Here's a quick summary of some of the physio's ankle exercises (equipment needed in blue, specialised equipment needed in orange, exercise/practice that caused more harm than good in red):
Physio 1:
- Use an ankle circumduction machine on injured side. Rotating in both directions, increasing difficulty (resistance) in ensuing sessions.
- Bounce on a small trampoline on both feet (I can't remember if we did just on injured side).
- Skipping with skipping rope.
Physio 2:
- Stand on physio supple pad on injured side. Vary this by moving arms around, closing eyes, or even combining all this with swishing the head from side to side.
- Stand on balance board on injured side. Vary this by closing eyes. (I used dual hemisphere and single hemisphere).
- Stand on forefoot of both feet and twist outward, creating a sort of simulated sprain / strain on the outside of both feet, hold for a couple of seconds and back in, repeat x 10.
Physio 3:
- Stand on the damaged ankle on one foot, and send and receive a ball (beach ball, football...) varying the directions.
- Rest the ankle by standing on a step with the injured ankle simply hanging in space.
- Stand on a step sideways on injured side and rise and lower on the front of the foot. Use the good foot for balance if and when needed on the step.
- Practice walking on the front of the foot.
- With a ball under the uninjured foot, practice moving it around in all directions with weight on injured foot side.
- Have ultrasound applied. (acutely painful when the physio failed to move the device much or even at all!)
- Duration of balance exercises: 10 mins twice a day is fine.
Other (me!)
- Practice those times when stationary (e.g. brushing teeth) standing on the injured foot side. Close eyes if too easy.
