Ankle Strength and Overall Fitness and Performance

You use your ankles everyday. We need them to walk and stand, and even to get into a sitting position. If you are an athlete - or even just someone serious about fitness - it is important to work on your ankle strength. Weak ankles inhibit maximum performance and they make you more vulnerable to injury.

Understanding Your Ankles

For maximum performance each active joint in your body must achieve stable performance. A large majority of the stability in each joint is given by ligaments that connect the bones to one another. Tendons connect the bones to the muscles, making it possible to move at your joints. Building strength in the muscles is the key to help improve performance and prevent injury.

Importance of Ankle Strength

The ankle and all nearby muscles are placed under significant stress when you are performing movement, specifically exercise movements like jumping or running. When these muscles are strong, they are able to be put under greater force before becoming injured. Strengthening will not only help to prevent acute injuries, but it will help in preventing chronic issues, such as Achilles tendonitis and shin splints.

What is Proprioception?

This term can be broken down to mean knowing your place in space. In terms of your ankle, this can help to decrease injury by you being more aware when an injury is likely to occur by knowing your ankles and their abilities. Being able to control your body will increase your athletic performance as well. You can increase your proprioception by performing balance exercises.

Strengthening Your Ankles

It is a good idea to talk to a physical or sports therapist to make sure that you are doing the exercises properly before you attempt them. You certainly do not want to injure your ankle before you even get the chance to work toward reducing your risk of injury. One of the first exercises that is beneficial is performing general range of motion exercises using a thera-band resistance band.

Another great exercise is calf raises. You can do these just about anywhere and they require no equipment. If you need some balance, hold onto a table or stair railing.

Third, standing jump squats are great for strengthening your ankles. You will start in a quarter squat position and then jump. Make sure that you are landing softly and evenly to prevent injury.

Resources

Yoga Journal: Building Ankle Strength