Have you suffered with an ankle injury recently? Do you think your ankles are weak? Do you think they are giving way? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then this blog is for you!
Your ankle can perform four different movements (toes down, toes up, toes in and toes out), therefore all four ranges need to be strengthened correctly. Our Sports Therapist Marsh has put together some exercises that can be carried out early into an ankle injury.
Exercise 1: using therabands
Therabands are a great tool in rehabilitation. They provide resistance with yellow being the easiest, then red, green, blue and black being the hardest. Pick the correct resistance band (we recommend starting with yellow and working up) and loop it around your foot continuing to hold onto the band. Then perform the four ankle movements into the resistance of the band (toes down, toes up toes in and toes out – you may need to change the position holding the band). These exercises need to be controlled and smooth.
Exercise 2: calf raises
This is a functional exercise where you can put your body weight through your ankle. This exercise started on the floor. With both feet on the floor, lift the heels off and come up onto your toes. Make sure to keep your toes facing straight forwards with this exercise. When this becomes easy you can progress to do this on one leg.
To make this exercise harder and to really work the whole calf and ankle complex, stand on a step and perform a double leg calf raise, however, due to being on a step you can drop your heels further down than neutral which really works the muscles. If this becomes easy it can be progressed to doing it on one leg.
Exercise 3: heel and tippy toe walking
Two other great functional ankle strengthening exercises are tippy toe walking and heel walking. For tippy toe walking, go up onto your toes with your heels off the floor and walk around. For heel walking, go up onto your heels and lift your toes off the floor and walk around.
I have an ankle injury and need help…
If you have an ankle injury and you are in pain, we would recommend coming in for an assessment with one of our therapists here.
If you now find the above exercises easy and want to progress them to harder exercises why not book in with one of our Personal Trainers or Rehabilitation Specialists, take a look at there profiles here.
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This article was written by our team of specialist therapists at Perfect Balance Clinic. If you would like more specific advice about how our team can help you with this condition or symptoms you may be having, please complete the contact form below and one of the team will get back to you shortly.
