Hi, I was wondering if I could get some advice about how to rehabilitate an ankle injury and strengthen/bulletproof my ankles. I’m hoping to make this thread a collection of rehab drills for people who are searching.
Long story–>Short: I sprained both my ankles badly in high school a million years ago. Since then, I continue to get ankle injuries (minor to major) at a rate of about 1/year. I’ve got another now. Probably about 2 months ago or so I was doing HIIT, hit a crack, rolled my left ankle, and have been complaining ever since.
The ankle is now “semi-healed” due to some work I’ve been doing. But it’s tight, weak, and immobile (compared to the right). Doing ankle drills at home a moment ago was painful.
With that, I’m going to start posting articles/links.
The Ankle Paradox
Building Indestructible Ankles
by Jimmy Smith, CSCS The Ankle Paradox
This was a very helpful article. However, I felt like a lot of it went over my head. I have some questions if someone is kind enough to help.
Solution # 1: Roll the Plantar Fascia Daily —> I really do like this.
Solution # 2: Soft Tissue Work for Everyone—> this seems to advocate foam rolling the inner thigh among other places. Am I reading this right? I normally foam roll anyway, any place in particular I should get?
Solution # 4: Mobilize the Ankle Joint → Mike Boyle with this self-mobilization technique: “Shift all your weight onto the heel and attempt to push your knee over your toes toward the wall. As you progress, move further and further away from the wall.” This was PAINFULL. I felt a sharp pain and gave up. I tried again after awhle and was able to do it with very little mobility… just not ready yet?
Solution # 6: Daily Isometric Foot Contractions → “Foot isometric holds require very little effort and can be done anywhere. To perform them just curl your toes toward the bottom of your foot and hold for ten seconds. Begin with one set of ten repetitions for ten seconds.” → Where should the ankle be for this? Does he mean 10 reps of 10 secs?
Solution # 9: Force Absorption Work → This looks scary as hell. I didn’t dare do this this morning. Any suggestions on when this would be a good idea. I simply don’t think my ankle would take it well. I think I’d be on the floor in pain.
Solution # 10: Acupuncture for the Peroneal and Gluteal Nerves →
Another option is self-nerve flossing techniques designed to reeducate our nerve firing patterns. This movement is a reminder that any muscle stretch will likely be a nerve mobilization, especially if the movements that place load on the nerve are included. The flossing movement is a bodyweight-supported mobilization.
In this movement, you’ll be standing with the injured ankle close to the opposite leg and rotated inward. Make sure the injured ankle is behind the opposing leg. Push the toes into the floor and twist the foot inward to begin the mobilization. To strengthen the movement, flex the low back and neck slightly
