I am only one week post op from a bone graft for a first metatarsal fracture and my calf has the firmness of jello. I expected to lose muscle mass but was shocked at how much my muscle has dissipated into simple flab. So far so good with recovery but this loss of muscle is troubling as I had just started getting into shape before the accident. If I am determined to regain muscle mass from exercise and a solid diet when I heal how much return of muscle should I expect at the age of 43. I weigh around 155 at 5'6 and although I need to shake 30 pounds I definitely can't afford to lose muscle mass. Anyone have any good suggestion? I believe I have another 5 weeks for NWB and then I will be put into a surgical boot for a few weeks. Would an excellent protein rich diet help at all during recovery? At the moment I concentrate more on a healthy calcium rich diet given the bad fracture I suffered 2 weeks ago. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, T
Nothing can stop atrophy except using the muscle, which you're not. It will all eventually come back. You'll definitely have to work at it. I have a 1.5" difference between my calves right now. You could fire the muscle while sitting, but it won't keep the atrophy from happening. I'm sure there are a bunch of diet theories to prevent it, but I just let nature do it's thing and then work hard after.
I broke femur on one side and heel on other. At 9 weeks I was allowed to do calf raises on the femur side. Both sides had wasted away to nothing, not much more then bone.
I started doing calf raises. I like high reps 50 or more, if you can. I also work calfs out daily. Thats a differant debate. Started off on level surface. They standing on phone book or board then off step, going below parallel. My calf cot huge. I had the split between to two heads, with weeks.
That was the side with the good heel. The bad heel side is coming alot slower. I am 10 months out and cannot do a single leg calf raise. The muscle can back to the point, where it doesn't look awful, but it is smaller.
Thanks so much for the responses - I will work very hard when I am free of the external fixator next month. Did any of you have a fracture similar to mine - it is a serious fracture of the first metatarsal. The thing is it is being held together by four pins and at 9 days post surgery my foot has an excellent range of mottion within this soft splint. I am assuming that movement without weight bearing is a good sign of healing - do any of you remember being able to comfortably move all your toes and arch the foot so soon?
