to come back this month.

Climb or Crawl – Ankle Rehabilitation Week 1

Last week I dislocated my ankle doing backflips at Sky Zone in Everett Ma.

See me do a backflip here.
Or subscribe to my Youtube channel for more Stachieness.
On to the recovery process.

Day 1 – Ankle was relocated at the ER, then splinted. Thankfully no fracture to the bones some small bone chipping was discovered after taking a CAT scan. A BIG Thank You! to all the staff at the Whidden Hospital in Everett. These guys and girls were AWESOME!

Day 2 – Rest, Its movie time, so glad I have Netflix!

Day 3 – Did some light Dynamic Effort floor press and work on the nautilus machines. These machines seem to work well for me because I can remain in a seated position and keep weight off the foot.

Day 4 – This was a Monday. Worked with a client and assisted during a few camps at TPS. Thankfully we have a great team here at the gym and everyone was willing to help things run smoothly for our clients. I was able to make an appointment with an orthopedic doc for the upcoming Friday. Work proved to be taxing enough on my system and decided to take the rest of the week off from training until my visit with the orthopedic doc.

Days 5-6 – Continued to elevate the ankle when possible. Moving around on crutches is becoming more manageable.

Day 7 – Had my appointment with the orthopedic doctor. He was very knowledgeable and reviewed my CAT scan. Doc. said that all things considered I got lucky and did not have any major bone damage. My foot was severely bruised on the left side and still very swollen. He said that I should stay off the foot for 3 weeks. They provided me with an air cast to wear till my next appointment in three weeks.

With the air cast I can loosen or tighten the straps. This allows me to shower and get some mild movement into the toes and planter flexion and dorsiflexion was performed today for small time increments.

I am choosing to not use ice on this injury and to add mild non-weight bearing moment (wiggling toes, flexion, and dorsiflexion). I plan to progress slowly using a light resistance band through these movements, as well as some EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) on the quad and calf muscles to stimulate blood flow.

As far as training goes: I plan on adding in some a floor press variation and assistance on Wednesday to keep my upper body strong.

Week 2

I would like to take a minute to thank Steve Fox, Frankie Puopolo, Dustin & Jessica Diedrich for all their help on the night of the accident. When bad things happen it’s an honor to have strong people by your side. Thank You!

Day 8 – The position of the new air cast has returned my foot to a 90 degree position. My calf muscle is extremely tight when standing due to the previous spilt holding my foot in plantar flexion. Today I performed some mild rolling with a stick roller as well as dynamic toe wiggle’s and very mild ankle mobility. Also I was able to get in the shower! I set a chair up in the tub and it worked out great. Swelling is going down.

Day 9- Swelling continues to go down. I took the boot off for some light massage of the calf muscle and flexion/dorsiflexion of the ankle with red band. I am propping both feet up on pillows to compare range of motion in these directions. Swelling is now more focused around the outer side of ankle. This is where the ankle took the worst hit. There is some bruising on the foot metatarsal. Tonight I started first round of EMS at a very light setting on the calf to stimulate blood flow. #20 w/ 300 width 120 Hz, at this setting I am getting a very light contraction in the calf muscle. 11 minutes total.

Day 10 Monday 5/12/14 Decided to train upper body today worked on the floor press straight weight to about 90% for a paused single. I kept the form tight and went on to do some blood flow work on the nautilus machines, it felt good overall. The ankle seemed to respond well to the stretching and EMS done yesterday going to repeat tonight. I am keeping the setting really light on the EMS. Swelling is continuing to drop. I am starting my evening stretches by wiggling toes and flexion/dorsiflexion on ankle. EMS: 15 minutes with stretching and toe wiggling between pulses. Currently I have the machine set for 15 seconds rest between 10 second contractions.

Day 11- Pain has decreased in the ankle and mobility continues to improve. When bathing I felt comfortable washing the ankle with a washcloth and for the first time sense the injury did not feel pain to the touch! At night did some light band mobility and will apply the EMS for another 15 minute session. Sitting at the desk without the air cast on feels great!

Day 12- Good day overall. For training I continued to use the nautilus equipment and finished with some light free weight for biceps and shoulders. Hit the EMS for 15 minutes tonight at slightly higher setting and used a red band for flexibility work. I took about 30 steps tonight. I plan on sleeping without the air cast again tonight.

Day 13- I took some time tonight to see if my shoe would fit on my foot and it does! I took a few steps today with minimal limp, and I am going to continue stretching and running the EMS routine while stick rolling the calf muscle prior to EMS.

Day 14- Dynamic Effort floor press with assistance work is on the menu today.

Ankle mobility is increasing swelling continues to decrease. Training seems to flush out my system and helps reduce the swelling in the ankle. I am finishing tonight with band mobility and EMS. Walking around the house for short amounts of time feels good!

That’s all for now! Keep reading for more updates and adventures in the land of the ‘Stache.

Wishing you the best,

Russ Smith