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Ankle loosen­ing: point foot

Ankle loosen­ing: flex foot

Exercise 1: point and flex, sit­ting

• Sit on the edge of a kit­chen chair, with your hands hold­ing at each side to give some sup­port your back
• Put one leg out in front, keep­ing your knee a bit bent, get someone to mark the spot on the floor where your heel is. Note: this is not essen­tial but it does help, espe­cially at first
• Lift your foot and point your toe, touch­ing it down on exactly the same spot
• Lift again and place the heel on the same spot, pulling your toes towards you to flex the foot

Aim to repeat this point and flex move­ment at least 10 times, being sure to make an effort to point and to pull back your foot every time, and always land­ing on the same spot marked by the col­oured tape. Then swap legs to work the other ankle.

Progression
As the exer­cise gets easier, repos­i­tion the taped spot a few cen­ti­metres (an inch or two) closer to you. This will work your ankle muscles a bit harder. Eventually the spot should be dir­ectly under your heel when your heel is dir­ectly below your knee.

Exercise 2: ankle circles, sit­ting

• Sit on the edge of a kit­chen chair, with your hands hold­ing at each side to sup­port your back
• Place one leg out long in front, lift it just an inch off the floor and make circles with your ankle
• Aim for 5 circles in one dir­ec­tion, then rest your heel down briefly
• Lift the leg again and circle 5 times the oppos­ite way around
• Bring your leg back, lengthen the other leg and start again on that ankle

TIPS
♦ If you suf­fer from very stiff ankles, you may find this very dif­fi­cult at first. Don’t be put off: little by little you will be able to get more move­ment if you prac­tise with good con­cen­tra­tion every day
♦ It is import­ant to keep your leg still while you are circ­ling your ankle. It may help to place one hand on the front of your thigh to help keep the leg still
♦ Another good way to think about ankle circles is to ima­gine your big toe draw­ing the circle on a sheet of paper in the air
♦ Most people find it easier circ­ling in one dir­ec­tion than the other. And also often one foot is easier than the other. Concentrate par­tic­u­larly hard on the stub­born ankle or the dif­fi­cult dir­ec­tion and do twice as many attempts that way around

Progression
Increase the num­ber of ankle circles each way to 10 at one go.

The next two exer­cises add in strength and bal­ance to your ankle-​loosening work:

Exercise 3: point and flex, stand­ing

• Stand side-​on to the back of a chair, so you can use one hand for bal­ance
• Point the toe of the foot farthest from the chair, just a few cen­ti­metres (inch or two) in front of you
• Lift that foot and place the heel down on exactly the same spot, pulling your toes up to flex your foot as you do it
• Lift the foot again and point to touch the toe down on the same spot
• Keep your body tall through­out, and try to look ahead once you’ve got used to what you are doing

Aim to do 10 repeats in one go. Then turn around and do the other foot

TIPS
♦ Use a brightly col­oured piece of tape to help you place your heel and toe on the same spot, just as with the sitting-​down ver­sion
♦ Don’t let your leg get too far in front of you, or you’ll find your­self lean­ing back­wards
♦ You may feel your stand­ing leg gets very tired! Just rest, shake it around a bit to relax the muscles, then start again. As you prac­tise, your stand­ing leg will get stronger and sup­port you bet­ter

Exercise 4: ankle circles, stand­ing

• Stand side-​on to the back of a chair, so you can use one hand for bal­ance
• Point the toe of the foot farthest from the chair, just a few cen­ti­metres (inch or two) in front of you
• Lift that foot and circle the ankle 5 times, just off the ground
• Place the foot down and shake it out to relax the muscles
• Point again, lift and circle in the oppos­ite dir­ec­tion 5 times
• Place the foot down and rest
• Keep your body tall through­out, and try to look ahead once you’ve got used to what you are doing
• Be very care­ful to keep your leg as still as pos­sible – remem­ber, it’s the foot that should be circ­ling, not the leg!

Turn around and repeat on the other foot.

TIP
♦ This pro­gres­sion is harder not just because of the circles but because you have to keep your whole leg in the air for longer. Try squeez­ing the but­tock muscle on your stand­ing leg (nearest the chair) and keep­ing it squeezed through­out, to help sup­port your stand­ing leg

Progression
Increase the num­ber of circles to 10 at one go. Then start work­ing on heel raises and toe raises for more ankle con­di­tion­ing