ANKLE EXERCISESJOINT CARTILAGE , LIGAMENTS AND MUSCLES.Ankle exercises are simple and vital after you have injured you lower leg. It could be a pulled muscle (as in the calf, for example), or injured joints and ligaments as can happen in ankle sprain. Scar tissue forms after injury making the soft tissues shorten and contract. Unattended, this scar tissue can make the injured joint permanently stiff, altering the way you walk (your gait), with a knock-on effect on the knee, hip, pelvis and back. It is important to regularly stretch after injury to ensure that a healthy and supple scar forms. Otherwise you're going to be needing more ankle sprain treatment in the future! Prevention, that's what it's about. Don't let this happen ...
Read more … ANKLE SPRAIN TREATMENT. >> First the subluxated bone(s) in the ankle (usually the talus, calcaneus or cuboid bones) must be corrected with a chiropractic help adjustment, and then simple mobilising ankle exercises are vital to keep the joint supple and free. It also helps disperse any fluid that has built up after a sprain or fracture. Is your ankle swollen? For more about a sprained ankle,
click here … SPRAINED ANKLE. >> ALPHABET EXERCISESSit deep in a chair, with your leg stretched out in front of you, and a bare foot. Imagine that you are going to trace the letters of the alphabet (start with caps) in the air with your big toe. Dorsiflex your foot (bring your toes towards your head), and then trace out a capital A. Do five letters every time you have cup of tea, or glass of water.This exercise is ACTIVE. You are using the muscles of the leg to move the foot. You could do it passively by hooking a dud bicycle tube under the forefoot and pulling your foot into dorsiflexion, using your hands. Then allow gravity to drop the foot again. LIGAMENTSGentle stretching of sprained ligaments is important. The alphabet ankle exercises are equally effective for your ligaments.
Robert Redford
MUSCLESAn ankle sprain often strains muscles and their tendons. Most particularly the muscles on the side of your lower leg (called the Peronei; there are three, Longus, Brevis and Tertius) together with the gastrocnemius and its Achilles tendon.To exercise the Peronei, lie on the floor and hook your kapot bicycle tube over your foot, and the other end over some fixed point on the other side of your foot. Start by pulling the toes towards your head against the pull of the tube, then do it an an angle. They are difficult muscles to stretch without putting undue stress on the injured joints.
To exercise the Gastrocnemius mucles (and its oft forgotten companion, the Soleus, the cause of Shin Splints stand on a hard floor, go up on your toes. Start using both feet together, gradually putting more weight on the injured foot. Do this regularly through the day. To make it more difficult, stand on the balls of your feet on a step. Go up on your toes, and then sink deep, before flexing your ankle again. Do it with the ankle guard on to begin. These are simple and effective ankle exercises, things you can do for yourself. They cost nothing, just a little time and discipline! Otherwise you will be visiting your chiropractor endlessly! Saving you time, saving you money ...
You won't be able to do this if the talus is still fixated - you will get sharp pain, deep within the ankle. First have the joint adjusted.
Buy yourself a wobble board to do proprioception training after an ankle injury. Start with sports shoes to give the ankle support, but graduate as soon as possible to bare feet when doing your ankle exercises.
WalkingWalking is of course the best of your outdoor ankle exercises. Normally we would suggest that you don't walk on tarmac or concrete, but in this instance it is recommended. That ankle can turn again VERY easily if the ankle ligaments have been torn. So do it on a level surface, with your ankle support and good shoes.How do I know? Because I've done it myself, excruciating ankle joint pain all over again! Then graduate to level grass, finally removing the ankle guard and even your shoes. This immediate contact between your foot and the ground gives your foot intimate contact with the brain in what we call proprioception. Actually, it's training your brain! SUGGESTION: When you are done with your wobble board and ankle exercises, give it to Mum for a Christmas present. Research shows that elderly persons who do proprioceptive training of the brain are far less inclined to fall and break a hip. You can read more about this in one of the back issues of our monthly newsletter. Signing up at the bottom of this page gives you access to all the back issues. Free. For more about the benefits of walking,
click here … WALKING BENEFITS >> ARTHRITISThe ankle is less prone to arthritis than the knee and hip, and neck, for example but, after injury, should any joint remain fixated, it will become prone to so-called Immobilisation Arthritis. Think Ankle Exercises! Free flow of the Synovial fluid within the joint is imperative for healthy hyaline cartilage. Otherwise, this is what you get ...
This is the ankle of 36 year old woman who fell down the stairs 11 years ago. For 11 years she has walked on her toes. ANKLE JOINT PAIN CaseFile ... HYALINE CARTILAGE ... the tissue at the heart of chiropractic.
Go from ANKLE EXERCISES to FOOT PAIN >>
SurgeryI'm a believer in good surgery, when conservative measures have been exhausted. A good surgeon can do wonders. I'm treating a lady right now who fractured her heel into a dozen fragments when she fell down the stairs. The orthopaedic surgeon, a woman to boot, did an excellent job. Freeing up the fixations in her foot has got her walking almost normally again.Sometimes one simply has no alternative to the possible
complications of surgery. Monthly Newsletter - sign up here ...
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