Crofton Office

1657 Crofton Blvd, Suite 201

Crofton, MD 21114

(410) 721-4505

(410) 721-2394

Woodbridge Office

14010 Smoketown Rd., Suite 103

Woodbridge, VA 22192

(703) 583-5959

(703) 890-4970

Chantilly Office

3914 Centreville Road, Suite 200

Chantilly, VA 20151

(703) 490-5599

(703) 583-5995

Sterling Office

46440 Benedict Dr., Suite 111

Sterling, VA 20164

(703) 444-9555

Ways to Strengthen your Ankles

One way to prevent injury is to be proactive and strengthen your body. In particular, to help your ankle from common injuries like sprains and tendinitis, you can train the muscles around the ankle joint to be stronger and more stable. The methods of training can include the following stretching, balancing, and strengthening activities.

Stretching

  • Flex and point your toes for 10 seconds each. Be conscious of the stretch from the tips of your toes to the tops of your knees.
  • Now try flexing and pointing your toes with an elastic band as added resistance.
  • Turn your ankles in circles, clockwise and counter-clockwise.
  • Now try this with an elastic band for added resistance.

Balance Training
Always start by standing with weight evenly distributed on both feet.

  • Stand straight up on one leg for 30 seconds to a minute. Try spreading your toes and engaging your muscles from the calf down to your toes. Switch legs and repeat.
  • Stand on one leg on an uneven surface like a cushion or Bosu ball. This will challenge you to balance your ankle in different directions.
  • Try one leg squats. These can be difficult, so start by squatting half way. Eventually, you may strengthen enough to do pistol squats, where you squat all the way down on one leg.
  • Hop across a line on one foot. When you land, make sure you stand for at least 2 seconds and stabilize before hopping again.

Strengthening

  • Push your foot against a fixed/heavy object. Push down, pull up (with the top of the foot), push right, and push left against the object for 10 seconds in each direction on each foot. A couch or refrigerator can work at home.
  • Calf raises – This can be done sitting, and then again when standing. In essence, it’s like tiptoeing, but make sure you do it with control and stability to maximize the effect.
  • Squat Jumps – The goal is to do squat jumps with control, so that you don’t land with a loud sound on the floor creating high impact on your knees. Try to land softly.

These types of exercises can help to make your ankle stronger, flexible, and agile, which helps to prevent injury in sports or other unstable situation (like walking in heels). When recovering from a previous sprain, these exercises can help to rehabilitate the ankle back to (close to) normal. Make sure to have your sprain checked with your board-certified podiatrist, Dr. Brad Toll, at Crofton Podiatry. He can provide you with details to the proper exercises you should do for your particular injury. Call us today at (410) 721-4505 to make an appointment at our Crofton, MD office, which also serves the surrounding Gambrills, Odenton, and Bowie areas.

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Office Hours

(We have new hours as below!)

Crofton Podiatry

Monday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Tuesday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Wednesday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Thursday:

7:30 am-3:30 pm

Friday:

By Appointment Only

Saturday:

Closed

Sunday:

Closed