Your ankle sprain is also a 'strain'. Ligaments aren't the only injured tissue with an inversion ankle sprain. The fibulas muscles and tendons (outside leg muscles) are commonly injured as well. These are very important to rehab as to get balance of the ankle improved and prevent re-injury. A great way to rehab this area is banded 'Monster-Walks'.

Monster Walks - Place a looped theraband around your forefeet. This forces you to have to resist the band from bringing your foot into adduction (turning in). This will help retrain the fibulas muscles on the side of your lower leg. It will help with balance of your ankle, activate your glutes and co-ordinate your knees! Perform slowly and with control. You should feel the exercise mostly on the outside of the hip and lower leg.

Using these you can bulletproof your outside leg muscles and prevent future sprains. Perform 10-12 reps in each direction.

GET YOUR ANKLE MOVING!

In our last ankle post we talked about how one of the biggest errors in ankle sprain rehab is being too cautious. Within 48 hours of a mild ankle sprain we try to achieve as much range of motion within pain tolerance. The 4 primary directions the ankle moves are:

• Dorsiflexion (Toes Up)
• Plantarflexion (Toes Down)
• Inversion (Ankle in)
• Eversion (Ankle out)

Pay careful attention when trying to work both plantar flexion and inversion, as these directions are how the ankle was injured in the first place. Other ideas for early stage ankle rehab include:

• Assisted Dorsiflexion - bring the ankle up with the assistance of a theraband or towel
• Ankle ABC's or Circles - draw the alphabet or circles with your foot. This is an engaging way to get more range 
• Band-Resisted Isometrics - without actually moving the joints, contract the muscles around the ankle by gently resisting into a resistance band in different directions

Doing multiple sets of these exercises after injury ensures the muscles stay active in the lower leg and that ankle joint mobility is maintained!

There's a lot of people who will point to their foot or heel, and say it's their ankle. By the end of this post you should know the difference! The ankle is actually more of a region. You can feel it by tracing down your lower leg, when you get to a large bony knob on the outside of the leg, it's right in front of this. The ankle is composed of 3 joints:

• Talocrural Joint (Ankle Joint)
• Subtalar Joint
• Inferior Tibiofibular Joint

All of these combine to produce the main foot and ankle movements of:

• Plantarflexion (Toes Down)
• Dorsiflexion (Toes Up)
• Inversion (Tilt In)
• Eversion (Tilt Out)

The ankle ligaments criss-cross around these joints to stabilize them at the end of their range of motion, during activities like cutting, jumping, hopping. The main ligaments are:

• Anterior Talofibular Ligament
• Posterior Talofibular Ligament
• Calcaneofibular Ligament

These are probably the most common sprained ligaments in the body! Whether one, two or more of these are stretched determines injury severity. I also included the fibularis muscles . This is because they're also crucial stabilizers of the ankle. They prevent excessive inversion by attaching from the side of the leg, to under the foot (a natural stirrup). They're commonly damaged when rolling the ankle, meaning ankle injuries actually damage muscles and tendons as well. Stay tuned for next post for ankle rehab!

'Don't Worry It's Just an Ankle Sprain'. How many times have we heard this? Be it friends, doctors, coaches, we all think ankle sprains are no big deal. Tell the Toronto Raptors that. If you're from Toronto, you know forward Demar Derozan suffered a lateral ankle sprain a few weeks ago and they've lost most games since!

Ankle sprains are the MOST common injury in sports and exercise. In the NBA there are approximately 100 every year! This is an injury to the ankle ligaments (attach bones together), usually caused by rolling your ankle. Around 80% of them will be lateral (outside) sprains. This is from quick twisting or pivoting of the foot on the ground (like when DeRozan does a crossover). There are a few reasons these can happen:

• Poor Balance and Stability
• Bad Footwear
• Previous Injuries (Ankle or Knee)
• Bad Luck!

A huge problem with these injuries is how poorly they are managed. Usually rest and ice is all that's recommended. But people take this literally! Rest is reasonable for the first 24 hours. But after that we need to move and load that ankle within pain tolerance as soon as possible! You need step by step rehab after this, coming back too early almost guarantees another sprain. DeRozan came back too early this week and surprise, he's out another week reinjured! Get your ankle sprain treated properly by one of our therapists.