♪ Bob and Brad, ♪
♪ the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet. ♪
- Okay, we want to talk about
strengthening the ankle, right Brad?
- Right Bob. Ankle is the most commonly injured
part of the body, and we need to get those-
- A lot of ankle sprains out there.
- He interrupted me.
- (Bob laughing)
- No, he's right. There's a ton of them out there.
Everyone has had a sprained ankle.
I think I'm pretty safe to say that.
So I wanna show you a way to strengthen your ankle.
Whether it's after an injury,
or if you wanna strengthen so you prevent an injury. So-
- Let's get started.
- That's right Bob. What are we gonna do?
- I'm gonna first do ankle dorsiflexion.
- Good. This is a...
So the goal of this videos to show you things
at home we can do without buying anything
with one exception, we've got some options.
But other than that, it's pretty darn-
- So we're gonna wanna lift the toes up.
We're doing dorsiflexion.
- Yep.
- Now, you can start off by being fairly close to the wall,
and then later on, it's a little harder.
- [Brad] Yep. So he's leaning against the wall.
You can see his body sliding up against the wall.
- [Bob] Now this is for the beginner
but after a while it begins to burn, Brad.
- Oh yeah, it's a good option to start with.
And then I'll show you an option that
if you use like, a two by four...
And you know, your ankles will maybe be 50% improved,
but you want to give yourself a little more balance.
You're an athlete and you want a little more
balance involved, you can do this.
And I'm strengthening it this way.
And after you do 10 to 20 of these...
Now this is one that up to 20 reps
I think is appropriate because it's...
You know, you're running or doing things
on it for long periods of time.
When that gets too easy, you can do 20 of 'em.
You could try off the edge of a step,
but only if you're really got something to
hold onto like handrails.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] And even then, because what can happen
is your foot could slide off.
- [Bob} Yeah. Safety comes first.
- [Brad] Yep. But to get full range of motion,
I'm gonna keep a lot of weight here
and just work that full range of motion.
I'm not gonna do this one like this.
You gotta have this foot on here.
Otherwise it's not safe.
- [Bob] Yep.
- You can go full weight on the two by four
and work balance.
- Alright. What about the other direction Brad?
- Plantar flexion.
- Right.
- So you could just start out like this.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] Do your 20, and then go to one foot.
Okay. Do your 20 there.
When that gets too easy.
- [Bob] More challenging?
- [Brad] Well then we wanna actually
increase the range of motion and go below neutral.
So we're gonna start out again with that two by four.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] And drop out below neutral.
And then you can see,
that's gonna make it a little more difficult,
a little more balancing involved.
And you can see I'm struggling to hold my balance.
I've got something to hold onto here.
Whoa. Okay.
And this is where you can go to the steps.
Make sure you have something to hold onto.
The handrails, if you got rails on both sides is ideal.
And you're gonna go to here.
You get a little stretch, which is nice.
And then work through it.
Start out with both feet, get used to it.
And then if this is my sprained ankle,
I'm still gonna keep this foot on,
but I'm gonna work this.
- [Bob] This'll be a challenge.
- [Brad] Yep. If you can get-
- [Bob] Again, it'll be good if you have handrails.
- [Brad] Yep. Now, if you're an athlete,
you're a basketball player, a runner, sprinter,
you're definitely gonna wanna start doing these
at the end of your rehab.
I'm not gonna get into that high level.
We actually have a couple videos
that do go through ankle training for the athlete.
If you Google that, you'll get to it.
Now the hard part for ankle training,
and the most important,
is strengthening the muscles on the side to prevent this.
Because that's probably the way you sprained it.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] 90% statistically.
So we're gonna start out with...
Shoes on, on carpet or floor.
And I call these the "ziggy zaggys".
- [Bob] "Ziggy zaggys". Real professional term there Brad.
- [Brad] Yeah. Well I'm zigging and zagging,
that's the way I look at it.
Now you need to have your shoes on
so you get your feet stick to the carpet.
- [Bob] A little resistance.
- [Brad] Exactly. And go about 10 feet, 5 feet.
I don't have 10 feet to go here.
And you're gonna find your ankles are gonna get tired.
If it gets too easy, which it will...
And you know, the average person,
you won't even have to go to one foot.
But you know, if you're an athlete
or you wanna go to some higher level activities,
then you do it with one foot.
And that gets much harder.
And it's challenging your balance,
getting your proprioception ready to go.
- [Bob] Yep.
- [Brad] Okay. Now the last thing.
- The second to the last thing.
= (chuckles) Second to the last thing.
Now I'm gonna use a board.
This is three quarter inch thick.
And Tanner's gonna have to zoom in a little bit on this,
'cause I've only put half my foot on there,
and I'm balancing on my other leg right now,
and I'm gonna go down and do this motion.
Okay. Now that's not doing anything,
I'm just getting ready for it.
And where you put your foot on the edge of the board
is gonna make a difference.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] I'm gonna start right about in the middle.
I'm gonna start to put weight through this leg.
About 50 to 75 percent.
Have something to hold onto.
I'm using the Booyah stick.
You can use a wall, a piece of furniture.
And then start-
- [Bob] And the other foot is holding the board
in place right?
- [Brad] Yep. And I'm just touching that.
- [Bob] Sure.
- [Brad] If you had a larger board,
piece of plywood, it would be a little easier.
But this simulates when you actually roll your ankle.
So we're working the muscles while you weight bear,
and we're putting weight through it
and strengthening the muscles.
So this becomes a real functional way
to strengthen your muscles.
Now this can be a little challenging,
so we can go this direction as well
and work the other side.
- [Bob] And you really can't go with too thick a board.
Right Brad? You can't-
- [Brad] Yeah, you do not want use-
- [Bob] Can't do a step or... It'd just be too much.
- [Brad] You're not gonna use a two by four because-
- [Bob] You'll probably roll the ankle.
- [Brad] Then you will sprain- (laughing)
- Yeah, we don't want you to sprain the ankle-
- Cursing at me for...
"Barb, Brad made me sprain my ankle while I was training."
- Now, they do have pre-made wobble boards.
- Yep. If you get a wobble board...
This one is a round one.
They make 'em also that don't rotate round,
but you'll see that.
We have some videos on wobble board ankles training as well.
But you put your foot on there, and this is...
You know, if you're a higher level athlete
or just, you know, go hiking through the woods.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- [Brad] Uneven terrain.
Then you do probably wanna do this to prevent-
- [Bob] If you tend to sprain your ankles a lot,
I'd maybe invest in a wobble board.
- Because yeah, especially you have a history
of ankles sprains.
Those people, you really need to strengthen a lot.
Not just for a week or two but-
- Strengthen and improve the proprioception.
- Yep.
- The sense of where your foot is without looking at it.
- Right, so-
- And that will help that.
- That's a good point.
So when you get good, you wanna be looking straight ahead
which changes your balance.
And this is much harder than when I look down at it.
It makes a difference.
There's a lot of things going on
with your ankles in your mind.
- Alright. Get those ankles strong, right?
- Yes. Strengthen those ankles.
Get 'em strong like bull,
and you'll be going mountain climbing,
doing all kinds of things
you've never thought you could do before.
- Good luck.
- (Brad laughing)