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Ankle Instability: Tips for Strengthening Weak Ankles

ANKLE PAIN

Body awareness is a topic many medical professionals are beginning to encourage in all their patients. Specifically, become aware of your overall posture. How you carry yourself throughout your day really matters over time.

Consider your ankles. Have you thought about them recently? Have you ever really considered their role in keeping you healthy? Yet, they’re one of the most overused joints in your body. And when they start to protest, ankle pain can be exceedingly uncomfortable and debilitating. Your foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta recommends you take action to strengthen your ankles before they cause you pain.

Balance

Muscle balance plays a major role in long-term health. Overused muscles cause a domino effect as you age, leaving you with aching joints, chronic pain, and ankle arthritis in Atlanta.

Pay attention to how you stand throughout the day.

  • We tend to put more weight on one side, shifting as necessary.
  • Do you have small children? Holding babies causes unintentional hip-shifts that have a direct effect on your ankles.
  • Do you sit all day or stand at a counter?

Stretching

Active, daily stretching is the best way to deal with ankle pain. Slow, calculated stretches strengthen the muscles around your ankle joints. The result is less pain and better flexibility.

However, be careful not to get overzealous with your stretching regimen. If you overstretch too quickly, it can result in damage to the muscle, causing more pain than you were already experiencing.

ANKLE

Bands

Flexi-bands are a staple in exercise programs and physical therapy location. They’re available in different tensions to match your current stretching ability. Bands are a good proactive strategy to maintain the progress you’ve made and avoid allowing your muscles to deteriorate towards the possibility of needing an ankle replacement in Atlanta.

Modified Cardio

If you live with daily ankle pain, then you can’t follow a traditional cardio workout. However, if you commit to a few specific cardio exercises extracted from a longer routine, it can do wonders for your pain level. Start slow and with small repetitions, building as you’re able.

  • Scissor Hops
  • Standing Squat Jumps
  • Bounding

Alternate Resting

Healing is the goal. Give your ankle muscles time to recover after asking them to do hard work. Build rest days into your exercise regime or physical rehabilitation plan to see the best results.

If you’ve tried everything to ease your ankle pain, visit a foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta. Whether you need physical therapy or a total ankle replacement, their goal is for you to be pain-free.

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