Saturday, May 07, 2005

Can you do anything to remove stiffness from an ankle riddled from sprains?

Is there anything that can be done to help rehab an ankle that has several recurring sprains so that it will not become stiff or the ligaments/tendons are getting loose resulting in more sprains?

There sure is.

You need to start following a sprained ankle rehab program that will move your ankle through its entire range of motion in a CONTROLLED movement.

You can certainly do toe raises which will definitely help. Towel stretches (where you are basically stretching your achilles tendon) will also help. Then there is the towel pull with your toes. This works but I have yet to figure out exactly when you pull your toes in that fashion when you walk.

Then there is the towel exercise where you put your foot on the towel and try to move the towel from the outside of your body towards the center of your body. This is also effective but, again, I privately wonder when you actually use that movement in your daily life or in your exercise activity.

A sprained ankle rehab program should help you rehab your ankle in such a way that the strengthening and the stretching mimics/prepares your ankle for the movement and forces that it will experience during your normal and exercise activities.

Doesn't that make sense?

The other part of these popular sprained ankle rehab techniques that I have a problem with is that they only rehab your ankle in one direction (dimension) at a time. So you are strengthening the different parts of your ankle unequally.

When you stengthen/rehab your ankle unequally, you set yourself up for future sprains that are more severe. It's a vicious cycle that is often hard to break as many athletes know very well.

Every part of a sprained ankle rehab program should strengthen the ankle joint ( tendons, muscles and ligaments) in a balanced and equal fashion. The only way to truly insure a balanced rehab of your ankle is by making certain the exercises you are doing (the rehab system, if you will) has balance integrated into them.

Any rehab program you use should strengthen your ankle in the same way your ankle moves during your normal activities.

Therefore, the more closely a rehab program mimics the way your ankle moves during your normal activity, the better the results you are going to get for your efforts.

The quality of your rehabilitation is directly related to the quality of the rehab program you are following.

So, it only makes sense to use the cutting edge technology and techniques if you have access to them. Sadly, a lot of physical therapists and doctors are still following the old, "safe" way of rehabbing a sprained ankle. Often to the detriment of their patients getting better faster.

If you want to rehab your sprained ankle in the fastest and best way possible, then you need to check out my sprained ankle rehab program at www.fastrehab.com

This program was developed over a period of 5 years and I have found that it will rehab a sprained ankle more effectively and faster than any other program I've seen or tried.

A lot of other athletes have found this to be true as well.

If you're frustrated with how your ankle is feeling after you've completed your rehab as directed by your doctor, then you owe it to yourself to check out my Accelerated Ankle Rehab Program.

After just a few cycles of the exercises you will start to experience the freedom of motion and the flexibility that you thought you had lost forever.

Head on over to www.fastrehab.com right away. You can get the program by instant download within minutes.

Next time, I'll talk about electric stimulation that some physical therapists use to help the rehabilitation process along.