Keeping my muscles in shape

Daily Tip: Don't stay in one spot for too long! You'll start to get stiff, which makes you feel bad all over. 

This post deals specifically with a new problem that I have encountered. While my mobility is increasing and I'm getting around better, I still struggle with having my foot not elevated for longer than 10-15 minutes or so. My doctor still says that elevation is important and I need to continue that, but what that also leads to is pain and discomfort in other areas!

Because of the elevation, I am primarily sitting/lying down, and always on my back. Because of this, I've developed some lower back pain and pain in my right hip, as well as just feel a little tense and tight all over. I talked to my old PT and he indicated that this was due to the extra stress on my piriformis muscle.  For those of you like me, I had to look that up:

Piriformis!

Now that I look at it, it makes perfect sense. I want to make sure that when I do become weightbearing in 6 weeks that the rest of my body is ready to compensate for my foot's learning curve! 

I was able to get some relatively easy stretches to do that can be done in the bed or sitting  up temporarily!! 

Please know that you should absolutely check with your doctor to make sure that you can be doing things like this, but again most can be done in the bed and don't directly involve your foot--but everyone is different!

This video may seem silly, but it's been great for me!

I've also been rolling my ankle in circles and and writing the alphabet with my foot, too! :)

Whatever works--just stay as active as you can!!