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This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/JlImzKN7w-E
Brad: Are you aware of the joint that is most injured in the human body?
Mike: Surprisingly, it is the ankle.
Brad: That's right. Now we are going to show you the best system to get your ankle pain-free and back into action.
Mike: And the good news is you don't need any special equipment. All you need is a towel.
Brad: There you go, is that to wipe the sweat off?
Mike: Yes.
Brad: Actually no, we'll show you what you can use it for. We're going to use a system from the late Robin McKenzie. He's a physical therapist. He's extremely well known, and he has a book for the layperson, Treat Your Own Ankle & Achilles Tendon. And the exercises are from this book. They work very well, and give little information about Robin.
Mike: So Robin McKenzie has actually sold millions of books on self-help therapy treatments worldwide, in 18 different countries.
Brad: That's right. Alright, now this system is going to work for you whether you are in the middle of an ankle sprain or injury right now, or maybe you've injured your ankle years ago and that ankle is still tight and painful. We're going to look at range of motion in detail, and then show you how to correct it. First, we must assess the range of motion. It's not difficult. There are four different movements to look at. Mike is demonstrating the first two, and these are probably the most important two because they get injured the most. You do dorsiflexion, pulling back, compare one foot to the other foot, and go back down for plantar flexion. Now typically if you have a painful or a tight ankle, you're going to notice when you pull up that look at this one, you can see it's not near as far. The right one would be the painful ankle, and almost always is the tight ankle.
Brad: If you point down one might not go as far. And you'll see that, just go up and down, Mike. The tight ankle only has partial motion, as compared to a normal ankle or a healthy ankle. Go ahead Mike, look, give me some normal range there. There we go. So when you find out which plane is tighter, that's the ankle you're going to stretch the most and we'll show you those stretches.
Brad: Okay, the following two planes of motion are not so commonly worked with, but they're important. It's called inversion, where your toes go in, and then eversion where your ankles go out.
Brad: And you can see mine are about even. My right one is a little stronger than my left. That's not too bad. Typically when you get plantar flexion and dorsiflexion taken up, those also go along with it. So we're going to focus on the first two because it's most commonly needed. Okay, there are a total of nine stretches to get your ankle back into shape. However, you may not need to do all nine. We'll show them and you'll quickly understand which ones you need to focus on. First, we're going to focus on dorsiflexion, or pulling the ankle up, are oftentimes very tight. Alright, there are three levels of dorsiflexion, or pulling your ankle upwards. The first one we call active range of motion. And Mike is showing it right there. Simply put your leg up on a stool or in a long seated position like I am on the floor or a bed and do the range of motion, like that.
Brad: Now if it feels like it needs some more pull, a little more push, then you can take a towel like Mike's demonstrating, put it around. It works a little better with a shoe on, because a towel will actually grip to the bottom of the shoe, and then pull.
Brad: Now there's one trick to this that's going to make it complete, and this is something that the average person doesn't realize. But if your knee is straight, you're stretching the gastroc muscle, which is a big muscle here. And sometimes that muscle needs to be isolated. So what you can do is take a towel roll and put it underneath the knee so there's a bend in the knee, and then do your range of motion, and then add a towel. Put it around your toes and pull it up while the towel roll is under there. Again, I don't have a shoe on and the towel slips off. So best to be done like Mike did it, with a shoe on. You're going to stretch it five to 10 times, or stretch and hold it 15 to 30 seconds. You'll feel it stretch.
Mike: Okay, the third stretch is also gonna work your dorsiflexion, and it's going to stretch your heel cord a little bit. You need to go up to a wall, and place your hands on the wall. I'm going to stretch my left leg, I'm going to bring it straight back, and then I'm going to slowly start to lean forward, keeping my heel on the ground. I'm going to feel a good stretch in that calf muscle there. It's also working on my dorsiflexion like we talked about earlier. Now to get the soleus a little bit more, you can put a slight bend in your knee, and then do it. And mine is pretty tight right now, so I'm feeling this here. You're going to do 15 to 30 seconds on one leg, and then simply switch positions, because you want to be stretched down on both sides.
Brad: That's right, now you're going to notice your ankle get better day by day. Within a week, you're probably going to notice that increased range of motion, as well as a decrease in pain. Now if you have lack of range of motion and plantar flexion, in other words pointing your toes down, we're going to show you three stretches that's going to focus on that. Okay, now to get plantar flexion or pointing your toes down, stretched out, simply start by wiggling your ankle up and down, emphasizing pointing downwards. And try to get both ankles so they're even. When you start out, this may stretch, but you're going to find you're going to need a little more extra push, as opposed to just active range of motion, or moving your ankle up and down. There are some really nice tricks that we're going to show you right now.
Brad: Alright, so this is a really nice trick to get that ankle stretched out. You need to stand up. You're going to need something to hold onto. You can do this like by a stair using the handrails, or by a steady cupboard, or a big chair, something to hold on to. Put a chair behind you. Put the top of your foot so it's pointed down, and I'm going to balance here and simply push downward into my ankle, and I'm going to feel that stretch. Now if you need a little more stretch, you can simply squat a little bit. That gives you more stretch. Do that about 10 times.
Brad: Eventually, you're going to need even more pressure so you get your ankles evened out, and you can simply go back to here and push down, and get some pressure like this. This is going to be advanced. Not everyone is gonna go to this level. A few people will, that are very active and mobile.
Brad: Now you can use a towel and put it underneath, and that'll just make it more comfortable to start out with when you're just doing the stretch here and going up and down. For me, I can feel it already more comfortable. When you're more comfortable, your body relaxes. The stretch is better, the towel is a wonderful tool.
Mike: Now the third way you could work on your plantar flexion is to get in a tall kneeling position. I have a towel under my knee, so it's not as hard on my knees. You can also start with a towel at your ankle joint, for beginners as well. So I'm simply going to put my foot down flat. Then I'm going to work on sitting on my heels. If this seems challenging, you can kind of start here. Use your arms for support. Once you get more comfortable, and it gets loosened up, you want to try to sit like this. It's really going to stretch. Now if you wanted to get more of a stretch, and this doesn't bother your ankle, simply take out that towel. Sit like this, and hold it for 15 to 30 seconds. Oftentimes if I do the stretch, I do it once, I'm a little tighter. The second time I do it, I'm more relaxed and able to sit down like this.
Brad: Good, now Mike, you have an ankle that's tight on one side and this is one of your go-to exercises, isn't it?
Mike: Yeah, that's a good stretch for me, and it just loosens everything up.
Brad: Alright, now we're going to work on inversion and eversion. That's again, your ankles going in and out. It's important that you've already stretched your dorsiflexion pulling up and plantar flexion. Get those two stretches done, then go to this one. Some people may not even have to do this, because you'll have a normal range of motion and pain-free. So if that's the case, you can skip this. Otherwise, work with this, put your feet up on a stool. And it's kind of like windshield wipers. You go out with both feet and then in, and back and forth. If that feels normal, both sides look even, then we're going to go to partial weight bearing, which is simply taking the stool out, sitting on a chair, weight bearing through your legs, and going out and then in. So out on the edge of the foot, and then in on the inside edge. And with this, you can actually put a little weight through it if it doesn't hurt. We want to make sure that we get this strengthened as well as stretched.
Brad: Actually going outwards is how 90% of ankle sprains happen. So we do want to work this to a degree, not overstress it, but get that range back. Strengthen those tendons that have been stretched, and get things ready to go. Now once this is comfortable, and you do 10 to 20 reps, a little weight through, then we're going to progress to actually standing, and doing the same thing. Now we're going to go to weight bearing. It's going to stress your ankles more. Be careful with this one, particularly when you go to the outside. I'm going to hold onto something steady, like a cupboard or a good chair, like this. I'm going to go to my outside, stabilizing with my hands, and then rock to the inside. Your knees are going to go in a little bow-legged, so you get that range of motion. Don't get too concerned about it. Go as easy or as aggressive as your ankles allow. We should feel no sharp pain. If you do, you're going too aggressive. You know, Mike has been doing this. And what did you just realize with your ankles?
Mike: Now I'm noticing my right ankle is pretty tight when I'm going in. I have a decade-old injury. I've just been working on this last year, to get it to move better. So it's a little more challenging holding onto the Booyah Stik versus the chair.
Brad: And then the finish up is if you would like, take the cane or the stick away and just practice this freestanding, as long as you feel stable, do it eight to 10 times.
Brad: Now at this point, the pain in your ankle has probably gone away from the sore ankle, and it feels like the other ankle, You've done a great job. You did the first step of regaining range of motion, pain is gone. There is one more thing if you want to get really active, and that's strengthening your ankle. Mike, what do we have for them?
Mike: So check our out video "The 8 Best At Home Ankle Strengthening Exercises," this video will show you how to start strengthening your ankle up, to prevent further injuries from happening.
Brad: That's right, eight exercises to strengthen your ankle. You can do them all at home. And that's a good carryover from this. And if you like to go ice skating, you want to do a little dancing, you want to do a little hiking, this is for you.
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