The BEST Ankle Strengthening Exercises (Science-Based)

Have you had an ankle sprain? Or are you dealing with chronic ankle instability? In either case: ankle strengthening exercises are extremely important! I will show you the best ones out there…

…and help you create an exercise program that is specifically tailored to you. This way you can speed up your rehab process and reduce your risk of re-injury.

YouTube video
Check out the YouTube video to this blog article.

Important information for acute ankle sprains

In the acute phase, you shouldn’t move your ankle at all and just put ice on it, right? Nope. That’s what we thought many years ago.

Thanks to research like the one done by Dubois and Esculier (2020) we now know better.

For proper healing, keep the weight off the ankle as much as possible (especially in the first 2-3 days). But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t move it at all.

Here’s what the current literature recommends in the acute phase:

  • Elevate your ankle
  • Compress the ankle
  • Move within a pain-free range (I’ll show you how, in the exercise section)


Unable to read published form data

Exercises

There are a few things we should focus on during the exercises. Smith et al. (2021) came up with 5 criteria to think about before getting back into sports. It’s called the PAASS Framework.

Ankle Strengthening - PAASS Framework

You don’t have to remember all of this. The exercises I’m about to show you cover all these points. But I did want to show you the scientific background.

As far as the pain severity goes: you should watch your pain during and 24 hours after exercise. I’d recommend using the Pain Monitoring Model by Silbernagel et al. (2007) as a reference.

Ankle Strengthening - Pain Monitoring Model

A pain level of between 0-2 out 10 is awesome. 3-5 is acceptable, and anything above 5 is too much.

Range of Motion

You can work on the ankle range of motion with the following exercises (especially in the acute phase):

Ankle Strengthening - Range of Motion Exercises

If you’re unsure about how to perform the exercises, just watch the video linked above.

Ankle Strengthening Exercises

Your swelling is gone? And your pain has reached a tolerable level? Then you can continue with the strengthening exercises that we’ll get into now.

Ankle Strengthening - Resistance Exercises
Ankle Strengthening - Resistance Exercises

Start with the first 3 exercises and do the ankle inversion later, as it could trigger symptoms of an ankle sprain at the beginning.

Ankle Strengthening -Calf Raises
Ankle Strengthening -Calf Raises
Ankle Strengthening -Calf Raises

I know what you’re thinking right now. Should I do ALL THOSE at the same time? Absolutely not. This is a progression. The exercises become increasingly difficult. That’s why you should start with the first ones (Resistance Band) and then work your way up.

While working your way up, you should always monitor your pain, as discussed earlier.

Don’t Forget Training Surrounding Structures

These exercises are great for the ankle, but we’re not done yet. As with most conditions, it is useful to not only focus on the affected body part. You should train the surrounding structures. In the case of the ankle, that would be the knee and hip.

Knee:

Ankle Strengthening - Knee Exercises
Ankle Strengthening - Knee Exercises

Hip:

Ankle Strengthening - Hip Exercises
Ankle Strengthening - Hip Exercises

These resistance exercises should be the main focus of your rehab. For all of them, you can do 3 sets of 8-15 reps.


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Balance Exercises

If you want and have the time, you can also do some balance exercises like:

Ankle Strengthening - Balance Exercises

Aim for 3 sets of 30-60 seconds per leg. Studies show that the transfer of these “specific” balance exercises isn’t very high. That’s why they’re optional.

Now, let’s get to the sport-specific training. They are perfect for you if your sport involves jumps or changes of direction. But feel free to do them even if that’s not the case for you.

Ankle Strengthening - Return to Sports Exercises
Ankle Strengthening - Return to Sports Exercises

For Ankle Hops, you can stick with 3 sets of 15-30 reps. For the other jumps, I’d recommend 3 sets of 6 reps and really push yourself.

Now, you might be wondering – how do I fit this into a training session?

Let’s get into that.

Training Plan

I’d recommend structuring your sessions like this:

Ankle Strengthening -Training Plan

Ideally, do 2 training sessions per week with at least 2 days of rest in between.

I spoke about balance training as being an important part of the rehab process. However, most people train on unstable surfaces to improve their balance, which is a terrible idea.

If you want to know why, then check out this article now.


Literature

  • Dubois, B., & Esculier, J. F. (2020). Soft-tissue injuries simply need PEACE and LOVE. British journal of sports medicine54(2), 72–73. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-101253
  • Silbernagel, K. G., Thomeé, R., Eriksson, B. I., & Karlsson, J. (2007). Continued sports activity, using a pain-monitoring model, during rehabilitation in patients with Achilles tendinopathy: a randomized controlled study. The American journal of sports medicine35(6), 897–906. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546506298279
  • Smith, M. D., Vicenzino, B., Bahr, R., Bandholm, T., Cooke, R., Mendonça, L. M., Fourchet, F., Glasgow, P., Gribble, P. A., Herrington, L., Hiller, C. E., Lee, S. Y., Macaluso, A., Meeusen, R., Owoeye, O. B. A., Reid, D., Tassignon, B., Terada, M., Thorborg, K., Verhagen, E., … Delahunt, E. (2021). Return to sport decisions after an acute lateral ankle sprain injury: introducing the PAASS framework-an international multidisciplinary consensus. British journal of sports medicine55(22), 1270–1276. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-104087

Gino Lazzaro

Gino has a Master's degree in sports physiotherapy. In his company Pain Physio, he offers highly individualized 1:1 Pain Coaching for athletes who have been dealing with pain for more than three months. You can apply here.

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