Strength Training

[SJacklène]

Hi! My name is Sara Jacklene and I am new to this forum. I was wondering what kind of strength training you do for your ankles if you have weak ankles. I have really bad problems with my ankles, mostly do to ballet and cheerleading. When I was little, spraining and rolling on my ankles was really no big deal for me. I would just shake it off and the pain would go away after 5 minutes. I am afraid that I might have too weak ankles to skate. I plan to start a class in January to learn to skate and I don't want something bad to happen and me re-injury myself.

In my sophomore of high school), I was walking down my friend's steps they were cement and so was the walk way after it. The walk way had a hole in it at the bottom of the last step. Well, I didn't see it and I stepped on the edge of it and rolled my ankle. We were going to play basketball and I just shrugged it off as it stopped hurting after a while. The next morning it was really swollen and I couldn't even walk on it. So we went to the doctor and got x-rays. It wasn't broken, just a really bad sprain.

In my junior year, I was trying out for the cheerleading team at my school. There were so many people there we could have had a junior varsity. Anyway, we started stretching and then we started doing roundoffs. It wasn't even 5 minutes into clinicals when I got hurt. I was rebounding from a roundoff when I landed wrong. I rolled on my ankle and heard this horrible snapping noise and I fell to the ground helplessly. I tried to get up but I fell back down. I had torn some tendon on my left leg. We thought it was broken so the coaches called my mom and she took me to the hospital for x-rays. I didn't cry while I was sitting in the floor in the gym, but as soon as I got into the car I started crying. Not because it hurt, but because I wouldn't get to try out.

[Sessy]

Well, there's a few things you could do, you just have to make sure not to over-do anything, build up slowly. Here are some of the exercises I got after my broken ankle which I really liked.

However, if you really have a problem with your ankles it might be wise to see a doctor or a physiotherapist or something like that, if you can afford it. They could diagnose much better what the problem is and give you exercises which are specifically good for your problem.

Try standing with the ball of your foot on the edge of a step of stairs, then let your heels drop below the level of the step, then get up on your toes, then let it drop again in slow controlled movements, and repeat. When it gets stronger, do it on 1 foot.

Sit down on the floor with the legs stretched in front of you. With the little toe of your left foot, touch the ground to the left, with the little toe of the right foot, the ground to the right. Then the big toes to the inside. All this slow and controlled, with the toes pulled towards you (not pointed) making the ankle at a 90 degree angle or so (not pointed).

Sit, stretch your leg in front of you and do a slow pumping motion with the ankle, toes pulled towards yourself (not pointed). Point the ankle, then bring it back to 90 degrees.

Stand on the outside of your feet, roll up onto your toes, roll back to stand on the outside of your feet, repeat. Same with the inside of your feet.

Give it 30 seconds of rest or so inbetween exercises and you can try them a couple of times a day. Especially the stairs one really gives the extra ankle strength.

[SJacklène]

Thank you, Sessy! I will start those exercises today and see if I start to notice a difference in a week or so! I really appreciate your help!

If anyone has anymore, I would love to hear about them!!

:) :mrgreen:

[Bill_S]

Well-made, supportive figure skating boots take some of the strain so your ankles don't have to bear the full force of skating. Rental skates are often fairly thin and NOT supportive, especially if they are ill-fitted.

Skating itself is great exercise to build strength in your ankles. Just go slowly for the first few months, and you'll see an improvement if you skate regularly (several times per week).

But get good boots!

[skateskate]

I have very weak ankles aswell, i'm constantly spraining and twisting them doing completely random things.
I've never had a problem skating though. I do have extremely strong boots though. Just make sure your get good boots, and your ankles should be fine.
an excersice to do: write the alphabet out with your foot, moving your ankle to it maximum radius

[Sessy]

I agree with the hard boots, I had to take MUCH harder boots after the damage to my ankle than I had before. I also had to start using bunga pads because of the harder boots.

[LilJen]

Welcome, Sara!

I'm among the skaters here who've broken an ankle recently. As I rehabbed I was STUNNED at (1) how many muscles there must be in the ankle and (2) how coordinated and strong they all must be to function correctly. It's been 6months since the break and I'm still building up strength and not back 100% (other issues, though, too).

I second Sessy's recommendation to see a PT, especially if you have some chronic problems. There are tools & equipment that they have that can be a huge help. One thing I got from the PT that I now use at home is a theraband--basically a big, wide elastic band. There are several exercises you can do either holding it or with it tied to a chair or sofa leg--pushing against it or pulling against it, plus pulling inward or outward based on what you do with your other leg (probably best to receive instruction from a PT so you don't end up doing these oddly).

I also have found some exercises online that have helped. It's also important to stretch to retain range of motion while you're healing.

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/anklesprain/anklesprain.html
http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/orthopedicsandpt/ss/anklerehab.htm

Good luck, and I hope you feel better soon!

[froggy]

there are some great exercises for your ankle you can do with a theraband

1. sitting with your legs out, wrap the theraband under the arch of your foot, hold the two end pieces tautly, then point down hard and hold for like 3 sec.(you should feel the resistance against the theraband). Try doing this 10x for 3reps.

2. again sitting with your legs out in front of you, this time on the corner of a bed, wrap theraband over mid part of your foot, the two hanging pieces of theraband should then be placed under and around the corner of the bed you are sitting on, take the loose end of those two pieces and hold it taut. now bring/stretch your foot towards you.
maybe someone could do a better job explaining this exercise, it's hard to put in words w/o a picture! maybe you can google theraband-dorsiflexion-ankle something like that
In any case just make sure DO NOT SICKLE, im assuming you know what that means since you have a ballet background.


you can also work on balancing on your more effected foot, you can try (with sneakers on), a wobble board, ankle rocker board, foam disk, etc.

also think back to the barre work you did that concentrated on the ankle (ie: plies in releve, tondus, ronde ja (spelling?). all those work the ankle. I would not recommend you jump off ice right now, but if by some chance you do, do it with high tops (basketball sneakers) or very supportive sneakers (ie: cross trainers not running shoes) and please do not jump on cement floors..granite..marble...tile floors! better off on level surfaces and those that absorb impact (floor around ice rink, wood, etc.).

good luck and feel good!

[SJacklène]

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it. :D I will try each exercise you have given me... If my ankles don't get any better, I will definitely try a physiotherapist! And I will definitely keep you all updated on my progress.

Thank you! :mrgreen:
♥ Sara

[Mrs Redboots]

You'll probably find that skating helps your ankles, and that you feel really comfortable in skating boots, especially once you buy your own.

My daughter, during her skating days, sprained her ankle (not on the ice), and found she needed to wear an elastic bandage for most of one summer - she said the only place her ankle felt really comfortable was in her ice skates!

[Query]

You'll probably find that skating helps your ankles, and that you feel really comfortable in skating boots, especially once you buy your own.

Wow! Comfortable in skating boots. What a novel concept. Wish I was.

If you haven't yet, let your ankles rest at least a few weeks.

Stiff boots help, but they transfer stress to your legs and knees, and endanger them somewhat. It took me a broken fibula (a lower leg bone) after a skating fall before wearing a cast for 6 months gave my ankles a chance to rest, and was able to get over weekly ankle sprains. (Since I didn't know better, I would just walk the injuries off, and hike again the next weekend, creating another sprain, week after week.)

Three things that got my ankles strong enough to stop the sprains:

(1) I got that enforced rest.

(2) I learned to fall gently, and to use falls and balance changes to prevent excessive ankle stress. I've spoken of this elsewhere.

(3) I started skating again, once the ankles were strong enough to take it.

[Mrs Redboots]

Wow! Comfortable in skating boots. What a novel concept. Wish I was.You should be, if your boots fit properly and you have worn them in.

[Sessy]

I agree, get other boots if you're painful in your boots, although in some cases bunga pads will be a better solution of the problem.

[Morgail]

Hi and welcome! :)

I'm another one who always rolled and twisted my ankles, and I've skated for years! I'm recovering from a high ankle sprain & am doing some exercises from my PT to strengthen that ankle. Here are a few you could try:

1. Heel raises: Basically, you just raise up onto your tiptoes and try to hold it for a few seconds. Start on both feet, and then switch to just one foot.

2. Toe raises: Raise your toes (put all your weight on your heel) and try to hold it. The key here is to do this without moving your leg/knee.

3. Pillow balancing: Try to stand on one foot on a pillow for 30 seconds without holding onto anything.

Skating really does help strengthen your ankles (unless you go hurting them while skating, like me!). Supportive skates are very helpful too. I always feel bad for people trying to skate in those floppy rental skates or cheap skates they bought at a sports store. Bad skates make learning to skate 10 times harder than it should be because they let your ankles flop all over the place. I'm not sure if you've bought skates yet, but when you do, be sure to get supportive ones recommended by a good skate fitter. :D

[Query]

You should be, if your boots fit properly and you have worn them in.

I agree completely. I just don't see my belief justified by real life.

I've just started a poll in this forum labelled "How well do your current boots fit?" Let's see what others say.