The ankle is an important joint that transmits body weight to the foot. Many joints between 7 ankle bones (including heel bone), five midfoot bones, and many finger bones make a complex structure of our ankle and foot. Ligaments and muscles related to these joints help in the even distribution of body weight. Two arches of the foot (longitudinal and horizontal) are also essential for proper weight transmission. Excess strain, injuries, obesity, and hereditary factors weaken the arches of the foot and lead to flat feet. Aging is accompanied by degeneration at the ankle and foot joints. Obesity and occupational or sports overload (walking, jogging, running) strain ligaments, muscles, and joints. High heel and ill-fitting footwear leads to improper load transmission at the foot and causes ankle and foot pain.
Ankle and Foot Exercise
See general instructions about exercise
Sit on a chair or bed. Relax your legs and stretch your feet up and down at the ankle joint.
Rotate your ankles clockwise and anticlockwise while sitting on a chair.
Sit on a chair and raise your heels while holding your toes on the ground.
Keep your feet on the ground and press heels firmly. Next, raise your big toe upwards while keeping your little toe firmly on the ground. Finally, return to the original position and raise your little toe while keeping the big toe firmly on the ground.
Tie a rubber band around your toes. Stretch your toes for the exercise of small muscles of feet.
Sit on a chair with a towel (or newspaper) on the floor in front of you. Hold the towel with your toes and curl it upwards. Relax and repeat. You can try holding and lifting a pencil from the ground with your toes for similar benefits.
Sit on a chair and rest your arch of foot on a softball. Roll the ball in various directions – left, right, forwards, and backward and rotate it.
Walking on sand, heel-walk, walking on toes, and skipping strengthens the ankle and feet muscles.
Strengthening Exercises
Lie flat on your back. Make a loop of theraband (or a rubber band) around your feet. Stretch both feet away from each other.
Lie on your back. Bend hip and knee at 90 degrees, as shown in the picture. Hold a rubber band around your feet. Hold ends of the rubber band with your hands and straighten your leg to stretch the rubber band.
Press one end of the rubber band under your one foot and loop another end around the ankle of another leg. Then, bend the other leg and lift it to stretch the rubber band. This exercise will increase the strength of muscles on the back of your ankle.
Tie a rubber band around the leg of a table and your ankle. Stretch your knee up to 90 degrees, as shown in the picture.
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General instructions about exercise
Do exercises in fresh, pleasant environment.
It is better to exercise on empty stomach (morning/evening).
Do not eat anything for about an hour after exercise. Sips of water or other fluids are allowed.
Wear comfortable cotton clothes during exercise.
Use proper footwear during exercise. Use of sports or canvas shoes recommended.
Breathe in and out normally from nose. Avoid mouth-breathing.
Concentrate on your exercise and exercise slowly. Never exercise hastily; do not jerk your joints.
Rest for a minute or so if you feel fatigue.
Concentrate on the joint or muscle group for which you are exercising.
Learn exercises, especially those for shoulder, from a physiotherapist.
One should feel relaxation of muscles after exercise. Increase in pain after exercise may indicate wrong method. Stop exercise and meet your physiotherapist again in such situation.
Be relaxed and maintain proper posture during exercise. It is good to look into a mirror during initial days of exercise.
Maintain a posture for about 10 seconds and return back slowly to resting position.
Start low - for some minutes - and increase your work-out gradually.
Exercise one sided limbs at a time initially. Simultaneous exercise for both limbs will be possible after some days.
Exercise twice each day. Regularity is of utmost importance.
Look for a friend if exercising alone gets boring. Exercise accompanied by music is quite entertaining.
Balanced diet is also necessary appropriate benefits of exercise. Meal timings should be strictly adhered to. Consult a dietitian for reducing weight.
General instructions for yoga practice
Yoga postures should be practiced in a clean and fresh surrounding. Do the asanas on a soft and clean mattress. Use clean, light, loose and minimum clothing.
Do the asanas in morning or evening on empty stomach. Eat light food half an hour after completing practice.
Warm-up, in the form of Soorya-namaskar is desirable prior to asanas.
All movements should be gentle and controlled. Do not jerk your body. Do not over-stretch. Do not use any force to overdo.
Watch your breathing. Breathing should be easy and natural. Exhale while you bend forwards and inhale while bending backwards. Never hold breath.
One should be comfortable in any asana. Do whatever little you can. Do not try to overstretch to attain a pose as given in pictures. Trembling during asana implies overdoing.
Steadiness is of utmost importance. Period of staying in a single pose will increase with practice. Try to contract only those muscles that are required for a particular pose while relaxing all other muscles.
Draw your mind away from your body and concentrate on breathing on attaining desired pose.
Select and practice a few asanas and try to master them.
There should not be any pain, fatigue or sweating during asanas. Do a resting asana if any of these appear. One should feel enthusiastic after a yoga session.
45 minutes of yoga practice each day is desirable. Pranayama may also be done for a few minutes. Regularity is the key to success.