Have you have ever had a sprained ankle? Do you find it is easy to roll your ankles? You may have chronic ankle instability. Here are few exercises that can really benefit you!
Firstly, orthotics can help to balance pressure points in our feet. Our feet are important because we walk upright. So if there is anything you learn from this blog post, it is to take care of your feet!
Orthotics can help to stabilize your ankle and that in turn helps align you knees and balances your pelvis. With better alignment, you can have better motion. With better motion and movement, you can then work on exercising and that is the best return on investment in your health!
There are three arches in your foot. Under the toes (transverse arch), the medial arch (flat footed people have lost this arch), and the lateral arch (outside of foot). In our North American society where we walk on hard floors, we lose our arches as we do not have as much dynamic movement in our feet. Did you know that each of your feet has 26 bones? To put this in perspective the human spine has 33 vertebrae. You can have 24 in adulthood as some bones fuse in the lower spine as you grow and develop.
There are 30 joints in each foot and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. They all work together to provide support, balance and your mobility.
There are only three bones that make up the ankle joint. The two bones in your leg, the fibula and tibia and the talus bone.
Here are 6 exercises to help stabilize your ankle. One of the exercises reviews some stretching for your toes, because as I already mentioned, take care of your feet!
6 Ankle Exercises
- Alphabet ankle range of motion
- There are four movements in the ankle. Inversion (inward), eversion (outward), dorsiflexion (pointing up) and plantarflexion (pointing down).
- If you write the alphabet in the air with your foot, you will be able to move your ankle through every movement you need. Have fun! You can spell words or sentences if you want to make a game out of it!
- Do this exercise 1x/day.
- Resisted range of motion (requires a resistance band for best results)
- Use of a workout band is required for this exercise. The purpose is to help strengthen the different muscles, ligaments and tendons required to move your ankle through all its ranges.
- Place the band around your foot and hold the other two ends in your hands. Move your foot in all four motions, inversion, eversion, plantarflexion, dorsiflexion.
- Hold for 10 seconds in each of the four positions. Then repeat five times for each position to help strength and endurance.
- Calf stretches (soleus and gastrocnemius muscles)
- There are two calf muscles. The gastrocnemius muscle has two heads (medial and lateral) that attach to the distal part of your femur (thigh bone). It ends its attachment in the Achilles tendon. Its job is to flex your knee and foot.
- The other calf muscle is the soleus muscle. It attaches just below your knee on the leg bones of the tibia and fibula and ends its attachment as part of the calcaneal tendon. The calcaneal tendon attaches to the calcaneous (heel bone).
- Using a wall for support, place your hands on the wall and extend your leg back and do a standing calf stretch. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds a side and do it once a day minimum.
- For the soleus muscle, slightly bend your knee while you do the calf stretch. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds and do it once a day.
- Calf stretches (soleus and gastrocnemius muscles)
- There are two calf muscles. The gastrocnemius muscle has two heads (medial and lateral) that attach to the distal part of your femur (thigh bone). It ends its attachment in the Achilles tendon. Its job is to flex your knee and foot.
- The other calf muscle is the soleus muscle. It attaches just below your knee on the leg bones of the tibia and fibula and ends its attachment as part of the calcaneal tendon. The calcaneal tendon attaches to the calcaneous (heel bone).
- Using a wall for support, place your hands on the wall and extend your leg back and do a standing calf stretch. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds a side and do it once a day minimum.
- For the soleus muscle, slightly bend your knee while you do the calf stretch. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds and do it once a day.
- Heel Raises
- Standing with feet hip width apart, raise up onto your toes.
- You may want to use a wall if you need support.
- Then lower your heels down to the floor and repeat 10 times. Do it at least once a day.
- Balance
- You can do static and dynamic balance exercises.
- One exercise you can do is a single leg squat.
- A static exercise is just that, you do not move through the exercise. So if you are doing a single leg squat, squat into the position and hold it for 10 seconds. Do it five times per side and at least once a day.
- A dynamic exercise is moving through the whole exercise. For a single leg squat, you squat down and back up. Do this ten times per side, and once a day minimum.
- If you have a BOSU ball or wobble board you can stand on the ball/board and work on balancing one leg at a time. You can do static and/or dynamic with this as well. The idea of the ball/board is to introduce more instability to work on strengthening the ankle joint.
- Feet! Toe curls and extensions
- For the big toe, sitting in a comfortable position with one leg pulled up across the other. With your hand bring your big toe into extension. Hold it for 20 seconds and do it once a day minimum.
- For the other toes, while standing place your toes on the floor so that they bend upwards. Press down and feel a stretch along the toes. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds per side and do it at least once a day.
- For toe curls, place your foot on the floor and curl your toes in. Do it ten times per side and at least once a day.
I cannot stress enough how important your feet are for walking and for the biomechanics of the human frame. Take care of your feet.
- Wear orthotics, even if you do not have pain, do it for preventative reasons.
- Get massage and/or foot massages.
- Get a roller or use a golf ball and roll the plantar fascaii (bottom of foot) out.
- Have an Epsom salt bath. Use some essential oils if you like as well.
Also, strengthen your ankles. Better strength helps lessen your chances of re-injuring your ankle if you have had previous ankle sprains, and it helps alignment in the lower body.
Hope you enjoy your exercises. Keep the sweat up!
