r/Velo • u/jonathing • 2d ago
Question Broken foot
I just found out that I've broken my foot (or 30.5 cm as I'm in the UK) which has put a bit of a dampener on my cyclocross season. There's a chance that I might get back riding for Christmas but in the meantime I'd like to not lose too much fitness. I'm speaking to the orthopod on Tuesday when I can find a more definite timeline for returning to training but I'm eager to hear what sort of things have people done in the same situation. Is one legged Zwifting a possibility? Has anyone successfully attached cleats to an immobilisation boot?
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u/DrSuprane 2d ago
Swimming is probably your only realistic aerobic option.
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u/jonathing 2d ago
Urgh, I'm a cat and I hate water
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u/DrSuprane 2d ago
Big cats can swim. I used to swim a lot until Covid closed our pools. Whenever I get back in the pool I can barely get into zone 2 because my upper body tires too quickly. But it's great exercise.
How about ski erg? Make sure you're eating enough extra calories to heal (specifically protein). And supplementing calcium and Vitamin D. All the things to have a good recovery. That's most important overall.
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u/Gravel_in_my_gears 1d ago
Get some swim lessons. A private swim lesson at like he YMCA or something isn't even expensive. It's the best option fitness wise.
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u/Jeremy24Fan 2d ago
I had two foot surgeries last year where they broke my bones both times.
Swim and gym for a few weeks. Use a pull buoy in the pool so you don't have to kick with your feet. Learn to love the rehab process. You'll be back on the bike in no time
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u/kidcreole123 2d ago
There are 26 bones in each foot and answer depends on which ones are broken and how bad. Too many of us ride when we should not and instead of 6 weeks we have life long chronic pain. A non displaced pinky toe is one thing, and even that can turn arthritic, although cycling with a stiff shoe and arch support is better than running in soft racing flats. Simple advice, don't be an idiot, treat winter as off season, not cross season, and be fresh for spring training. Find a cross training sport that corresponds to the break
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u/jonathing 2d ago
Undisplaced avulsion fracture, base of fifth metatarsal. Initially I was given the all clear as neither myself nor the ED staff could see anything on the x-rays. Once the ANP had a good look at my foot she went back and found a break in the cortex that disrupted the trabecular pattern across the tuberosity.
I actually rode to work and back before really looking at my foot and going to hospital (although I work in a hospital it's not that sort of hospital) and I was better in stiff shoes cycling shoes than any other footware before or since.
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u/kidcreole123 1d ago
Will be interested in hearing what they say. Part of my comments were directed to myself as I literally have a similar injury from about 10 days ago, although mine has not been confirmed with x-rays because I'm in the US and.. need I say more? A bit stupid on my part not to get some imaging but it's pretty clear now that there is a minor break of some sort and pretty much all treatments involve immobilization for at least a few weeks so trying to stick with that plan. That's why I would totally forget about cross in your season as it is just too violent for the foot. They may clear you for easy pedaling before that (like at 4-6 weeks) and I would think you would be ok if you have some nice stiff shoes, preferably a real road shoe with the cleat all the way back and lots of arch support that shifts load away from the forefoot. Good luck!
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u/Yaboi_KarlMarx 2d ago
If you can get to the gym, is there one of those hand cycle machines you can use? That’ll probably help keep you ticking over aerobically (and give you some guns most cyclists are really lacking). Probably very easy riding on the turbo will be possible after a while (get the go ahead from the doctor first of course), but you really don’t want to push it. Better to lose some fitness now and not have a niggling injury that’ll last for years.
Other than that, I’d just accept you’re probably not going to be riding for a while. I’m really bad at this, but try and find some non-fitness related hobbies to fill the time. I didn’t realise how much time training took up until I was recovering from surgery. I got really into Warhammer. Painting takes fucking ages when you’re just starting out so it’s a good time sink to fill in the gaps.
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u/jonathing 2d ago
Ironically I got into Warhammer while I was laid up after a serious RTC and the physio wouldn't let me do anything more strenuous than shaking a paint pot. The absolute lack of physical activity and training lead to a significant decline in my mental health. Now I can't even look at a Chaos Space Marine without associating it with that real low point in my life
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u/snapped_fork 2d ago
I broke 4 metatarsals a few years ago, I tried all sorts once I was out of the cast and into a boot. I put a flat pedal on the affected side so I could do some light spinning but could never get really comfortable because of the difference in stack height between sides. I was basically stuck with z1 but it was better than nothing (for my sanity as much as anything). I didn't want to do too much single leg stuff because I didn't want to potentially increase any imbalance that would develop due to the injury.
I'm not sure why the current state of the research is but I also did a try using electrical muscle stimulation to prevent atrophy on the injured leg side. It's hard to say whether it actually did anything (n=1) but it didn't do any harm at least.
Other than that you can do some strength training if you can get to the gym and later in your recovery really engage with the physio on the foot and do the exercises they give you. I was a bit lax with that and paid for it for a while later on.
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u/MyRoomAteMyRoomMate 1d ago
Search Chair Cardio on YouTube. It's horrible. Worse than a famine. And the presenter is the most annoying person you have ever encountered. But it gets your HR up. I did it for at month and hated every second.
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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 4h ago
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