Sports are an essential part of life nowadays. You can after all not expect to live a fulfilled life without engaging in any activities. Injuries are however common in all types of sports though you might take measures to mitigate them or reduce their impact.
Fractured ankles are common injuries in most sports. Unfortunately, without optimal management, this fracture will spell the end of your professional sports career or limit the activities you will participate in. A sports medicine specialist in Suwanee, GA, rather than a regular doctor who handles fractures is your best management choice.
This option guarantees that the fracture can be efficiently healed to allow you to resume sporting activities within a short period. One of the elements which will be part of your healing is rehabilitative exercises. These are designed to restore the range of motion of your ankle and hasten its healing.
The following are the elements of a rehabilitative exercise program for athletes.
Range-of-Motion Exercises
These are the first rehabilitative exercises you will engage in after the doctor gets your brace or cast after your ankle. Some simple exercises in range-of-motion exercises include for inversion and eversion and the ankle alphabet.
Although these might be a bit uncomfortable in the beginning, this will ease as your ankle heals and regains its range of motion.
Flexibility Exercises
These are the next step when your ankle can efficiently handle the range of motion exercises. Some flexibility exercises for ankles include towel calf stretches and standing runner stretches. Towel calf stretches will improve the flexibility of the muscles at the lower back of your leg.
Standing runner stretches will enhance the flexibility of your calf and stretch the muscles at the front of your leg. Other than flexibility, these exercises will strengthen your ankle.
Strengthening Exercises
With the stiffening of your ankle after prolonged immobilization with a brace, you will generally have a weak ankle. As such, you will need strengthening exercises after removing the cast.
The common strengthening exercises involve the wrapping of a band around your ankle and having your ankle in an inversion, eversion or dorsiflexion. Ankle strengthening exercises will also help you regain weight bearing in your ankle which is crucial for you to play sports again.
Return to Running and Walking
A return to walking and even running is not automatic after your fracture heals. You will need to start slowly to avert the risk of re-fracturing the healed ankle and causing grave damage to the surrounding structures.
You might first need to walk using an aid like a walking cane or crutches and slowly start making steps when your gait improves and changes.
In most cases, the above exercises follow a step-down fashion though in other cases the doctor might use them all together. They are however essential for the restoration of your ankle to its state before your fracture.
These exercises will be the crucial determinant of whether you will play again. Do not waste your time and money and put your ankle’s healing in the hands of an inexperienced physician who might cause more harm than good.