Hi there art here welcome to my blog!
What is in store for you this week? two things, the first one is the NFL!
Just recently the NFL have had their play offs I know this because my son is a big fan!
I am not here to tell you about the NFL per se in my blog today, I am here about to talk to you about horrible fractures of the lower leg and what you may be able to do to aid your recovery if you suffer a lower leg injury. Lower leg fractures are known for non-union this means the two ends of the broken bone do not fix and come together.
Spiral compound fractures, compound means that the bone or bones sticks out of the skin, it is horrible! I have had my fair share of injuries but fortunately not a serious lower limb injury or fracture. This brings me onto a player that you may know and what are the causes of these horrible fractures and injuries to the lower legs. Before I do come onto this famous player some of you may know I am going to inform you what may cause these horrible spiral tibia and fibula fractures and injuries to the lower leg.
Well car accidents, high impact injuries, you know like the NFL players where someone crunches into somebody else, footballers, rugby players they all can suffer these type of lower leg injuries but the NFL player I was interested in was Alex Smith. Just before Christmas a UK National Newspaper wrote an article on this NFL player Alex Smith, he is the Washington League quarterback.
Why him?
Because he suffered an horrendous spiral tibia and fibula fracture and later unfortunately, he suffered a flesh-eating disorder called necrotising fasciitis what a horrible thing! it eats the flesh away people have died from that! Then if that was not enough, he developed sepsis and that is a killer too and he recovered from all of this.
He is an NFL player, and he is back to playing but it took him two years to recover. This is from the time of his unfortunate injury to the time that he got back playing. I believe because he was so fit when the injury happened and the complications, he had was the reason he recovered from all this. M
ultiple fractures are much more complicated to treat and require an open reduction and an outside cage fitted to the leg which is called an Illizarov splint, it is like a cage and it is fixed to the outside of the broken limb, in Alex’s case his leg. It is called an external fixation. You will have to look at my Vlog to see what it looks like.
I have seen a few of these in my time you may not have. It was designed by a Russian physician or consultant his name was Gavriil IIizarov. What happens is the cage allows the consultant to expand it whilst it is healing and repairing. Because its adjustable it allows for the limb to be extended to the same length as the non-injured limb. It also aids to correct any deformities of the injured limb it is a fantastic piece of equipment.
It stops these types of horrendous injuries to a person losing a limb! It is amazing I have seen a couple of them in the Department. So, what helped Alex’s recovery and what could help you recover? He would have had an intensive rehabilitation phases of non weight bearing partial weight bearing full weight bearing exercises, then weight training, sets and reps and even possibly plyometrics, swimming may have aided his recovery too and all the other exercises like cycling, rowing, and the weight machines.
His training to get back must have been intense not like the average Bloke in the street like me who would have probably gone for a walk or something like that, but he is now back now playing in the NFL once again.
It is an incredible come back his injuries and complications were horrific, and his recovery is remarkable so well-done Alex. So, what are the best exercises if you suffer an injury to the lower leg? Balancing exercises are great to aid your recovery, calf strengthen exercises, quadriceps exercises, core stability exercises everybody has gone crazy about core stability exercises!