Do you find yourself spraining your ankle frequently or do your ankle feel weak or loose?
You may be dealing with ankle instability!
Ankle instability is common in athletes who have had recurrent ankle sprains. It is common to find athletes dealing with chronic ankle instability (CAI) because of how lax the ligaments have become. Majority of this stems from the athlete not performing and completing proper rehab following their original ankle injury. After spraining your ankle, some of the most important things you have to work on are your mobility, stability, and power. In this article we will go over some of our favorite exercises to regain stability in your foot and ankle.
Why Work on Ankle Stability?
Working on your stability following an ankle sprain will help regain function, strength, and balance/proprioception in your ankle. Your proprioception is the ability for you to know where your ankle and body is in space. Improving these components with stability training will help decrease your risk for future ankle sprains.
Before You Start, Assess First!
One of the most important things we have to do before we do any training is to assess! Here is a simple test you can do to find out where your ankle stability and proprioception is. Below is a video on how to perform the test. We like performing the test at least 3 times to get an average.
Single Leg Balance KB Pass Through
Here is one of our favorite exercises to do to improve ankle stability, in which we add an external force to help improve stability, single leg balance kettlebell pass through exercise. You are balancing on one leg as you pass a weight side-to-side to help create external perturbation and change in base of support when balancing.
Set a timer for 30 seconds to perform and complete 2-3 sets. Make it more challenging by balancing on a pad/pillow/blankets or closing your eyes.
Airplanes:
One of the most important exercises for ankle stability is controlling your foot while your body moves. Here is one example of an exercise that you can do. It is called an airplane, in which your entire body moves and rotates on your leg. Try it out for 2 to 3 sets of 8 reps on each leg.
Lateral Bounds:
The first two exercises, your foot is stationary while different components are acting on it, requiring your foot and ankle to maintain your body’s stability. In this exercise, you are now working on your ankle stability in a dynamic and impactful way by performing bounds. One way to work on this is lateral bounds.
First start with a slow movement focusing on the landing component. As your mechanics and confidence improves, then progress to less stick times, greater speeds and distances, but keep the duration at 30 seconds. Perform for 2-3 sets
Conclusion:
We hope you learned why ankle stability is important and some exercises you could incorporate to your rehab and workouts. These exercises are great for every athlete, especially athletes with a history of ankle sprains. The more ankle sprains the athlete has the less stability they possess and greater risk for injury.
If you sprained your ankle and need help with the rehab send us a message. We also have our new 5-phase ankle sprain return to sport program, which helps you return back to basketball while decreasing your risk for future ankle sprains.
5-Phase Online Program to Return to Sport & Optimize Your Foot & Ankle
- 12-Week Program; 5 Training Days per Week
- 150+ Exercises with Step-By-Step Video Guided Instructions
- "Virtual Doctor Check-In's" with Fellow-Trained Podiatric Foot & Ankle Surgeon
- PDF Resources to Stay on Track
- Flowsheet to Determine Which Phase of The Program You Should Start At
- Developed by Doctors of Physical Therapy and Backed by a Foot/Ankle Specialist
Sources
Plisky, Phillip et al. Star excursion balance test as a predictor of lower extremity injury in high school basketball players. 2006.
O’Donnell, Michael. Education and Intervention for Musculoskeletal Injuries: A biomechanics Approach. Understanding Injury, Health, and adaptations of the musculoskeletal system. 2012
Lloyd Jacob Evans, Angela Clough. Prevention of ankle sprains: A systematic Review 2011
Terada Masufmi, Pietrosime Brian and Gribble Phillip. Therapeutic Interventions for Increasing ankle dorsiflexion after ankle sprain: A systematic review. 2013
Hoch, Matthre C, Mckeon, Patrick “Peroneal Reaction Time after ankle Sprain: A systematic Review. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2013
Vairo Giampietro et al “Systematic Review of Efficacy for Manual Lymphatic Drainage Technique in Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation: An evidence-based practice approach. The journal of manual and manipulative therapy.
Hubbard et al ” Ankle ligament healing after an acute ankle sprain: an evidence-based approach. Journal of athletic training 2008.
Sivakumar et al. Effectiveness of proprioception training and mulligan’s mobilization in subjects with lateral ankle sprains
Huh et al “Two-Week Joint Mobilization Intervention improves self-reported function, range of motion, and dynamic balance in those with chronic ankle instability. Journal of Orthopedic Research 2012
Shakked Rachel, Karnovsky Sydney, and Drakos Mark. Operative treatment of lateral ligament instability. Foot and Ankle Sports Medicine 2017.
Rogier M et al. “What is the clinical course of acute ankle sprains? A systematic literature review. The American Journal of medicine 2008.
Dr. Gabriel Ignacio PT, DPT, OCS, TPI
Dr. Marco Lopez PT, DPT, CSCS
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The Basketball Doctors assume no responsibility or liability for any injury, loss, or damage incurred as a result of any use or reliance upon the information and material contained within or downloaded from its website. The Basketball Doctors are unable to provide any warranty concerning the accuracy or completeness of any information contained herein. The information provided in the videos are by no means complete or exhaustive, and, therefore, does not apply to all conditions, disorders, and health-related issues. The information is not intended to be physical therapy, medicaladvice, or treatment. Any reference to or mention of any particular diagnoses or dysfunctions is intended for informational purposes only and not an attempt to diagnose your particular problems.
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