I Keep Spraining my Ankle… What Can I Do!?

Sprained Ankle? What Can I Do?

Lateral ankle sprains are one of the most common conditions seen by physiotherapists in outpatient clinics. Specifically, a little ligament called the anterior talofibular ligament is the most commonly sprained ligament in the body.

Now there’s some good news and some bad news. First, the good news is that after your first lateral ankle sprain you are going to get 100% better and return to full activity. Now the bad news is that there’s up to a 70% chance of repetitive ankle sprains as long as you continue your sport or activity, such as basketball or volleyball.

How do we minimize that 70% chance of repetitive sprains you might be wondering? Let’s start by explaining how our bodies rely on Static and Dynamic stability.

Static stability comes from our body’s non-contractile tissues such as bones and ligaments. Take your elbow for example. If you fully straighten your elbow there should be a firm end feel and that’s your bones coming together to stop movement. If we broke bones or sprains or completely tore ligaments, we would lack our static stability at a particular joint.

Dynamic stability comes from our body’s contractile tissues, namely muscles. This is something we can control. If our body is lacking static stability, for instance from a lateral ankle sprain, we can train our muscles to better dynamically stabilize our joints.

For those lateral ankle sprain patients, here are a few balance and strength exercises to use to minimize your chances of re-injury:

Balance Clock Exercise

• Stand on the injured leg and imagine you’re in the middle of a clock
• Close your eyes and bend the knee of the injured leg slightly
• With the unaffected leg, step out to each hour marker on the clock and back with small toe taps working your way all the way around the clock

Standing Heel Raises with Eversion

• Take a small resistance band and loop it through a doorway
• Step through the resistance band with the injured ankle so that it’s pulling you outwards
• With slight tension in the band, slowly raises your heels fighting the ankle front rolling
• Come back down slowly

Dorsiflexion Stretch

• Stand in front of a wall and place the toes of the injured foot close to the wall
• Attempt to touch the wall with your knee by bending at the ankle without lifting the heel off the ground or letting your arch collapse
• Repeat with the foot further away from the wall until your heel begins to lift when your knee touches the wall
• You might feel a stretch behind the heel/calf or a pinch in front of the ankle
• Hold the position for 3 seconds then relax

In addition to regular balance and strength exercises, an ankle brace can also be effective in preventing recurrent lateral ankle sprains.

Just as a quick aside – it’s always smartest to have a qualified health care professional, such as a physiotherapist or chiropractor, follow you through your rehabilitation to ensure the best results possible.

If you’ve had an ankle sprain and want to get back into the game as soon as possible, call Peach Physiotherapy in Chatham-Kent, Ontario at 519-358-7342 to schedule an assessment with one of our physiotherapists who will work with you to create a treatment plan addressing all your concerns!