Non-Weight Bearing Status After Ankle Surgery

I'm Teresa with physical therapy and I'm going to talk to you today about maintaining a safe non-weight bearing status through that surgical ankle that you've had done.

You want to remember that you're not putting any weight through that foot until specified by your surgeon. So we're going to go over using the knee scooter safely and appropriately, how to lock and unlock those hand grips, and getting into and out of a chair safely towards your stronger side and we're going to teach you how to go up and down stairs using a step stool.

Now for my ankle replacements, you will have precautions of non-weight bearing status. That means you will not be able to put weight through that foot until specified by your surgeon. So I'm going to talk to right now about is getting on and off of that knee scooter safely and into a chair, keeping in mind that you cannot put weight on that foot.

So with your knee scooter, you're going to approach your chair that you'll be sitting in. You always want to make sure that you have that sitting surface on the strong side. So you want to always have that chair next to your non-surgical leg, okay?

So we're going to ride that new scooter right up to that chair, nice and close.

You're going to put the brakes on the knee scooter, you always want to lock those brakes.

You're going to reach back for your chair, lifting that good leg off the knee scooter and sit. Okay?

Now getting off of that chair, you're using your arms on those hand grips, you're pushing up, reaching for that knee scooter with one or both hands, bringing that foot on to the knee scooter, unlock, and you're good to go.

So we're going to go over how to get up and down these stairs safely following the ankle replacement. And again, keeping in mind, you cannot put any weight through that foot until specified by your surgeon.

So you come to the stairs on that knee scooter with the stairs towards your strong side, that side you did not have surgery on.

You're going to use a step stool that's about the same height as your step rise would be and you want to make sure that it sits right on the step safely and securely. I put a towel on top of my step stool for comfort of my knee as I kneel on it.

So you're going to place that step stool right on to the first step up.

Now you're going to get rid of that knee scooter, and you're going to take a hold of one or both rails, whatever you have on your stairs. You're bringing that surgical leg, surgical ankle, and you're putting the knee onto the step stool and you're going up to the first step, standing, lifting that step stool up on to the next step.

You're going to kneel down, stand, bring that step stool up, and you're going to continue that right up to the top of the stairs.

Now coming down is just the opposite, backwards.

That step stool goes right onto that first step. You kneel down, step back with your strong leg. That step stool goes down onto the next step. You kneel down, stand with that strong leg, and do that all the way back down to the bottom.