Your ankle joint lies among the major weight-bearing joints of your body. It plays a vital role in providing balance to your body. A flexible ankle joint is essentially important for having a great range of motion that you need for performing your routine workout. Ankles do receive a little attention compared to the role they play. Because of its structure and function, your ankle often gets injured while performing different movements.
Performing ankle stretching & strengthening exercises in your daily workout routine all prevent all types of ankle injuring and help in doing daily activities. Strong ankles also aid all the jogging activities & provide support to your knee & hip muscles. Do the following ankle strengthening exercises for improving their mobility and flexibility.
Non-Weight Bearing Dorsiflexion
Ankle dorsiflexion involves the bending of your ankle joints facing your shin. Doing this exercise will help with all types of jogging activities. After wearing your workout shorts, start this exercise by moving your ankle, keep on pointing the foot back and forth. Make sure you keep your knees staring when you do it. Continue this movement till you feel discomfort unable to stretch it any further. Hold each position for around 15 secs. Then return to the neutral position & repeat it 5 times.
Ankle Circles
These ankle strengthening exercises strengthen your muscles in the ankle area and improves your joint’s stability. To start this exercise sit on a chair or a bench & extend the right leg and knee straight. Then Move the right foot in a circular clockwise motion 10-20 times, then rest the leg for 5 seconds, & continue raising it again & move the foot counterclockwise for the same number. Do the same exercise with alternating legs, perform this activity 3-4 sets for each side. You can also add variety to the ankle circles. For doing so try moving the foot up & down like you press a gas pedal, side to side. These moves also improve the range of motion.
Peroneal Stretching
Peroneal tendons surround your ankle joint. They play a crucial role in strengthening and providing support. This exercise is best for runners, dancers, & sports athletes like football. We would recommend you to do a one-minute warm-up before doing this exercise. After getting into your workout shorts start by gently rolling on the feet outwardly & walking for 60 secs. This exercise helps with flexibility & strength while improving the proprioception that helps in preventing ankle sprains.
Single-Leg Balance
Start this workout by standing straight on the floor with the feet shoulder-distance apart. You can add a chair or hold on to a wall for support. Stretch both of your arms straight out at your sides, lift one foot & stand on the other. Perform this daily, by increasing the time interval of standing on each of your legs. When you can balance yourself up to 60 seconds, do these variations.
Try balancing with your closed eyes. Or Balance with both of your arms on the sides. Balance by standing on an unstable surface, like a pillow, a folded towel. Do a few repetitions. Incorporate this into your daily workout routine.
Ankle flexion (plantar)
This exercise requires a resistance band for strengthening your ankles. Start this workout by sitting on the ground with your knee bent, the heel on the ground, & your other leg on the ground. Then loop the resistance band around your foot & hold its ends in your hands. Then point the toes forward & back, and release all the tension. Perform 3 sets each of 10 flexes with one foot, 3 days per week
Toe raises & heel drops on the step
This exercise is a Lil bit challenging as it requires more flexion of the ankles. Start this workout by standing on the bottom step, put all your weight on your feet balls while your heels hang off from the step. You can use a banister to get support. Then raise your toes & slowly lower down your feet. Perform 2 -3 sets with 10 lifts in each.
