The ankle is one of the many body parts which we keep on injuring from time to time by doing some daily activities. When you turn, twist, or roll your ankle in an awkward pose sprained ankle occurs. In many cases, this is a mild sprain and is gone if you rest your leg overnight, however in certain cases this tears the ligaments in your ankle bones causing a high amount of pain. One must visit a doctor or a professional in such a case and take appropriate treatment else it will get fatal.
Best Ways to Strengthen a Sprained Ankle
Stretching exercise – You need to start stretching your Achilles tendon as this relieves pain from the muscle and ligaments and helps in the movement of your ankle. You must ensure that you don’t overdo this as it might cause more issues. There are 2 exercises for stretching the Achilles tendon namely the Towel stretch and calf stretch. One can do 2-4 repetitions of these exercises to relieve the tension in their ankle.
Ankle Alphabet – This is the exercise that is preferred by most doctors once they treat your pain and send you home. You need to sit on a chair and extend your leg in the air and carve out alphabets in the air with your big toe. IF you experience pain then you need to stop and if not you can repeat this 2 to 3 times a day.
Knee Motion – Knee motion is used to relax the ligaments and the muscles surrounding the ankles. In this exercise, one needs to sit with their foot on the floor and then slowly move their knee from left to right and keep on doing this for 2 – 3 mins.
Strength Training – Once the sprained ankle has been looked on by the doctor one needs to make their ankle strong again and remove the stiffness for a smooth movement. Strength training is of high importance as the ankle needs to hold the weight of the whole body and provide balance to it. However, if you experience any swelling or pain you need to stop this and consult your doctor.
Wall Pushes – This is the simplest exercise to strengthening your ankle. In this one needs to sit on the floor with their feet placed right in front of their body, resting against the wall. Put the leg that is not injured and push yourself with the leg that has sprained ankle. You can hold this position for 6 seconds or so and repeat it at least 10 times a day which will relax your muscles.
Flexibility with calf stretch – One needs their ankle to be flexible and calf stretch is the best way to do so. You can physically stretch your ankle using a towel, band, or some other object to increase your flexibility. You need to place the object behind your feet and pull your feet slowly towards you. Once pulled hold the position for 30 seconds or so and repeat it 3-4 times a day. Make sure you don’t overdo this as it might lead to complications or wear and tear of the ligaments in the muscles.
One Leg Balancing – One must be able to balance their body weight while standing up and walking. Leg balancing helps one to achieve this. In this exercise, one needs to stand behind a chair and place their hands on the chair’s armrest for support and lift off the uninjured leg off the ground so that all the bodyweight is being taken by the injured leg. Hold this position for 30 seconds and then take some break off and repeat this 3-4 times a day.
Balancing using a pillow – Balancing on the pillow without uninjured feet is hard. However, for gaining strength, try to balance on the pillow with your injured leg, at first it`ll be hard to balance and you will fall off quickly but with time you will master it.
All the above techniques can be performed very easily at home and one needs to do these exercises with extra care and not oneself. If there is any pain detected while doing the said exercises do consult a doctor or a professional.
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