Physical Therapy For Ankle Impingement

Rehabilitation from ankle impingement usually begins with stretching exercises and range of motion exercises. Most of the symptoms exhibiting impingement can be solved with physical therapy.

Some of the exercises for ankle impingement are as follows:

Gastrocsoleus stretching
To do this exercise, face a wall and place your hands on the wall. Now extend the injured leg and place a cloth under the arch of the foot for support. Keep the front part of the knee slightly bent. Now, gently point the toes inward on the back foot. Keep the injured heel on the floor with the knee straight, shift the body weight towards the wall. You will feel a gentle stretch in the calf. Maintain this position for about half a minute. Come back to the normal position and repeat this exercise five times and do it about 10 times a day.

Ankle plantar flexion
Sit with the injured leg crossed over the opposite knee. Use the opposite hand to pull the top of the foot and toes towards the body. This should give a feeling of a gentle stretch on the top of the foot and ankle. Maintain this position for about 30 seconds and repeat this exercise about five times and about 10 times throughout the day.

Ankle inversion exercise
In order to perform this exercise, sit with the injured ankle crossed over the opposite knee. Grip the foot with the opposite hand placing the thumb on the bottom of the foot and fingers across the top of the foot. Gently pull the foot such that the toe comes towards the body and the thumb pushes the inside of the ball of foot away from the body. This should give a gentle stretch on the outside of the ankle. Maintain this position for about half a minute and do this about 10 times a day.

Ankle eversion exercise
To do this exercise sit with the injured ankle crossed over the opposite knee. Grip the foot with the opposite hand and place the thumb on the top of the foot and fingers across the bottom of the foot. Now, gently push the foot downwards with little rotation such that the toes rise up slightly. This should make you feel a gentle stretch on the inside of the ankle. Maintain this position for about half a minute. Repeat this exercise about five times and do it about 10 times a day.

We would also like to mention a couple strengthening exercises for ankle impingement:

Dorsiflexor strengthening
You need to have a rubber tube to act as resistance which should be fixed to a stationary object such as a table or a pole. Loop the other end of the tube around the injured leg. Now, sit on the floor facing the object. There should be slight tension felt in the tube when the foot is relaxed. Now gently pull the foot backwards towards the body using the ankle and toes. Maintain this position for about half a minute and then return to normal position. Repeat this exercise about five times and do it about 10 times a day.

Ankle eversion and inversion strengthening

• Eversion: Take one end of the resistance tube while the other end is fixed to a stationary object. Take the other end of the tube and place it around the injured foot. Place your fists between the knees. Now draw the band across the opposite foot and slowly pull the little toe outwards and upwards. Make sure that there is gentle resistance offered by the rubber tubing. Maintain the position for about half a minute and do it 10 times a day. Repeat 5 times everytime you do it
• Inversion: Loop one of the tubes over the injured foot and the other end attached to a fixed object. Now gently pull the big toe upwards and inwards ensuring that the rubber tube resists the entire motion. Maintain the position for half a minute and repeat 5 times everytime you do it. 10 times a day.

When doing these exercises patients need to make sure that an effective stretch should be maintained for at least half a minute as long as it is pain free. There are a lot of things physiotherapy helps and ankle impingement is one of those.

If you require physical therapy in Edmonton who can help you with physical therapy for ankle sprain, reach out to In Home Physical Therapy.