Bullet-proof your ankle for football

Bullet-proof your ankle for football

Having to contend with my own re-occurring ankle complaint over the last 18 months, and seeing several former team-mates also sidelined for months, I was interested in how to ‘bullet-proof’ my seemingly fragile pins. Darren says, ‘With Lateral ankle injuries common place among football players and in fact all sports people; this seems as good a place to start our series on preventing football injuries. ‘Studies suggest that lateral ankle injuries make up around 15% of all recorded sports injuries, with around 70% of these people suffering a recurring injury within 6 weeks- 24 months. ‘The video attached to this article gives you some examples of exercises and techniques we have utilised to successfully to treat and prevent future lateral ankle injuries here at Synergy. ‘We would generally use these types of movements as conditioning exercises for the ankle quite early on in the rehab process and then again as warm up exercises during the later stages of rehab and conditioning sessions. ‘Remember, there is no set rule when rehabing an injury. Everyone is completely different and there is not set time for an injury to heal itself. These exercises might not be right for everyone but they should provide a decent starting point. ‘On the video I go through the movements quite quickly, if this causes pain then the movements can be just as effective at a much slower and controlled pace with a smaller range of motion. ‘If however you are using these exercises during your warm up start slow and build up to a fast and quite intense pace. As long as you can control the movement, the quicker the movement the better, as movements during a match or training will be quite fast and intense. ‘I am happy to answer any questions. You can contact me via Twitter: @darrensynergy or email: darren@synergyhealthstudios.co.uk ‘Look out for part two of this series where we will go through some techniques for the later stages of rehab focussing more on the whole body movements and the energy systems you would utilise during a football match’.