Like the wrists,your ankles make a lot of delicate movements. Unlike the wrists, however, theankles do that while bearing all the weight of your body. As such, they’rehighly prone to injuries such as spraining or even breaking.
On your way torecovery, you can attain the flexibility and strength of the ankles faster withresistance band exercises. Among the very best include ankle alphabet, feetcrunches, band stretch, standing band stretch, heel raise with band, elasticband push, elastic band pull, ankle out, ankle in, and ankle rotations.
Before undertakingany of these exercises, ensure your doctor has approved of them. This isbecause if they’re done too early on in your recovery process, you’ll damagethe ankle rather than help it heal.
After the doctor’sclearance to work out the ankles either with or without resistance bands, youcan try out the following exercises. Again, practice care and stop as soon asyou feel any major discomfort.
Contents show
1. Ankle Alphabet
The ankle alphabetexercise is focused on increasing your ankle’s range of motion. As it’s namestates, it’s basically drawing the letters of the alphabet with your foot. It’schosen because the toes would have to go into all the possible directions totrace the letters.
To make it evenbetter, you can attach a resistance band on the foot such that it takes alittle more effort for the toe to move and draw the letters of the alphabet.
It’s done asfollows:
- Sit upright with your exercise ankle propped upsuch that the foot is parallel to the ground.
- Loop the band under this foot and maintain sometension in it throughout the exercise.
- Trace all the letters of the alphabet from A toZ with the big toe while maintaining the tension in the band.
You should repeatthis exercise up to 3 times for the best results.
2. Feet Crunches
Standard crunchesare used to build and strengthen the core. In a similar manner, feet crunchesare used to build and strengthen the ankle muscles. Typically, this exercise isperformed using a towel or other soft item. However, we’ll use a resistanceband for our case to attain the same or even better results.
The steps are asfollows:
- Sit upright in your chair with your feet forming90 degrees at the knees.
- Loop the resistance band around your toes or atleast the upper section of the foot then maintain some tension in the band.
- While pulling against the band and maintainingthe position of the rest of the foot, crunch up your toes and hold for 5seconds before releasing and repeating the same.
Do this for up to 10times.
3. Band Stretch
This exercise isbest suited to the early stages of recovery in which your ankles aren’t strongenough to take on more difficult exercises yet. This is because it exerts veryminimal pressure on the ankle as the band is looped right in the ankle. The aimis to strengthen and stretch the Achilles’ tendon of your foot.
It’s done asfollows:
- Sit on the floor with the leg to be exercisedstretched forward and the toes pointing straight upwards.
- Wrap a band around the ball of your foot andhold the band’s ends in line with the leg.
- Pull on the band hard or until you feel thetension in the ankle then count to 30 seconds before releasing.
You don’t need tomove the foot in this case as the pressure exerted by the band is enough totrain the ankle into supporting your weight. Repeat the exercise 3 to 5 times.
4. Standing Calf Stretch
The standing calfstretch exercise is almost similar to the band stretch described above save forthe position of working the ankle. This exercise is more advanced compared tothe one above as it entails combining the weight of the body and the tension ofthe band to find a perfect balance for the ankle. It’s done as follows:
- Stand while facing either a window or otherplace to hold unto. This is for safety purposes to restrain the weight exertedon the ankle.
- Step back with the injured ankle such that thegood foot is in front of the injured one.
- Loop one end of the band under the ball of yourinjured foot then the other end above the knee of the good foot.
- Slowly start bending the knee of the foot in frontwhile keeping the back foot firmly rooted to the ground. This way, the anklewill be stretched as you move forward. The band helps in compressing the ankleas it’s stretched. When you reach the limit of bending one knee, hold for 30seconds then return to the starting point and do it again.
Ideally, you shoulddo the exercise 10 times for each rep.
5. Heel Raise with Band
When in a standingposition, raising your body upwards is the work of the ankles and associatedmuscles and tendons. For an injured foot, doing ankle raises restores thestrength of the Achilles’ tendon and the ankle muscles. Adding a band makes itharder to raise your body upwards hence a great exercise for the ankle.
The procedure is asfollows:
- Stand upright preferably close to a wall ortheir support area without necessarily touching it. Your feet should be hipwidth apart for this exercise.
- Loop a band below both feet at the front partsand hold the ends in both hands while maintaining some tension in the band.
- Slowly raise your heels (and your body) up whilesupporting your body on your front feet alone.
Perform 10 to 15heel raises before breaking a doing another set. When your ankles are heeledenough, you can try supporting your body on one foot alone.
6. Elastic Band Push
The elastic bandpush is an ankle-strengthening exercise meant to prepare the ankles for bearingthe weight of the body or for exercise. It’s a simple workout done with aresistance band when seated as follows:
- Sit on the floor then stretch the leg to beexercised forward. Support it so that the heel is a little off the ground.
- Wrap a band around the toe area of the foot thenhold the ends in both of your hands. Ensure there’s some tension in the band atthe starting position of exercise.
- Push the toe forwards and hold for 10 secondsthen return it to facing directly upwards.
Repeat the exercise10 times for the best benefits.
7. Elastic Band Pull
Like the elasticband push above, this exercise will make your ankle stronger while alsoincreasing your range of motion. The difference is that the foot in thisexercise is pulled towards you rather than away from you as in the aboveexercise.
It’s done with thefollowing steps:
- Sit with your exercise leg stretched out beforeyou. You’ll need to add a support between the foot and the knee to gain someelevation off the ground.
- Anchor the band at a point away from you butdirectly in front of the foot. Loop the other end of the band around your frontfoot.
- Without moving the rest of the foot, move thetoes towards you as much as possible, hold for 10 seconds then restore it tothe upright position.
Perform the exercise10 times.
8. Ankle In
A lot of theexercises on this list have been about moving the angle mainly to gain strengthand mobility. For the ankle in exercise, you’ll be moving the whole foot whileexerting the pressure on the ankle as explained in the states below:
- Anchor the band at the ankle level then tie theother end on your front foot. Ensure the band is on the outside of that foot.
- Slowly move the whole leg away from the anchorbut inwards of your body. The aim is for the ankle to resist the outward pullof the resistance band and gain strength on the inside.
Perform 15 reps forthis workout then move on to the next exercise below.
9. Ankle Out
While the ankle inexercise entailed moving the foot towards the other foot, this one entailsmoving it away from the center of your body and the anchor. The rest of theexercise remains the same.
- Anchor the band at the ankle level then theother end on the front part of your foot. You may be seated or standing upstraight.
- Move the foot away from the center of the bodyand away from the anchor point. The leg should move as much as possible thenreturned to the starting point.
Perform 15 reps ofthis exercise as well.
10. Ankle Rotations
Ankle rotations areall-round exercises that focus on gaining mobility for the whole ankle. Assuch, you take the ankle through various angles. The addition of a resistanceband makes the task tougher leading to better results.
The steps are asfollows:
- Sit on the floor with your leg supported toremove the heel from the ground.
- Loop the band on the front foot then hold theends in your hands.
- Move the toes through a full circle clockwisethen anti-clockwise.
- Anchor the band at the ankle level then hook theother end around your toes.
- Move the toes through a full circle clockwisethen anti-clockwise.
Repeat 10 times when the band is in your hands and when it’s anchored away.
Videos
BestResistance Bands for Ankle Exercises
Some of the bestresistance bands for ankle workouts include:
1. Tribe ResistanceBands Set
2. REEHUT SingleResistance Band
3. Lim ResistanceBands Exercise Loops
4. FOMI 7 RingStretch and Resistance Exercise Band
5. Koncle 11 pcsResistance Band Set
As your ankle heels, you can increase the resistance with most of these bands to attain better results.
Further Reading
- Resistance Bands Basics: Meaning, Types, how they Work + Benefits
- Resistance Band vs Free Weights
- Best Beginner Resistance Band Exercises
- Resistance Band Exercises for Knees
- Dead Lift Resistance Band Exercises
- Pilates Resistance Band Exercises
- Best Senior Seated Band Exercises
- Best Shoulder Resistance Band Exercises
- Chest Resistance Band Exercises for Men
- Glute/Butt Resistance Band Exercises for Women
- Upper and Lower Back Band Exercises
- Best Resistance Band Abs Exercises
- Best Resistance Band Leg Exercises
