Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Tips to strengthen the ankle

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    • 04/09/2014 at 11:44 am #70894
      AvatarDayanand Mohan
      Participant

      Hi guys

      I have broken my ankle, sprained it and rolled it countless times. And now I have problems with my ankle because it is really unstable! So, do any of you guys have some tips on how to get back the strength and stability in this joint?
    • 04/09/2014 at 12:33 pm #74477
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      Is it pain free right now?  Has any PT given you some classic ankle strengthening exercises, like with therabands?

      After you are pain free, the path i like to follow is:
      Mobility
      Static Stability
      Dynamic Stability
      Strengthen
      so mobilize and make sure you have decent ROM. have you done that yet?
      Also with that much ankle rolling, you may also want to ping a sports med guy about tib-fib taping the ankle. You may have lost some neurological connection through the ankle joint because of scar tissue laid down during the break and sprains.
    • 04/25/2014 at 9:10 am #74545
      AvatarAimee Phillips
      Participant

      David, what do you mean tin fib taping? I have similar problem and definitely lost nuero connection through a tonne of scar tissue?

    • 04/25/2014 at 10:50 am #74546
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      there isn’t much out there on tib-fib taping for some reason at least in the manner. there is taping for bracing which is not what this is.

      i only found a good reference here (slide 28-29):

      you want to athletic tape around your ankle – highly recommend over some foam pre-wrap – and wrap it as tight as possible. you do this every day for 60 days. i usually took it off at night to give the skin some rest. it gets pretty gnarly looking after 60 days.

      but put it on as soon as you get up in the morning – it is supposed to be on whenever you are weight bearing on the ankle.

      when you sprain the ankle, the sensory nerves there get messed up by the movement of the tissues and bones during the injury and scar tissue prevents them from coming back to 100%.  so you tape them tight to help restore proper sensory function so that the body knows once again which muscles to turn on/off during movement.  over a long time, like 60 days (sometimes longer), the taping restores proper function even with tape off.

      i would ask a good PT about it.

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