You might have experienced ankle pain if you have sprained or broken your ankle before. Here are some tips and exercises to prevent and alleviate ankle pain.

Quick introduction to my ‘Prevent, Cure and Adapt’ series:

Many ‘older’ people reminisce about their morning jogs or being on playing tennis on weekends ‘when they were young’. When I ask them why they don’t continue, they’re usually respond with saying,  “I can’t, I’m getting old. Everything hurts.”

But even if you might be experiencing some difficulty in going the same exercise you have been doing, I still don’t think that that should be the reason for not getting your daily dose of exercise. Even if you can’t play tennis anymore, there must be something you can do instead of just letting yourself be less active.

So, I’ve created a mini series with some tips on how to alleviate and deal with pain for bad backs, knees, neck and ankles. Enjoy!

How to prevent ankle pain:

#1 Wear the right shoes:

You don’t want to wear high heels all the time because it puts pressure on your toes and forces your ankle to stiffen and adjust to this unnatural posture. It also increases the chances of spraining your ankle. At the same time, you don’t want to be wearing flip flops or flats that gives you little support, particularly when you are dong high impact activity.

Ideally, you should wear shoes that give enough cushion (have enough height at the soles).

#2 Do not over exert your ankle

Any activity that is high intensity or high impact can increase your chances of ankle injury, or cause problems in the long run. If you experience an injury, you may need to see a doctor to effectively cure your ankle pain. Just like with knee pain, you want to ensure that you find a good balance between varied intensity of exercises.

#3 Watch your weight:

The more you weigh, the more pressure you put on your ankles. It goes without saying, it is a good idea to watch your weight for a variety of other reasons as well.

#4 Strengthen your ankle:

Of course the best ways to prevent ankle pain is to ensure that your ankle is strong in the first place. There are a variety of exercises you can do to improve your ankles. Here are just some you can do at any time:

1. Calf raises: starting with your feet together, slowly raise your heels, pause, and then slowly lower it down again. Repeat 20 times.
2. Roll your ankles: this is a super simple exercise, but it ensures the muscles in your ankles are engaged.
3. Point and flex: point your toes straight, stretching as far as you can and then flex your feet with your toes pointing towards the ceiling. Repeat this a few times.

How to alleviate ankle pain:

#1 Apply heat or cold:

If you’ve been following my series, you’d know by now that heat remedies are good to cure long term ankle injury. Applying heat can help with blood circulation and soothe the pain. Cold treatments are great to cure ankle pain, particularly for a recent injury. This is a great way to reduce swelling and bruising.

#2 Massage your ankle:

Massage your ankle by applying pressure in a circular motion at the three pressure points shown in the picture below. We often don’t realise how much tension we hold in our ankles and feet from walking and standing on a daily basis. It is therefore beneficial to massage these areas from time to time just to release tension, even if you do not have ankle pain.

Recommended Exercises:

If you are experiencing a recent ankle injury, the best thing to do, unfortunately, is to rest until you cure your ankle pain. This means not doing any high impact or lower-body exercises at all, at least until your ankle is better. In extreme cases, this even includes keeping walking to a minimum.

Fortunately though, even if with ankle pain, there are still some great exercises you can do while you are recovering. Many of these exercises you may find, are pretty similar to exercises you can do with knee pain.

#1 Pilates:

Pilates core and arm routines are the safest, but honestly you could even do the lower body routines if you are up for it. All of it is extremely low impact, and most of the time you are lying on the ground. If you have an ankle injury that’s going to last a long time, it’s worth giving pilates a shot!

#2 Swimming:

This is a great form of low impact cardio. Swimming is an all-rounded exercise which ensures you do not overdo with the high impact exercises.

#3 Boxing:

You might want to be careful with this one. Static boxing, of which you focus more on your upper body and core, should be fine. What you don’t want to do particularly with a recovering ankle is to do shadow boxing or sparring, where you have to stay on your toes and move around a lot.

#4 Upper body weight training:

Any exercises that focus on the upper body definitely won’t affect your ankle.

#5 Cycling (in the gym):

Lastly, if you’re looking for some cardio in the gym, you obviously can’t use the treadmill. However, you could probably still get away with cycling. Since you’re reclined, it puts pressure off your ankle.Sure, it’s not the most effective form of cardio, but it may be better than nothing.

Want to know more? Here are other posts in this series:

• Lower back pain
• Upper back pain
• Neck pain
• Knee pain

Have any other suggestions? Let me know in the comments below!

Featured Image by cnick on Pixabay