

Push into the floor with the ball of your injured foot. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Flex the front of your injured foot up while you resist with your other foot. Put your other foot on top of your injured one. You can do these exercises 3 to 5 times a day: When your range of motion gets back to normal, you can start on strength exercises. You should feel a stretch in the calf of your injured leg. Now, push your hips toward the wall as you bend your front knee. Stand facing a wall with your hands against the wall about shoulder height. Once you can bear weight on your sprained ankle, do this instead of the seated calf stretch. Wrap a towel around the ball of your injured foot and pull it gently toward you so you feel a stretch in your calf. Sit on your bed or the floor with both legs stretched out in front of you. Now, curl your toes and push the towel back in the other direction until you reach the end of the towel. Keep going until you reach the end of the towel. Curl your toes to grab the towel and pull it toward you. Sit in a chair, with your injured foot flat on a towel on the floor. Then do the same with your foot turned outward as far as you can. Extend your foot so your toes point away from you. Flex your foot toward you as far as you can, as if you’re trying to get your toes to point to your face. Move your ankle in circles: five to 10 circles in one direction, then do the same in the other. Run through the alphabet at least 2 to 3 times a day. Do lowercase and uppercase letters, and make sure to move from your ankle, not your hip. Draw the letters of the alphabet in the air with your foot. You can sit in a chair, then use another chair to support your leg, with your foot and ankle hanging over the side. You should be able to start work on your range of motion 2 or 3 days after your injury.įor these exercises, support your leg but let your foot and ankle hang freely. A little discomfort is OK, but if you have questions about what you can and can’t do, check with your doctor. Let pain guide you and help you set limits on how far to push. Then move on to strength, balance, and stability exercises. Start with range-of-motion exercises and basic stretches. You might be stiff and sore, but the sooner you get it moving, the quicker you’ll recover and better you’ll avoid further injury. After an ankle sprain, it’s important to start doing exercises again as soon as you can.
