ankle update and info
I'm posting this because it may be useful to anyone searching for information related to ankle injuries.
A while back, a kind reader (a former librarian) sent me a story on exercises to improve balance and strengthen the ankle. Another reader kindly offered to lend me an ankle brace that she wore after surgery. I posted about it here.
Yesterday I had a physio appointment for my ongoing repetitive-stress injury (neck, shoulder, upper back, chest muscles, collar bone), and I thought I'd ask her about my ankle. She suggested I continue doing my shoulder and neck exercises on my own, and we spend the session on the ankle.
The most important thing I learned is that those balance exercises aren't intended for a recently injured ankle. If the ankle is still painful and swollen, you don't do any weight-bearing exercises. I'm not suggesting the helpful reader said otherwise, but I was all gung-ho to begin.
The physiotherapist gave me some very subtle but difficult exercises to strengthen the muscles, things like crunching a towel with your toes, and pretending to write the alphabet with your big toe.
She also nixed the idea of a brace, as she doesn't want to immobilize the joint. The elastic-support sock that I'm already wearing is the way to go.
This therapist is amazing. Doing manual manipulation, she uses such subtle motions, I hardly feel a thing, but the results are dramatic. I wish I could afford to go more often.
A while back, a kind reader (a former librarian) sent me a story on exercises to improve balance and strengthen the ankle. Another reader kindly offered to lend me an ankle brace that she wore after surgery. I posted about it here.
Yesterday I had a physio appointment for my ongoing repetitive-stress injury (neck, shoulder, upper back, chest muscles, collar bone), and I thought I'd ask her about my ankle. She suggested I continue doing my shoulder and neck exercises on my own, and we spend the session on the ankle.
The most important thing I learned is that those balance exercises aren't intended for a recently injured ankle. If the ankle is still painful and swollen, you don't do any weight-bearing exercises. I'm not suggesting the helpful reader said otherwise, but I was all gung-ho to begin.
The physiotherapist gave me some very subtle but difficult exercises to strengthen the muscles, things like crunching a towel with your toes, and pretending to write the alphabet with your big toe.
She also nixed the idea of a brace, as she doesn't want to immobilize the joint. The elastic-support sock that I'm already wearing is the way to go.
This therapist is amazing. Doing manual manipulation, she uses such subtle motions, I hardly feel a thing, but the results are dramatic. I wish I could afford to go more often.
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