Exercises from a Physical Therapist for a sprained ankle
One of the most common injuries for Boston Runners is an ankle sprain.
Even more commonly, people will roll their ankles and have some tenderness and acute pain outside their ankle. I'm sure you've heard of a high ankle sprain, and know that it's one of the toughest injuries you can get
The general thought process when this happens is ice 🤢 rest 🤮 and to stop running for a while 🐦🤯 Our Physical Therapists beg you to not do that.
Obviously if your foot is the size of a peach, then maybe you need to lay off the 13-mile trail runs for the week. But the BEST thing you can do for an ankle inversion strain is to train the heck out of it, and get strong in that position.
Because guess what? You're going to roll your ankle again.
And guess what x2? The most common injury is the one you've already had. So, use this exercise progress to train the lateral ankle and get strong in that position. This is the best way to prevent future injuries and to make sure the ankle is not only strong but mobile as it needs to be.
Strength training is also the best way to prevent your ankle from rolling.
If you have a history of ankle sprains, you better start getting that ankle strong.
And I don't just mean lunges, but lunges in positions in which you sprain your ankle in. Obviously, you have to start slow and regress based on your current strength levels, but you're doing yourself a disservice if you're not training like you do with all your other muscles and joints. Most Physical Therapy clinics don't think like that.
Ready to stop your ankle injury history and upgrade your strength training routine? Here are the best Physical Therapy Ankle Inversion Rehab exercises.
Progressions Goes As Follows:
- Ankle Inversion Isometrics
- Ankle Inversion Eccentrics
- Ankle Inversion Fully Loaded Eccentrics
- Split Squat with Ankle Inversion Bias
- Loaded Split Squat with Ankle Inversion Bias
Don't jump further than you're ready for, either. If you haven't tried any of these exercises, start with the low level isometrics and work your way up from there.
If you have a history of rolling your ankle, best thing you can do when you roll your ankle is to seek our Physical Therapy. If you want to get back to running sooner rather than later, waiting on PT isn't going to help. WIth ankle sprains, a progressive approach is always better. Not only can a Physical Therapist directly treat your ankle to increase the healing time and decrease the swelling, but they can also look at your gait mechanics and hip mobility to understand why you rolled your ankle in the first place.
Physical Therapy should be a solution and not a band-aid to your ankle injury!
Are you a Boston runner who is constantly spraining their ankle? Than you probably need some more mobility — check out our 60 Minute Runners Kinstretch Class and build joints that help you move, run, and live better!
