“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” T. Roosevelt

It’s Pear Blossom time and, as always, that leads me to thinking about running and the joints that are involved. One of the most neglected of these is the ankle joint. No one pays much attention to the ankle until it gets injured, and it isn’t just runners that forget about their poor ankles. We all do.
On average, human feet walk 200 million steps in a lifespan. Anyone who participates in athletics knows that the ankle, along with the knee, is a potential weak link in the human body. The reason for this is the bones in the ankle are relatively fragile to be bearing the body’s full weight.
Also, because of this weight bearing function, if injured, the ankle is slow to heal. It is important that we keep the muscles around these bones strong to prevent getting injured in the first place.

So, which are the main muscles that support the ankle? The gastrocnemius, soleus, flexor digitorum longus and flexor hallucis longus are at the back of the lower leg and heel. The tibialis posterior and anterior are on the inside and outside of the lower leg respectively. The perroneus longus and brevis are on the outside of the lower leg and the extensor digitorum longus and extensor hallucis longus are at the front.
There are four basic motions of the ankle joint:

  • Plantar flexion – points the foot and ankle
  • Dorsi flexion – flexes the foot and ankle
  • Inversion – points the toes inward
  • Eversion – points the toes outward

Most active people are familiar with stretches for the back calf muscles, so I’m going to suggest 3 simple exercises to strengthen the ankle in inversion, eversion and dorsi flexion.

  • Sit on the floor with your back against a wall and your feet out in front of you, knees straight. (This can also be done sitting on the edge of a chair, working leg straight, other leg bent with foot on floor.)
  • Slowly turn your left pointed foot inward and hold position for 6 seconds.
  • Now turn the same foot outward and hold for 6 seconds. Repeat 10 times and change legs. For added difficulty, use a towel or theraband to provide some resistance, being careful not to hold too tight. This strengthens the inversion and eversion muscles.
  • For dorsi flexion, sit on the floor or on a bed with legs out in front of you, knees straight. If this causes discomfort in the lower back, place a firm pillow under your bottom. Loop a towel or the band around your foot and pull the towel back until you start to feel a gentle stretch in your calf muscles. Hold the position for 30 seconds. Start by doing 3 sets of 5 exercises and work your way up to doing 3 sets of 10.

For those of you doing the Pear Blossom on April 9, I wish you an injury-free, cool, rainless day and hope you come in at your best time yet.
Good Luck!

Mary Ann Carlson is Owner of The Pilates Studio of Jacksonville – 541-890-7703