An injury is only going to get worse if you try to push your way through it, so you must let it heal. However, you probably don’t want to give up on exercise entirely for the weeks or months it takes for a complete recovery.
Below are a few alternative exercises that you should consider while nursing a leg injury.
Rowing
Even if you can’t get out on the river, most gyms have rowing machines. They burn high amounts of calories, and they are some of the hardest cardio machines at the gym. Best of all, at least for your injured leg, they primarily use your core, back, arm, shoulder and chest muscles.
Swimming
You do use your legs with many strokes, but swimming is such a low-impact exercise that it’s often still a good choice. You can get your workout in the water and allow your leg to keep healing at the same time. Depending on the scope of the injury, there are also strokes that you can do that use only your arms, so the type of swimming that you do can really be catered to what your body needs. If you cannot use your injured leg at all, certain isolated exercises can be performed in the pool only using the arms.
Elliptical Machines
If you’ve strained your Achilles tendon, you need to stay off of it so that you don’t tear it. However, you may still be able to do low-impact leg exercises if it is just a strain. Consult your doctor first, but if you are able, an elliptical machine allows you to get exercise that is very similar to light jogging, but without all of the pounding impacts for your knees. Start with a low resistance level and work your way up as you heal.
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