Ankle Pain, Sprained Ankle

I too have suffered from a couple of serious ankle injuries and have been given a number of exercises to help rehab/strengthen my ankles.

1. Get a theraband or similar elastic band and tie it in a loop around a post of some description. Place your toes through the band and extend the band so that your foot is at 90 degrees to the stretch of the band. Then precede to rotate your foot inwards against the stretch of the band and back to the start position. Likewise stand with your foot at the opposite 90 degrees and rotate your foot outwards.

2. Get a number of marbles (or similar small objects) and a pot of some description. Place the marbles in a pile on the floor and the pot next to them about 1-2ft / 30-50cm away. Then standing on one leg pick up the marbles one at a time with your feet and place them in the pot. Once you have finished tip the contents of the pot out and repeat the exercise with the opposite foot. This exercise works both the standing ankle and the ankle picking up the marbles.

3. Place a step (reebok type or similar) on the floor. Stand side on to the step on one leg. Proceed to hop up on to the step and then hop down on the opposite side before repeating the movement back to your starting position. Complete 10 reps before switching legs. You can also stand facing the step (rather than side on) and jump over and back accross the step. This can also be performed by jumping over a line or in and out of a hula hoop for a slightly lower impact version (better if ankle is still not strong enough).

Sorry if the exercise descriptions are hard to understand, usually I would draw a diagram. Hope these help though.

Without knowing what you have done to this point, a basic overview of rehab is ROM, Strengthening, and then Proprioception/Balance. First is your Range of Motion (ROM): use your big toe like it is an ink pen and draw out the alphabet, use print/cursive, numbers, or even write a letter to someone with your toes (this last one is a good stress reliever as well). You can also do this while you are in the cold whirlpool. Once your ROM has improved, then begin the strengthening. This can be done with some type of Thera Band/Thera Tubing, or even ankle weights. Again, the main idea is to get your ankle moving using inversion, eversion, dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, and circumduction. In the beginning, all of these exercises should be done within a pain-free Range Of Motion (ROM). Once your strength has improved, it is now time to begin balancing. This is a very important aspect of the rehab. First begin just balancing on the floor for about one minute at a time. As you balance improves, make it as challenging as you can tolerate. Balance on anything that is unstable that you can still control; a pillow, sweatshirt, BOSU ball, Stability Disc, 1/2 Foam Roller. You can also move our other leg around, or pick objects up off of the floor while you balance. While you balance, make sure that your abs are contracted and that you have a soft bend in you knee. It is important to remember that having good balance also requires strong abs, low back, Glutes, ADDuctors, etc.
Always make sure that you are doing that rehab on both ankles, and make sure that you can control everything you are doing. This includes the Thera Bands and ankle weights as well as the balancing. If the bands are controlling you, then you are not getting stronger. Also, if you are not in control, it increases you chance of re-injury to the ankle or sustaining another injury. These are just a few ideas.

I had a broken ankle two years ago. After a stupid accident I found myself with a cast on my right leg. Even if the ankle was the only problem I had to keep that thing on for two months. After the bone repaired itself and the joint was back together I started the rehabilitation program. It was more painful than the actual accident. It took me almost one year of physical exercise to regain my normal walk and stop limping. It still hurts when the weather changes or it's cold outside. I guess I have to bare the pain as a reminder.
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Johanna Bartley, Narconon Vista Bay volunteer.