How to Strengthen Your Ankles, and the Best Way to Treat Ankle Sprains

Let's not neglect the ankles. After all, if you have really strong legs, and you sprain an ankle, those strong legs will be forced to go into hibernation. There are several exercises that will strengthen ankles.

1. Walk forward and backwards on the balls of your feet. Turn your toes inward as well. You'll actually feel this in the sides of your thighs, but you are also working the ankle joint, strengthening the ligaments that bind it together. Go 50 steps forward, and 50 backwards. Do not hold onto anything when you go backwards. Just make sure you won't bump into anybody.

2. Pedal a stationary bike with just the balls of your feet. Do not use the foot straps.

3. If you use an elliptical trainer, pedal with just the balls of your feet, and turn your feet inward a little.

4. Do seated calf raises with light weights, and many repetitions.

5. Walk backwards on a treadmill. Do not hold on. Start out slowly at first. If you hold on, you'll cancel out the effect that the routine is supposed to have in the first place. The ligaments in your ankles need to support your entire body weight in a natural motion -- the natural motion of walking backwards without your hands holding anything for support.

6. Take up jogging.

7. Do brisk walks on uneven surfaces, such as grassy areas. Go hiking on trails that offer a variety of terrain.

8. Take step aerobics classes.

9. Do lots of squatting exercises, including with barbells.

10. Take up inline skating. It's best to do this after you've been exercising your ankles for a while, since this activity will make ankles ache in people who are not very conditioned.

How should you treat a simple ankle sprain? I have had best results with using a compression bandage. It's amazing how effective these can be. I ice the ankle, if it's swollen, several times a day for 20 minutes. Do not ice for longer than 20 minutes, and let at least two hours go in between ice treatments.

Keep foot elevated as much as possible. And keep the compression bandage on at all times. The kind I use is tight enough to force me to remove it after a few hours. After my foot has a break from it, I put it back on again. But I never sleep with it on. If the bandage causes tingling in your foot, it's too tight.

I have restored sprained ankles in as little as three days with the above techniques.