Mister_Bubble wrote on Nov 3
rd, 2008 at 2:57pm:
To strengthen your ankles - here's what a Physical Therapist told my son to do after a high-ankle sprain:
balance on each foot (lifting the other off the ground) as long as you can.
repeat.
The wobble board adds additional range of motion, but just balancing on 1 foot strengthens all the muscles involved in balancing.
If you're a wet-footer, look for rubber soled wading boots or boots for wet-foot fishing on coral. The original Patagonia 'marlwalkers' are what I use - and I don't just use them canoeing - I wet wade for smallmouth in them.
The chota mukluk soles are horrible on every surface, wet or dry. Like the warm feet when the waters cold, but they are slippery on everything.
All,
Re-reading this thread, I noticed Mr. Bubble's comments on "ankle-strengthening". The exercise he mentions targets the muscles around the ankle. I have a few additional comments re: strengthening the all-too-important ligaments & tendons around the ankle.
First of all, I am a former world-class professional in the world of broken & sprained ankles. Way too much basketball as a youth. Way too much basketball while favoring one ankle... just to go ahead & sprain/break the other one. Many, many casts on my ankles. MANY other times there SHOULD have been casts on my ankles. I was way too slow to learn; way too impatient to wait for full recoveries. Ultimately, when I couldn't go on in the same mode any longer, a doc sat me down & pointed out how I had three quarters-of-an-inch too much "play" with ligaments on one foot and nearly the same on the other. That's when he started me on a therapy to tighten them up.
Listen, Grasshopper, to the wisdom of "Duck Walking", a real pearl of wisdom to be snatched from my hand in our temple of QJ lore!
Essentially, this wobbling gait/art form involves walking on the sides of your feet. You start by walking around on your insteps with outer edges of your feet tipped up (left edge of left foot tipped up; right edge of right foot tipped up). Okay, so you do that for 5 minutes, then proceed to go another 5 minutes walking on the outer edges of your feet (previously tipped up) while your insteps are now turned up towards your crotch. Then you switch back & forth for about 20 minutes. Do it a couple times a day, at least. Quacking like a duck is deemed both holistic & therapeutic but, actually, I found it to be completely optional with respect to the efficacy of the exercise.
Grasshopper, I heartily recommend performing this exercise while NO ONE is around. Verily, you shall look pretty _________ stupid throughout the duration of the exercise.
Doc says the exercise tightens up loose ligaments & tendons... which are, 9 out of 10 times, the true culprit of most ankle sprains & breaks. Doc is either right-on, gets strange pleasures out of asking his patients to do weird stuff... or both. Anyway, I haven't had major ankle issues in decades.
So, after you do Mr. Bubble's exercise for your muscles (think "Karate Kid" doing the "preying mantis" thing on the solitary wooden pylon out there off the California coast), you can complete your Kwai Chang ankle-warrior training by following through with the Jimbo Duck Walk regimen.
Such is the path of wisdom to healthier ankles, Grasshopper!
Enough wise quacks for now.
Jimbo (QJ Shaolin Master)
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