Taking a look at the relationship between heavy weight and surface we find that the ankles are the joint that in the whole body must bear the greatest amount of stress every day .
These are the joints that join the tibia and fibula on one side, the long bones of the lower part of the leg connected at the top with the knee, while on the other the astragalus, the short bone of the foot that transmits all the stress due to the weight of the body from bottom to top.
Weak ankles for hereditary reasons or for poor use and training, tendon problems, overweight, wear, overtraining, accidents and, above all, injuries of sporting origin, are generally the causes of problems to the cavglie that require some form of rehabilitation.
One of the most common incidents is ankle sprain, an accident that often affects the health of one or more of the four ankle ligaments. The most obvious symptoms are inflammation, hematoma, swelling, presence of fluid and constant pain.
This type of accident occurs due to mechanical causes, such as the misuse of high-heeled shoes or bad support, running on surfaces that raise the risk of spraining, etc., or due to congenital causes, such as a lack of balance, perhaps due to problems of a nervous nature that can generate insufficiently adequate proprioception, or a weakness of the muscles, tendons or ligaments of the ankle.
Ankle rehabilitation techniques
The ankle rehabilitation takes time and must be targeted, both to the foot and leg muscles, and to the four ligaments: the tibionavicular, the tibioastragaleo posterior and the anterior, and finally the tibiocalcaneale.
> Let's start with a simple simple exercise, which helps regain lost mobility during the period of hospitalization and rest . We will sit with our inert leg straight in front of us, resting on another chair. We will extend our foot as much as possible by pushing the fingers forward, and then retract them back towards our body. Exercise to be repeated ten times a day for at least 5 minutes.
> One of the most important leg muscles for ankle health is the calf, which we will help to stay in shape with this basic exercise: we will take the same initial position described in the previous exercise and, with the help of a towel placed under the plant of the foot, we will pull back until the upper part of the calf begins to stretch.
> Another interesting exercise to reinforce the calf during rehabilitation of the ankle is the following: we will place ourselves in front of a wall resting our hands, after which we will position the foot that must be rehabilitated posteriorly, with the fingers turned towards the wall. Slowly we will bend the frontal knee until the lower part of the calf begins to stretch properly.
> Let's move on to a rather safe exercise that will help us rehabilitate tendons to recover strength in lateral movements : we will sit in a chair attached to a wall. The injured foot must be exactly on the side of the wall and lean against the side. Keep the sole of the foot adherent to the ground and the side of the foot adherent to the wall and press regularly towards the wall for at least three seconds, to grow up to 10 as the ankle conditions improve.
> The opposite exercise, for the rehabilitation of both the tendons and the muscles that cover the tibia laterally, is carried out more or less from the same position, without however needing any wall. We will sit and keep the feet adjacent to the inner side while at the same time the sole of the foot must always adhere to the floor. With the same frequency described before pressure from 3 to 10 seconds described above, we will press inward instead of outward.
> Finally, here is a last exercise to do towards the end of rehabilitation to regain balance . It is simply a matter of standing on one foot (the one that has to work), keeping the eyes closed for as long as possible: all the micro-movements generated by the position will stimulate the recovery of the ankle tendons.
