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Two ankle pain-reducing exercises to try in Plainwell, MI

It’s hard to say where you would be without your ankles. Actually, you might not be far from where you are now because the ankle makes movements like walking and running much more effective. People often sprain ligaments in their ankles. This injury is often a result of playing sports like football or basketball, and it can lead to mild to severe pain depending on the severity of the sprain. Patients in Plainwell, Michigan, who are looking for easy ankle exercises that can help reduce your pain should check out these two therapeutic exercises:

1. Towel curls

One option you can try if you’re looking for an effective ankle pain treatment exercise is towel curls. This exercise is a range-of-motion exercise, and it doesn’t place the weight of your body on your ankle.

You can start this exercise by sitting in a stable chair. A rocking chair or rocking recliner isn’t a good option for this exercise. You’ll also need a small hand or dish towel, and you’ll want to place the towel on the floor in front of your injured foot. Also, you will want to take off your shoe and sock before doing this exercise. Once you’re ready, place your bare foot on the towel and curl your toes so that the towel scrunches up. You’ll then uncurl your toes and flatten the towel as much as possible. Your goal should be to repeat these steps until you’ve done 10 to 15 repetitions, and you should try to do three to five sets of towel curls throughout the day.

2. ABC trace

Another therapeutic exercise that can help decrease your ankle pain after a sprain is the ABC trace. Like the towel curl, this is a range-of-motion exercise, and it should be relatively gentle on your ankle. If you start to feel excessive pain while doing the ABC trace, you should stop at once.

You should begin the ABC trace by sitting in a stable chair, and you’ll also need to raise your injured foot so that it’s slightly off the ground. Once you’ve raised your foot, imagine that there’s a piece of chalk on your big toe and trace the letters of the alphabet from a to z. After tracing the letter z, lower your foot to the ground and rest your ankle for a minute, and you can then repeat the tracing and rest steps until you’ve completed three repetitions. As your ankle heals, try to work up to doing all three repetitions with no rest breaks.

Plainwell, MI, residents can find ankle pain exercises and other helpful therapy services at Armor Physical Therapy

Our Armor Physical Therapy team is proud to have a clinic here in Plainwell, and we’re ready to help treat your ankle pain and many other issues. Our team can offer you a free screening for your ankle. This can help us determine the source of your ankle pain, but it also provides us with information we’ll use to build your personalized treatment plan. In this plan, we may include beneficial therapy techniques like: