Ankle sprains are common injuries that occur among people of all ages. They can take place during a sports game, running, stepping down and landing awkwardly, twisting the wrong way or even tripping over the cat.
Without proper treatment and rehabilitation, it can weaken your ankle making it more likely you will injure it again and can lead to long-term problems including chronic ankle pain, arthritis and ongoing instability. Physiotherapy plays a crucial role to ensure that the ankle heals completely and reinjury does not occur.
Our physiotherapists use a variety of techniques including soft tissue release, taping, ultrasound and specific progressive exercise prescription targeting strength, flexibility, proprioception (balance), and agility (polymetric).
Occasionally, there may be a need for referral for investigation to rule out the conditions that may require further medical management – this may include MRI or xray.
In general, recovery can take anytime between 2 weeks to several months depending on severity and adherence to rehabilitation plans.
At Mind Heart Body our approach of combining Pilates exercises to ankle rehabilitation is a great way to improve the connection between muscles (muscle slings as we discussed in another article) and enhance the stability of your whole body. We need to retrain various muscles as a system, not just locally around the ankle, to prevent creating problems in the areas that are connected via the sling.