hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and the pups! and today I'm going to show you my
five-minute stretching routine for ankle pain. I know. so let's get started.
and before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure and click on the
subscribe button down there so I can see your comments. so since this is a
real-time stretching routine,, I'm gonna do it all in real time, and if you want
to follow along with me you can. so in general when we're doing stretching
routines, you really want to do it for 30 seconds, that three times hold, that's
what you kind of see me do in my videos, but I get that people sometimes don't
have a lot of time throughout the day. and so this 5-minute stretching routine,
I'd rather you do a quality amount versus a quantity amount. so we're just
gonna do a 30 second, two times, and then we're going to go on from there. and then
some of them will just be kind of 30 seconds throughout so we're gonna start
off with a 45 second warm-up, and then we'll go into the stretches. so I've got
a little app here just to kind of help us follow along with time. so we're just
gonna start with the warm up. with the warm up, all I want you to do is just
start off with maybe some ankle pumps just to kind of get that ankle moving a
little bit. so ankle pumps are just kind of going up
and down. you've probably heard me talk about these before. I love them because
it helps increase the circulation to your legs and just kind of helps with
all that movement and prevent fatigue and stuff. but it's a nice way to warm up
as well. you can also just kind of go side to side. so it's not my whole leg
going side to side, I'm really just doing that movement at my ankle, just to get
that nice warm up in there. and then you can even just kind of do some circles.
couple one way, again really trying to get it at that ankle, and then do a
couple the other way. so we're gonna get ready to go into the first stretch which
is going to be a calf stretch. and I like using a stretch strap. you can use the
dog leash, anything like this, but you can do it sitting in a chair. a lot of times
I'm sitting on the floor. you can do it in the bed, just put this strap kind of at
the ball of your foot, pull your leg out a little bit so your knee is locked out,
and then just pull towards you. so I'm getting that stretch in that calf muscle
that comes all the way up and crosses my knee too, but that calf muscle has a lot
to do with us pushing off on our foot. so when you're pulling it this way, you're
really stretching it out and that has a lot to do with ankle pain.
so if you have ankle pain, this is a great stretch to do. so take a little
relax, and then we're going to stretch that 30 seconds again. you can do this
lying down, you can do it sitting like we're doing, or you can do it standing.
there's a whole bunch of different ways to stretch the calf, and I've got a lot
of videos where you can see that. so again you're not pulling your toes up
actively, you're using the strap, or the belt, or the dog leash, to pull that up
for you. so just getting that nice stretch getting it feeling like you're
really getting it loosened up in there. so we're going to take a little
10-second break to go into the next stretch. and the next stretch is going to
be a soleus stretch. the soleus muscle is the one underneath the calf, and so
bending your knee helps you get that stretch. so you can still do this sitting
down in a chair, bring your heel back, but keep it on the floor. so not coming up
like this, just go until it feels tight and then lean into it. and if you can go
back a little bit more and get that stretch. so I'm now stretching that
soleus because my knee is bent and taking the calf muscle out of it. so the
calf, when you're stretching calf muscles or those gastroc, you want the
knee to be straight, but when you're stretching the soleus, you want to bend
that knee a little bit. so stretch it out a little bit and then go back into it
trying keeping the heel down is the most important part. and this might not look
like a lot, but I'm getting that stretch around the ankle and back up into that
soleus. mine I feel it a little more in the front because my ankle is a
little tight, but you should be able to feel it all around there. so it's a
really good stretch for the ankle getting getting that nice stretch. but
again bending that knee is what takes that calf out of that stretch. so then the
next one is just going to be the ABCs. I call these ABCs, so this is kind of a
stretch but just kind of an active range of motion as well. and if you have ankle
pain this really helps. you can put your foot out actively or if you want to prop
it up on a stool you can, but all you're really doing now is just doing your ABCs.
so that A B C. you can do your name, you can do sentences, you can say I love PT
in there if you want to, but so what I'm doing is
trying to get all that movement at the ankle. so it's not my whole leg making
the letters, but it's at the ankle getting that stretch and getting that
movement. taking a little break going right back into it. so as you can see
this isn't really a hold stretch, but the way I'm pulling up and pushing down
they're really trying to make those letters side to side, that's stretching
out that ankle. hear some pops going on in there, really getting that movement.
you can do upper case, you can do lower case, you can do cursive, if you know
cursive. so you can do any of those that you want. but just getting that nice
movement in there. so then taking that little 10-second break, and then we're
gonna go into the anterior tibialis stretch. and so again this comes down,
they have a lot to with the ankles. it has a lot to do sometimes if you get
shin splints, and so this is best sometimes without shoes. so see how I'm
pushing my foot down onto the floor with the top of my foot going on the floor. so
now I'm feeling this stretch on the front. so that's the biggest movement. you
can just move to the side of your chair. you want your toes to be on the floor.
you can roll it out to get the outside, the anterior, and you can go in and get
those posteriors a little bit as well. but if you want to do the full 30 second
stretch. with this you can, if you lean back into it a little bit, you're gonna
definitely get more of a stretch for all of that. so just come up relax a little
bit and go back into it. so again if you roll it a little bit that'll get you a
little bit more of that anterior. if you roll it to the outside. but if you lean
back you're gonna get a really good stretch in there. for some people this
might be a little uncomfortable for your toes, so if you want to wear your shoes
you can, but sometimes I found that if I have my shoes on and I stretch my
anterior tibialis muscle, sometimes my foot wants to cramp a little bit, so I
like doing it without my shoes on. so the last one is going to be for the plantar
fascia underneath. and again this all has to do with ankle pain. so if you have
these things going on, it's going to cause pain. I'm just using this is just a cut
up pool noodle, but I'm just gonna roll the bottom of my foot where the plantar
fascia is there. you can use a bigger foam roll if you want to.
you can use a lacrosse ball or a tennis ball, just to roll if you want to. and if
you actually have some plantar fasciitis where maybe this is like uncomfortable
underneath and causing some pain in that ankle ,you can freeze a water bottle and
then roll your foot on the water bottle. so again this isn't really like a hold
stretch, though you can. so for the next 30 seconds if you just want to take
where maybe on the arch of your foot if it's sore there, you I'm pushing down
into that roll. maybe they go a little bit further down, and pushing down in
that roll just really stretching out that plantar fascia. so you don't
necessarily have to roll. I feel like sometimes it's a little bit more
comfortable to roll, but if you have a specific tender spot, you can take it and
just push down. so I'm getting a lot more of my arch when I'm doing it that way. so
you can do that either way if you want to. there you have it. that was my
five-minute stretching routine for ankle pain. if you like to help support my
channel, make sure and click on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe,
where Remy? yep down there. and remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you
feel better soon.