7 Simple Steps: Training After Ankle Sprains

​Ahh, the 'ole ankle sprain. If you're human, you have likely experienced some variation of an ankle sprain, twist, roll, or whatever name you want to call it.

Many times, it's nothing super concerning. The pain lasts for a few minutes, and then you move on, not thinking about it at all.... until it happens again! Sometimes though... you get yourself good. The kind of ankle roll that leaves you limping for days - struggling to remember what it was like to walk normally.

Let's not forget the crappy combination of apprehension and lack of motivation you feel when its time to hit a lower body workout. "Am I even going to be able to do any of this sh*t? What if I roll it again during my lunges? How do I get back to being able to run and jump again?"

Let's break it down. 👇🏻

Here's what to do in the gym, shortly after an ankle sprain:

Part 1: Calm

Calm down the body and the ankle region. After any type of injury, the body becomes a bit guarded and hypersensitive, in an effort to protect you from pain and re-injury. Muscles are tighter and don't want to relax/lengthen as easy. The area feels so sensitive that even your pant leg is irritating. We want to try to slightly suppress this guarding, so that the ankle moves more freely and can handle a some more intense work/challenge.

Example: Foam Roll the Calf, Achilles, and bottom of the foot; Most heat.

Part 2: Range

Regain and maintain "low-pain" range of motion. We want to get this thing moving very early on in the recovery process, for a few reasons: 1) We can prevent some of that guarding/tightness mentioned above from getting too intense. 2) Movement stimulates nerve endings in the muscles and joints, which will help the brain to regain good awareness of the area. This may result in reduced pain intensity and improved muscle activation + stability.

I purposefully said "low-pain" instead of "pain-free" because in the early stages, there will inevitably be some level of discomfort with some movements. I like to give my clients the advice to stay under 4/10 pain. This gives you some wiggle room, but prevents things from getting out of hand.

Example: Spelling out the alphabet with your foot. Start with small letters and increase in size and # of alphabets over time.

Part 3: Activate

Activate surrounding musculature + create stability. Let's get the muscles doing what they were designed to do: CONTRACT! By doing so, we are helping to create natural compression or stability of the ankle and feet joints. The brain loves compression. Think about it.... what do folks do when their knee hurts? Wear a knee sleeve. What do we do to comfort loved ones? We hug them.

By using isometrics to contract the surrounding musculature, we are basically giving our ankle a nice hug, to continue calming it down, while simultaneously re-gaining strong activation of those muscles. Its a 2 for 1 deal.

Example: Ankle Isometrics in all 4 directions + Arch Lifts

Part 4: Isolate

Strengthen isolated movements/muscles around the ankle, foot and lower leg. With an injury comes a prolonged "hiatus" from your typical training. Not only that, but the nervous system will still be a bit apprehensive about the injured area, which means it may not allow you to recruit the surrounding musculature as well as you normally can. So, doing some isolated strengthening exercises can help do two things 1) get that mind-muscle connection back, so you're really controlling your muscles optimally and 2) rebuild muscle tissue that may have slightly atrophied (gotten smaller) while you weren't training at your normal intensity.

Example: Gastrocnemius Calf Raises, Soleus Calf Raises, Wall Tibialis Raises

Part 5: Integrate

Integrate the ankle/foot back into fundamental movement patterns like the squat, lunge, hinge and carry. After all, the goal is to get back to your "normal" training, which likely means we need to be able to do all the things. Give your ankle/foot a chance to acclimate slowly, by starting with modifications that require less range and force production from the ankle/foot. Then, progress as tolerated.

Examples:

SQUAT: Box Squats -> Cyclist Squats -> Goblet Squats -> Barbell Squats

LUNGE: Split Squat -> Reverse Lunge -> Forward Lunge -> SL Deadlift -> Walking Lunge

HINGE: Goblet Good Morning -> Romanian Deadlift -> Elevated Deadlift - Standard Deadlift

Part 6: Challenge

Specifically - Challenge stability. At this point, things are feeling pretty good. The pain has subsided quite a bit, and you are tolerating slow increases in intensity, resistance and volume (reps/sets). It is time we start to allow a little bit more "variability" in the way that we are challenging the ankle, foot and entire leg for that matter. We can add in the variability by reducing the base of support, adding external weight and/or perturbations to re-teach the ankle and foot how to react and stabilize.

Example: Single Leg Balance Around The World, Single Leg KB Pass, Banded Cha-Cha

Part 7: Land + Jump

And of course, we cannot forget about jumping and landing. These two are too often just clumped together as plyometrics, but I feel this can "muddy the waters" a bit. A mentor of mine preaches that we need to learn to land, before we learn to jump. Otherwise, our body won't let us jump very high/far, because it knows we won't be able to handle the landing.

So, let's get good at landing under control and with minimal to no pain. Then we can eventually we can add in some more jumping to help regain that power and force development. To progress both jumping and landing, we can increase depth, increase reps, change direction, go to one leg or even add resistance.

I provided a VERY brief progression example below. it is important to note that plyometrics can get very technical, and should not be started until you have the prerequisite strength/stability. I'd suggest finding someone who can help you start and progress properly.

Examples:

LAND: Snap Down -> Ball Slams -> Single Leg Snap Downs -> Drop Steps

JUMP + LAND: Box Jump (building) -> 2 Foot Jump and Stick -> Pogo Jump -> Skipping (and so, so many more).

Yea... that was a lot. I know. This was why there are professionals to guide you through this process. Some can go it alone just find with a little bit of structure, which is great. If you are like me, you tend to get bogged down by indecisiveness and worry that you aren't doing the right thing. Then you just ditch it all together.

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If you find yourself really set-back by an ankle sprain, you should get some help sooner than later.

As always, email me at hello@tylerkallsay.com if you want to chat about this more, or discuss your own personal situation.

Demo's for almost all movements in today's email, are located on my Youtube Channel.

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Disclaimer: This is not medical, nor rehabilitative advice. If you are in pain or dealing with an injury it is recommended that you contact a health care professional to seek medical advice.​ If you should use/apply any of these above education, you are assuming full risk, responsibility and liability, and are waiving Tyler Kallasy and TK Strength and Conditioning LLC of all liability.