Few people know it, but sprains are preventable if we know how to strengthen the feet, ankles, and calves. This is an exercise routine that we should introduce to our children, to the older people around us, and to ourselves as adults. We are going to explain what kind of exercises are how they are performed.
We have before us the best kept secret and it is that it is possible to avoid sprains and no one ever told us. The ankles are a very sensitive area of our body because they hold all our weight and allow us infinite movements that we do not miss until we are disabled.
The ankles are an essential part of our body and are also highly exposed to everything related to our physical activity and the terrain on which we walk. Any bad fall can cause us to injure our ankle, so it is important to anticipate and strengthen those joints.
If we are one of those who believe that anti-sprain exercises do not exist, we are going to stay until the end, to demonstrate that they do exist. In fact, yours truly, she suffered a serious sprain a few years ago and as a result I promised myself not one more. The joke comes when two years later I ended up in a knee-high cast on my other ankle. But joking aside, that ankle did recover well because it was previously strengthened and after recovery I continued to strengthen feet, ankles and calves.
They are about very simple exercises that you have to do several times a week, you don't even have to do it daily. They can be done on the sofa, in bed, while we are hanging clothes, walking the dog, talking on the phone, in the office, etc.
Benefits of strengthening the ankles
Strengthening the ankles goes beyond recovering faster from an injury or better supporting some physical activity, we can even enjoy more of a specific type of footwear, as is the case of heels in women, but today there are many benefits around these exercises to strengthen the ankles, feet and calves.
- The chances of suffering injuries such as sprains are reduced.
- Faster recovery.
- After an ankle injury, the affected area will return to its normal state faster.
- Better balance.
- Improves blood circulation.
- We will be able to support more weight.
- We will be more agile.
- We prevent muscle atrophy.
- We will have a more efficient footprint.
- We corrected the body posture.
As we can see, having well-trained ankles is a very important plus for our day to day, which is why we recommend that both children and our seniors and ourselves should do it. They are very simple exercises that do not cause pain or stiffness, but that little by little help the rest of the body, especially with circulation, balance and footsteps.
anti sprain exercises
These exercises will improve our day to day, since they will help us perform routine tasks with greater skill, such as standing on our toes, walking faster and improving our blood circulation. We repeat that these are very simple exercises and suitable for the whole family.
Walking on tiptoes and heels
It is an exercise that is simple and effective. It consists of walking on your toes and then walking on your heels. It is common to see children playing to make these movements, so it will be easier to include them in their routine.
To tiptoe, we can do it barefoot, with socks, with shoes or as we want. So that the pues are more relaxed, it is better to do them with socks that do not tighten or with bare feet.
We have to walk forward a few meters and also backwards, interspersing tiptoes and heels. They are two very simple exercises that will help us exercise the ankles and stretch the feet and calves.
skipping
It is quite likely that we have never heard this word, but we have run without moving and bringing our knees to our chest. And it is that it consists of an exercise that increases our stability, raises the heart rate and exercises many muscle groups.
In addition, we can run with our feet flat or on our toes, which is how the feet, ankles and calves are strengthened with these exercises. While we do it, let's not forget that the arms must go at the same rate, it is vitally important to increase the heart rate, move the arms and not lose balance.
Jump squats
We do a normal squat, but when we get up, we stand on tiptoes and do a little jump up. When we fall, we repeat the exercise until our body can handle it and we rest for a few seconds or minutes, and we repeat the jump squat again.
This exercise is not suitable for very old people, so it can be changed to a version without jumping. That is, we perform a light squat, when we get up we stand on our toes and instead of jumping, we raise our arms up.
Obviously it is not the same effort, but it is an adaptation for people with little mobility or who cannot jump due to some medical problem.
steps
How easy it is to go up the elevator, right? Well, from now on, we'll start doing it up the stairs. Going up the steps in an exaggerated way strengthens the ankle joints, and by exaggerated way we mean going up one step at a time doing the same flexion that we do naturally, but slower and forcing more ankle flexion, raising the knee more and stretching the knee more. foot. As if we were in slow motion.
Another exercise with a step or step is to put the toes of the feet (better with shoes) at the end of the step and trying to raise and lower our body several times. We rest and repeat. This exercise helps strengthen the tendons and muscles of the entire foot, ankle and calf area.
Elastic band
The elastic bands with our allies and with them we can help our feet to make movements and stretch in a smooth way.
One of the exercises is to place the band in the ankle area, as if it were a bandage that covers the heel, and with our hands we pull the ends. Next, we make circular movements with the foot, first one foot and then the other while we remain seated on the floor, sofa, bed, etc.
Another exercise is to place the tape around the instep and push to one side and with the foot push the force to the opposite side. We can also place the elastic band in the area of the fingers (for the silver) and pull towards us to stretch the sole of the foot.
Board or balance ball
It is a concave table or with a rounded leg where we have to get on and hold our balance. We can also sit on a chair, place our feet on that table and do ankle push-upss, that is, force the foot to touch the ground and then return to the original position.
Balance balls are the same. They are like a kind of yoga ball with a surface made of hard, resistant and flat material. There are also minimalist versions, or we can even use a float or a mat, the point is that it is not a stable surface and that our muscles are strengthened and we improve our balance.