Ankle Stretch Exercises for Rehab and Injury Prevention

Ouch, it’s the ankle Coach!

Every athlete knows, ankle injuries hurt. Whether you “roll” it or get stepped on, it’s almost always painful. Our athletic trainer team at Dr. Feder’s office in Manhattan Beach has some expertise in ankle injury prevention and in treating your ankle after an injury. We hope you find these helpful. If you have a problem with your ankle, don’t hesitate to contact us at #3104169700 or visit us online at www.westcoastorthopedics.com to schedule a consultation. We are here to help!

Strengthen your ankles with ankle circles.

This ankle stretch is for preventive and post-injury. The ankle has a lot of ligaments. And they all want and need to be strong! Start following Cathy’s instructions in the video. You will be amazed how much better your ankle feels afterwards. Start the healing! Start the circle!

Point and Flex

This one is very simple, but very effective!

1. Start by wrapping the band around the ball of your foot, making sure it covers your toes, with a flexed foot.
2. Slowly articulate your foot so the ball of your foot is resisting the band, with toes still remaining up.
3. WITHOUT CRUNCHING THE TOES, finish pointing your toes slowly against the resistance of the band. A good way to not crunch the toes is to think of keeping your toe joints completely straight, or imagine space between the joints and knuckles of your toes to really REACH away from yourself.
4. Now, reverse this whole sequence slowly until your foot is flexed again.

“Rinse and repeat!” Start out with a set of 10, and repeat as needed.

EVERSION (We call it “winging”)

Along with inversion these exercises help to maintain ankle stability and control, especially while en pointe.

1. Wrap the band around your toes, on an angle so you are holding it towards the outside of your calf (see picture).
2. Keep you foot at the exact same level, and move the foot directly to the outside. So if you were working with your left foot, for example, you would move the foot to the left. Do not move your toes at all, focus on shifting the ankle.

INVERSION (Sickling)

Along with the above exercise, this also helps to maintain ankle stability and control. Although you would not even think to sickle your foot in ballet class!

• Start by wrapping the band on an angle around the outside of your foot, and hold it towards the inside of your calf (the opposite of the above exercise!)
• Now instead of winging your foot, do the opposite and sickle your foot. So if you used your left foot to do this, you would invert to the right.
• Repeat on both feet as needed.

TIP: Combine eversion and inversion into one exercise!