AM: Went and had an MRI on my ankle. There is no fracture in my ankle, which is a very good thing. I am still unable to put weight on my ankle, but the swelling today is much better than yesterday. It is still swollen though. The doctor said to stay off of the ankle and use crutches for the next three days, then to try putting weight on it again. If it is still really painful, then to use the crutches again for the next three days, and keep repeating this until I am able to put weight on the foot. I asked how long it would take before I could run on it. He warned me not to be tempted to start back running too soon. He said the worst think with athletes is they are afraid that they will lose their conditioning and so rush the recovery. He said often by rushing the recovery results re-injuring the location and so recovery ends up taking longer. It is better to take it slow and recover completely before training again. He works with a lot of athletes so is aware of what kinds of things athletes are worried about. He gave me a list of some high intensity exercises that I can do without having to put any weight on my ankle. That way I can workout at an elevated heart rate so that I won't lose a lot of endurance. He also gave me some suggestions on weight training and other exercises that I can do so I won't lose a lot of muscle while I am recovering. After I am able to put weight on my ankle again, he gave me some exercises to do to gradually increase my ankle strength. He is a really good doctor and I really appreciate the amount of time that he spent with me today to ease my worries and help me with suggestions so that I can keep the loss of fitness to a minimum during recovery. | 