Ankle Stability - Exercises & Workouts To Strengthen Your Ankles

With working on athletes and injury rehab clientele, I have learned that ankle stability is something which should be main stream as a functional tool. As youth we need this to help with ‘proper alignment growth’ and posture. As young adults we need this to keep old injuries at bay, alleviate extra weight gains and prevent further joint damages. As older adults we need this in order to minimize crippling falls. The training variables and skill will vary among these age groups but there are some basic tweaks you can do with your present activities in order to enhance the ankle stability work you get in your day!

Some of the natural games we play as children already use ankle stability exercises such as hopscotch, leap frog, and follow the leader done over rocks and balance beam type park obstacles.

Regimented exercises for child sports are used in coaching such as bounding, single leg hops and side shuffling. Most children already have a knack for balance so you can demand more of them than most other age groups with the exception of some adult athletes depending on the sport. There is also a lesser degree of fear in most youth which seems more prevalent in older populations and young adults who have not previously been active.

Adults can incorporate ankle stability work while training in the gym by being creative such as doing some exercises on one leg or using the various balance equipment in between exercises.

It is now common place to find balance boards, noodles, or half balls in the gym; all which aid in strengthening the ankle joint while also training stability.

Older adults have a higher likelihood of weight gains, fear of falling and poor balance which make your training choices tighter but there are still options with ideas as simple as sitting on a body ball near a wall for spotting then lifting a leg and holding for a count.

Wrapping a light ankle weight around the balls and knuckles of your feet then doing foot circles both clockwise and counter clockwise is a simple exercise many age ranges can use.

Simply standing by a wall and doing a single leg knee bend can be challenging if done with non stop reps while the other leg stays off the ground throughout the full set. If you’re a keener then hang on to a dumbbell and try it away from the wall. Of course in order for these to work, form is crucial so make sure to understand proper form, never let knees go beyond toes in knee bends and always ensure there is NO knee knocking, knees should not fall inward so ensure to pull them outward. It may feel as though they are way outward but if you watch in a mirror you will see that it feels much father out than it really is and that you will most likely just be keeping those knees inches from falling inward! You would want to be most diligent in some form of quick weekly ankle work if you’ve ever had knee, ankle, hip or lower back pain!

By Linda Cusmano