Sports Medicine Australia on Sports Injuries

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Don’t let injuries cut your sporting season short – simple steps can keep you going strong.

Anita Green could have chosen a more convenient place to sprain her ankle. Then a 20-year-old medical student, she was deep into a New Zealand bushwalk and miles away from the nearest road when she stumbled over a patch of rough ground and felt a jolt of pain shoot through the joint.

“Luckily there was a glacier nearby so I could ice it,” Green laughs. She cooled the injury for a while and her friends helped her bind it in bandages, “but I still had to walk three hours to get out,” she says. It can’t have been fun.

The hiking accident wasn’t the first time Green sprained her ankle. In fact, over the years she’d injured it six or seven times playing sports like cricket, basketball and tennis. “Every time I went to a doctor, they wouldn’t treat it seriously once they’d ruled out a broken bone,” she says.

The trouble was, every time Green sprained the joint, it became weaker and weaker, and the injuries worse and worse. Finally, after the New Zealand episode, she made an appointment with a sports physiotherapist who told her that she needed to spend some time overcoming underlying muscle and ligament weakness contributing to the sprains.

Overall, recovery from that last injury took six months of careful rehabilitation, says Green. But the effort was worth it – in the years since then, she hasn’t had another major problem with her ankle.

Ankle strengthening exercises

Exercise physiologist Andrew Cate suggests some simple exercises to help maintain strength, flexibility and stability in your ankle joint, and prevent injury.

The ankle joint is made up of three bones – tibia, fibula and talus – with ligaments on both sides of joint that hold the bones together. There are also many tendons that cross the ankle joint and facilitate movement. The ankle joint is responsible for moving your foot up towards your shin (dorsi flexion) and down towards the floor (plantar flexion). Another joint below the ankle joint moves your foot out to the side (eversion) an in towards your other foot (inversion).

Toe tapping

  • Sit on a chair or bench, and raise your toes up towards your shins, keeping your heels on the ground.
  • Lower your toes so they touch the ground, keeping your heels on the ground.
  • Perform two sets of 12 repetitions, and gradually build up your repetitions over time.
  • Once this becomes easy, progress to tapping one foot at a time, and put your resting foot on top of the foot you’re tapping, pushing up against it.

Standing heel raises

  • Stand on the edge of a step or bench on the balls of your feet.
  • Raise your heels so you come up high on your toes.
  • Lower your heels enough to feel a stretch in your calves for one repetition.
  • Progress to one foot at a time as you get stronger.

Stand on one foot

  • Stand with one foot flat on the ground, with your other leg bent back at the knee.
  • Begin by holding for 30 seconds on each foot, and gradually build up your duration over time.
  • Progress to standing on one foot with your eyes closed.

Ankle circles and alphabet

  • Lift one foot into the air, and draw circles with your toes for 30 seconds.
  • Make sure to move your ankle through its full range of motion in both directions.
  • Repeat on the other foot.
  • As you progress, pretend to write letters of the alphabet with your foot.

Please note: These are general exercises. If you have an injury you should consult a qualified health professional for advice and an exercise program tailored to your needs.