How to strengthen weak ankles: 3 exercises for unstable ankles 

Yeah highly likely Louise. Focus on pushing through your big toes when doing the calf raises and maintain weight through the heel and big toe (arch still lifted) when doing the arabesque 👍🏼

ok thank you for your help xx

My pleasure Cat, glad I could help! Chris

Thanks for the feedback Golden

Thanks for the question! Because these exercises are quite gentle and focus on motor control/reorganization you're best to do them every day. If you're only doing them every few days you will only see small improvements. Cheers, Chris

thanks alot for the fast response i appreciate it ! these excercises have been helping me alot

This will be a start but if your ankles are that bad you should see someone for a more specific strengthening program

Make sure you do the arabesque focusing on keeping your arch lifted (not collapsing) and pushing through your big toe - if done right this is one of the best exercises for arch strengthening :) A lot of ankle issues are purely just mobility/flexibility issues in the calf so the stretching is just as important as the first two

Darren Lee sorry my dude but you can't fix only way is thru surgery

Thats genetic you can't fix that

How's the ankle?

Paula Macatangay 15-20 calf raises or until its burning. 10-15 arabesques each leg. 30seconds stretching each part of the calf. It should take 5-10 minutes and complete once a day 😊

Thanks for the great feedback Ayush!

They'll help if you can do them consistently and stick to it. It takes time to shift years of bad habits 😃

They'll help if you can do them consistently and stick to it. It takes time to shift years of bad habits 😃

What's rolling out?

Thanks for the feedback Mor Mar!

Hannah Marie I don't wanna be that know-it-all smug dancer but I was really uncomfortable watching it too 😂

onepointfivemethane try foam rolling your calves instead of the stretch I show. This will help improve tissue quality without increasing the instability. Let me know how you go

Thanks runTinarun!

Yeah that's probably a good idea if you're struggling with it. Aim to do it every day and see if you can build up to the more challenging version

Thanks for the question. It's really hard to know without assessing your knee (and hip) to identify other issues that may be affecting your knee - think weak glutes/adductors/quads, tight ITB/quad/hamstrings. Also what activities/movements cause your knee pain. For example if it's running or jumping type movements you'll need to add more dynamic exercises into your program (hopping, depth jumps, box jumps etc.). Best to see a specialist for a specific program. If you're interested we could set up a Skype consult - I'd prefer a hands on assessment but I could still get most of the information I need over Skype. Cheers, Chris (chris@betterexercise.com.au)

I've actually self test myself from the internet and searched up the symptoms and i think i have a sciatic nerve pain which could be affecting from my hips down to my ankle. And i did go to my doctor and ask him if it was a sciatic nerve pain (sciatica). He told me to do some exercises and stuff like that, so i've looked up stretches and exercises on youtube. And i did find some very helpful video like yours (ankle), and sciatica exercise (hips/thighs) from elsewhere which have been slowly improving. And i think the causes for this was i do work in bricklaying field a while ago, and i guess i didnt really know the right lifting techniques until now and my sleeping pattern wasnt so good either :/ hehe so yeah It's just these little things adds up and creates a problem :( But i am slowly fixing it up. And finally thank you for the offer really appreciate it that you would do this for me but ill see how this goes for now. Thank you for replying and you have a great day sir!

These exercises will help if you have weakness and instability because of the injury. In most cases you will. Try hopping on your injured ankle and see if it feels less stable. If so start with these exercises and progress as needed. Hope this helps

Lin Mingwan start with these exercises and then build up to more challenging ones specific to taekwondo

Good luck with the exercises muhammed!

pani vignesh yes these exercises will be great for you. Let me know how you go

foot drop flex foot up

Kitchen Therapy for plantar fasciitis these exercises will help. Add some tennis ball massage to the arches of the feet and look up 'eccentric' calf raises. Also you may want to consider a heel lift or orthotics

Hey Elizabeth Horton, thanks for your message. Coming up high on you toes will never be harmful for your ankles. Don't believe any practitioner that tries to sell you this rubbish. These scare tactics are normally used by practitioners that just want your money. Sorry to be blunt but as human beings our ankles are strong are resilient

+Nabeel Khan to make any serious changes you really need to do them daily. Give yourself a month of doing it consistently and see how you go. Appologies for the late reply. Chris

Alicia Chia Yes. I recently had a really bad ankle sprain but the pain went away in a week because I did exercises on my ankle. I think the key is to not rest your ankle consistently, do these exercises it really helps. And to get rid of the swollen ankle search up the rice method for a sprained ankle.

Hey Daethzonez, once a day is plenty

thank you for the response!

Nishant Bariar focus on balance exercises (proprioception exercises) and this may give you some of the stability you're missing. Try a range of exercises with your eyes closed, also use foam and wobble boards etc.

Better Exercise Physiology Thank you sir.

Hey Paul, it will be the ligaments that are stretched and you can't improve that with any exercises. But if you can get the muscles stronger it will help make up for that lack of stability. Proprioception is super important in your case. Lots of balance exercises. And work on your landing technique with hopping based exercises. Hope this helps and if you'd like to set up a Skype consult to set you up with a program just shoot me an email at chris@betterexercise.com.au

Yeah,it's terrible I'll be walking down the road and I just go over on it,the pain is excruciating but not as bad as the first few times I've done it,I wonder if I can get an operation on the national health? England

Bad arthritis on the same foot too lol I can't win,but I have a fight in December,boxing,can I buy an ankle support just for the odd occasion as I know I shouldn't wear one all the time,my point is is it worth buying an ankle support.I'll look into skype thanks

Lewis Fearnley it shouldn't make much difference. Pick a time and try to complete them at that same time each day to get into a routine

Yes these will help an unstable ankle - if it's due to ligament laxity/damage you can't change that but these exercises will still give the ankle more stability by improving the muscular and proprioceptive systems. You must do them regularly though, 1-2x per day and slowly increase to more challenging exercises as you improve

Glad it was helpful Johnny!

Thanks for watching!

Hi Alena, without knowing exactly why and where you're getting pain it's hard to say. But I'd start by rolling out the sole of your foot with a golf ball on a daily basis. These ankle strengthening exercises will also help. And if this is something that doesn't settle down quickly go see a specialist for more specific exercises. We do consults via Skype if this is something you're interested in. Cheers, Chris

Thanks

My pleasure Tommy

My pleasure Zack!

Thanks Rohith HM 🙂

Thanks for the great feedback Khidd Herbo 🙂

Khidd Herbo can you reply me!