Ankle sprains can ruin your whole season. Whether it’s biking, tennis, golf, hiking, swimming, or skiing, ankle sprains definitely make you lose a step. In fact, once you have just one sprain, you are highly likely to sprain (roll) your ankle again.
What typically happens is you ice it, stay off it while sporting a brace for as long as you can stand before you start trying to walk on it. After awhile you forget about it and you’re back out there doing what you love, until…it happens again.
So much is WRONG with the above scenario. Remember that movement is medicine! You’ve got to introduce movement as quickly as possible to help your ankle remodel it’s tissues and strengthen it.
Better Ankle Sprain Drill
Now this exercise is advanced. You don’t want to do this first thing after spraining your ankle. This would be after you’ve done any physical therapy, swelling is down and managed and you are working to return to your activity.
The reason this exercise for the ankle is so effective is that it’s pulling you into the position where you had the injury to begin with. The body’s natural tendency is to resist that pull, so you end up strengthening all the right muscles to help you not get caught in the injury cycle.
It’s also very effective because it’s challenging your foot and ankle in multiple directions at the same time-very similar to life and sport.
Coaching cues:
- Keep your leg straight, don’t bend the knee
- Keep as much weight through the big toe/inside of the foot as possible
- As you lift your heel, push through your toes, don’t just rest on the ball of your foot.
- Slowly lower back down to the ground-don’t just drop.
Exercise prescription:
Start with 2 sets of 10-20 reps and work up to 4 sets. Let movement quality (and pain) be your guide. Once you get sloppy-stop.