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
Best ankle rehabilitation exercises for those recovered from an ankle injury. That's the title of our program. There you go. We're done. All right. That's it
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We're not liked and now we're trying to turn things around sad as it may sound. All right now ankle injury
No, this is gonna apply to whether you sprained your ankle or you fractured your ankle, but you have to have
Weight-bearing as tolerated orders from the doctor.
I've got a woman that fractured her lower fibula right by her ankle and as soon as she weight bearing is tolerated
We got to do these. And you're gonna want to make sure this is okay with your doctor or your therapist
I mean don't just be jumping into these without their guidlines
Every ankle injury can be a little bit different
Some would say no no we don't want you doing these yet
But in the case where it's weight-bearing as tolerated the doctor says you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't create any
Notable pain, then you're good to go. You will need a little thera-band here.
This is actually can do banned. Thank you Bob
And it's we like the quality
It's actually I think a little stronger than the thera-band right so I like the feel of it. I really do
Bob before we get started a given is the price P.R.I.C.E. if your ankle gets
tired swollen sore don't be afraid to
Elevate it put a cold pack on it if you want to wrap it with an ace wrap to put some mild
Compression on it and that's gonna be helpful. If you overdo it to get it to settle down .The "P" is protected you want to make sure
Maybe you're going to be wearing an ankle brace when you're up
But I mean you don't want to turn it again or break it again.
So the first thing you want to do
And this is the basics of physical therapy range of motion you want to get that ankle to move again in all different directions
So a nice little way to do this to keep your mind thinking of something else besides your ankle is
Imagine there's a piece of chalk right on the end of your bi toe and there's a chalk board in front of you
And you're gonna make the letter A with that toe. I like to use capital letters
And that way you get dorsiflexion you get plantar flexion eversion inversion
And it's an affectional movement and because there's something to think about you know you don't just sit there and get bored doing
simple of this and this. Ideally too, Brad, you have a lot of the legs supported. You know what I mean
Yeah, if you're holding out like this your quads gonna get tired now
So I was just doing that so they could see it
But that's definitely preferable because now we're focused just on the ankle itself and we can make the "B" and
The "C". By the way Brad I got to go back to that price real quickly when he said "price".
That's an acronym P.R.I.C.E.
Protection Rest Ice Compress and Elevate
Next step, we're gonna get the
Can-Do band. This I works best with a shoe on. You can do it with the shoe off
but this grips to the bottom of the shoe really nicely which is advantageous and
By the way, we have this product listed in our products section below
These are products that we like and you can get just a four foot section of it
So you just got to work plantar flexion so work on some strengthening
But on the way back make sure you're gonna come back and get a stretch with it so it comes into the dorsiflexion
You're gonna do repetitions. I know my my wife has been watching some of out videos
She says Brad you got a little no how many repetitions
So sometimes we forget that so you can do 10 to 15 of these. (Sorry Julie)
She's right quality control has all wives are
Say no more Bob
We also want to get every version so the ankle muscles going out and this works well
You can just put one foot like this. You see what he did there?
Okay, he's got it pulled at any takes the other foot pushes down like that and now look at that a little tricky
You're not gonna do this on a stool you're gonna do it on the floor
But this way it's a better angle for the camera, and then you're just simply gonna go out like this
Again 10 to 15 reps and then give it a rest, and if it's feeling good
You can do another 10 to 15. I'd guess that's given a pretty good
Strengthening isn't it? This is pretty heavy stuff. Yeah, the blue is heavier if you get a lighter color the yellow or the pink
It's gonna be easier to work and probably might what you want when you start.
Generally with bands the lighter they are the less resistance
And you can do these two to three times per day morning afternoon and evening if it tolerates and you're not to wore out
That's a great one to do because most people when they hurt their ankle they turned it in this way alright
So you want to strengthen it this way, so you're ready for to prevent further injuries
Next thing is simply walk on it on a flat surface
You're not gonna go walk out in the yard or up and down on a trail
But a flat surface walk on it as long as it doesn't create any pain when it gets tired
This time said take a break
What you're trying to do is walk with a normal patterndon't try to take a short step on one side
You don't want to promote that. Be very aware
You're trying to get walk all the way through and get the weight on to the forefoot
You know that's what you want to pay attention to that you're starting to walk normal now. Because you can get bad habits
from walking with a limp
I've seen many many times
It's very hard to correct sometimes after you've established it. And the person may not even be aware of it
Because they may have learned it over time
Keep in mind all of these exercises that require
Very little. Only thing you really need to purchase is a Can-Do band
I call this the Ziggy zaggy, and this really works the lateral in
Medial lateral muscles of the ankle I have a cane here. You don't need one necessarily, but you might
Well know you look like you're doing a dance step with the cane there Brad. You better believe it Bob
It's all in fun. We need to give you a top hat therapies fun. Now. I've got the patient right now. She can do this
But when I say can you do it on one leg she can do it easily on her good
Leg of course, but on her sore one even with a cane it still hurts, so she's not ready for it.
I'm sure she'll be fine and she'll be doing this. And that shows you that'll show your progression
You can try it on your good side first, and if you're you're able to do it
And you can't do it outside. It shows you you got that much more to go.
So we're gonna work in pain free range of motion pain free exercises
You can use a chair to hold on to it
you can use a cane and the next one is simply up on your toes and
Back on your heels as high as you can go make sure you get full range of motion
Now Brad, I don't know about you, but I would maybe do this one before the zigzag. yeah, that's a good point
you know you could do it in the
Opposite order cuz these are I think are a little easier. wou'dnt you say? You're right.
You're exactly right now
one thing
So if you do switch it one way or another you're gonna start with two feet when you get
To 15 of these with two feet and both legs feel about the same
And make sure you're putting the same amount of weight on each leg because inherently
Your body's gonna say all if this one's a sprain one you're gonna put more weight on the good one
Until you think about it you've already established that probably from their pain.
But once they get better you're gonna
go to just the sore ankle and see how you can do and then you might grab on a
Countertop or the back of a chair if you want. I mean you don't need to use a cane
And then eventually you can go
to with only one
Without grabbing on to something for balance
That's the progression of it's gonna get stronger and .stronger.
I Have people just start doing sidestepping like this right sure because it's working and I have them go in both directions
because it's working the muscles in both directions and without getting into too much deeper inversion and e-version and
Then if you want to start going a little bit faster
Then eventually you can even start you know right a little bit of higher movement here.
Go one above one behind. I'm switch to say one in front
This leg it was in front then it goes behind
Front then behind, so I'm gonna go this way again leg goes in front now it goes behind
leg goes in front and then You can try doing these at higher speeds
Especially if you're an athlete
You can go into just I do so just a simple assessment for their balance and strength of the ankle
If this is the good ankle stand for 30 seconds and see if you can do it without
Touching the wall or the countertop, or if you have a can do you need to push the cane to catch your balance
Typically you can do this you know someone in twenties or thirties can do a thirty seconds
without too much problem then you go on your sprained ankle and you might be
Amazed at the difference where you may have to touch and make sure you count how many times you touch in
30 seconds and then come back in a week and do it again
Yeah, if you had to catch yourself seven or eight times like this you know in a week from now
You might don't have to do it once or twice and it's that's just a way to know that you're progressing
not just the strength, but your balance and your
proprioception
I think we'll bring it to a close here, by the way, Brad and I are not just pretty
We're pretty ugly Bob! No we're pretty helpful and handy, so make sure you subscribe to us if you haven't already
Thanks! Take care!