Howdy folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist. Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
Together we are the most famous physical therapists on the internet, in our opinion of course Bob. A little pause there. I almost forgot my name.
Today we're talking about two unbelievably easy ankle strengthening exercises that work.
You don't need any equipment and also what's nice about it
If you don't have an ankle sprain it can help you prevent ankle sprain --right.
So if you have what you think are weak ankles, very good to work on these. --Oh, yeah. --And they're so simple
That's what I like about them. --Exactly right Bob.
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I don't know what we're giving away right now, but we're probably giving away something
Maybe we're not, we may not be Brad.--Didn't you prepare?
No, I mean this one, we did this one now
But I mean you're gonna see it in the future. And so I don't think we're giving away anything
They want to get to the explanation Bob. But you want to go to Facebook Bob and Brad anyway
Cuz we'll be giving stuff away in the future. There you go. So, all right Brad, you're in charge here.
Well you know Bob, I was at work and one of my co-workers, his daughter's in gymnastics and
Freshman in high school and she's got unstable ankles that she went and bought some equipment
You know wobble board and you know spent $50-100 on equipment for her daughter, wanting to have her
The best chance of being successful in gymnastics
--I understand--and I'm thinking well, there's some really good exercises that are gonna help you out
You don't need all this equipment. So with ankle sprains what you want to have is
Weight-bearing exercises.--Absolutely-- It's okay to use bands and do exercises
It's okay to start off that way, but eventually, you know
You're gonna want to get to the point where you're weight-bearing because that's what you're going to be dealing with in real life in sports
That's when they get sprained. You don't sprain your ankles if you're not on the ground --right you're not spraining your ankle like this
When the foot hits the ground. You know that--everything changes.
So what we're gonna do is we're going to do two weight bearing in two different planes we're gonna call it.
One is up and down
Because that's a very important thing with the ankle and the next is even more important for ankle sprains is sideways motion
Right.---There you go. That's it. Now, we're gonna get into the details of how to do them.
Bob, go ahead, stand up, please. Yeah there you go.
Booyah! Wow, with the Booyah Stik. The reason we're using the Booyah Stick, you don't need it, you can use a cane,
You could put your hand on the cupboard
But you usually need something to balance a little--to start especially--right.
Particularly if you got one sore ankle or weak ankle or you know
These are equally as good for people who are older who are concerned, like we're in our 50s now Bob!
Don't forget, you notice your balance changes as you get older. So you want to maintain that so you don't fall.
I've actually got a program coming up Brad just to give a little teaser here for people with Parkinson's, using the Booyah Stick.
Oh good good--all right--always interfering with my thing.
Here we go. So we're gonna, simple you go up on your toes you want to do it that way,
I'll do a profile, you simply, now we're using the stick just for a little balance or whatever you may have.
If you can do it without that, it's good to do without it so you work your balance once, your proprioception.
So you see how we're rocking back now I've got a, you go as far back as you can this way, pulling up,
And this way, up on your toes and you're gonna do 10 to 20 repetitions of these and if you do them slow with real controlled motion, you'll get tired.
You'll feel those muscles working and you'll feel your balance working,
Now if you can do this on two feet and you get 20 reps in
Then the next thing to do is go on one foot and then oftentimes you're
Now you're getting to the point where you need something else.--And there will be some people some real good level athletes
Who will be able to do this, you know without the stick
I'm actually better on my left side than my right side. By the way this is a good exercise,
Both of these are really good for the elderly.
Oh sure, I mean without a doubt, because your balance as you get older
But at all levels actually a lot of it comes from your hips and your ankles.--Yep.
So a lot of your stability does so if you work those two and we're certainly showing you the lower one right now
Your balance is gonna be a lot better, you know if you're over 50 or 60 or older,
Chances are you will not be able to go on one foot and do it. If you can you're way up there,
Yeah you're advanced--Yeah, you're definitely advanced.
So then you go to one foot and you do up to 20 of those and if you can do that you know you're doing well.
Then you're gonna maintain. Now the next one for the lateral motions that works completely different muscles in your ankles, the ones that oftentimes sprain
The perineals or do you say perineal--perineal--I say perineals.
But might be perineals. Yeah, whatever, the muscles that support the longus and brevis. Yes, see.
These are fun. I call them the Ziggy Zaggys. --Yeah, that's our technical term for them. --Technical terms now
This has a tile floor and it's a really nice tile floor by the way. Each tile is 12 inches.
So we're gonna go five feet
I'm gonna count five feet one two, three, four five and I'm gonna go over there doing the Ziggy Ziggys. Now this is it
It's kind of like the Charleston but you're gonna move. Now you cannot do this with socks on because you need some resistance
And that typically works now, Bob you got some dress shoes on.
Yeah-- you have no resistance--it's giving resistance
If you have leather soles they may slide a little easier
It all depends on the floor and your shoes, but you'll know once you work with it
And this is a really nice exercise to work
All those muscles, the smaller muscles that control that lateral motion.--Now if you're a younger athlete Brad, I would say
You're doing it fast, right? I mean I would work up to higher speeds,
Right, but you still want to get good range of motion and do it with definition.
Because when it gets too easy now, we did five feet if you go over five and back five
That's one rep--sure. You want to do about five reps
You may start out three depends on you know, if you've got a weak ankle, but when it gets too easy
Again, go to one foot.
Now this is a big difference. And if you can do this without your balance Booyah Stik or whatever you're using
Then you're really good. Cuz I'm having a hard time.--Oh boy this really fatigues you out fast.
It doesn't only fatigue your ankle, but you feel the whole leg and the hip working as well.
I feel it my calf muscle just fatiguing.--Oh sure.
It's definitely it's just not the ankle, but you know ankle sprains can
Be caused as a result of weak hip possibly--oh absolutely. Oh, I pulled on my wire Bob.--Can you still hear him?
So again, then you go to one foot.
If you can go back and forth five times on one foot, five feet
You're golden and you're gonna really have a minimal chance of ankle sprain, your balance is going to be incredible.
Yeah, you're lowering your chances, that's for sure.
I'm thinking we could create a dance for this and be like remember--we could add music--they'd like flossing that flossing thing
Well, we could do the ziggy ziggy dance. It's gonna be big.--Oh, yeah.--You watch out. It's gonna cross the country.
All right--you think I'm kidding, don't you.--I do. Thanks.