If you’ve rolled your ankle, you now most likely have ankle instability (or the instability led to you rolling your ankle). The ankle is a complex joint comprised of three bones; tibia, fibula, and the talus that primarily performs as a hinge joint, but can also move slightly into eversion and inversion.

 

Chronic ankle instability usually develops following an ankle sprain that hasn’t healed properly, or it was not rehabilitated correctly. When a sprain occurs the connective tissues tear, thus balance becomes an issue. Without appropriate rehab to strengthen the muscles to help with balance, the ankle then become prone to further possible sprains and eventually chronic instability occurs when you feel your ankle just giving out while walking, running, or even standing.

 

During gait (pattern on limb movements during locomotion), when your feet hit the ground, the ankle is in the ideal position to register the impact and allow you to propel forward until the other leg is brought forward for the next step. When the ligaments are weakened or injured, they don’t give enough support for the step during weight bearing and so the ankle then give out and rolls.

 

Aside from testing performed by a therapist (during non-weight bearing), you can do your own mini assessment to check out your ankle stability to see if you would want to start therapy to resolve it (highly recommended!).

 

Weight bearing functional testing you can perform are;

 

-Walking on your toes

-Walking on your heels

-Walking on lateral (outside) borders of feet

-Walking on medial (inside) borders of feet

-Standing on one leg with eyes open, then closed.

-Star Excursion Balance Test (all of these will be demonstrated in another video)

 

If any of these are painful, they should be avoided.

 

 

Recovery would consist of manual therapy that includes strengthening and balance, but in some cases a brace, orthotics or even surgery is required depending on the severity of the imbalance and state of the ligaments.

 

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