Ankle Sprain & Pain Rehab for BJJ | Part 2 (15 min)

I'm going to be really cautious with this, especially if it's a recent injury. Just going to come up on the edge of my feet a little bit and then back the other way, yeah, and up onto the edge of my feet and then back the other way and dropping the ankles in. Up on the edge of my feet and back the other way. Okay, so again, you're being guided by your own body.

Those ligaments there, if there's some damage, then you won't want to push that too far, but the pain will let you know. A few more of those. Again, this is a good mobilisation that you can do during the day. Okay, and then I'm going to go back, go back to my wall and pick up where I left off and do a few more of these.

So this isn't a stretch, this is a mobilisation. So I'm just keeping it moving backwards and forwards. And then we do go back to in and out. Okay, and so I'm going to take my theraband.

This is very similar to what we were doing the other day with the belt so far, but what I've got now is I've got a stretchy band so I can actually take the foot through that movement with a little bit of resistance. So again, I can adjust the amount of tension on the band, I can let it out, I can pull it back in, I can use a heavier band if I need to. Just to get that right level of tension. So again, I'm looking for it being a little bit uncomfortable, but not really painful.

Okay, just going to go straight forward and back to start with. And then I'm going to start turning the foot down a little bit. Again, be careful with this. If you had a recent ankle sprain, don't take it too far, be guided by how it feels.

Just take it up to that limit of where you're comfortable and then back off. Okay, now to go the other way, you can either tie the band to something or, I like this just to make it a little bit easier, I'm going to fold the foot and then just hold it in my other hand. I'm just going to pull the foot up. Okay.

And then finally, last direction, I'm trying to pull the little toe towards the knee. This is actually, this can be quite a difficult movement to get a feel for. Yeah, so I'm resisting that inversion position there. Okay, pulling up against that.

Again, just be aware of how much tension you're putting through that band and don't take the foot so far in this direction that it's causing a lot of pain. Okay, I'm going to go back, I'm going to do another set. So we're going to start with the foot backwards and forwards. Some of these movements will feel easier than others, that's normal.

Okay, so now I'm turning the foot in. So we're going to start by going straight up and down. Okay. And then I'm going to put the tension more, a little toe, edge of the foot.

I'm turning the foot up and out. So it's these muscles on the outside of the shin that I'm working again here. They're actually really important when we're recovering from an ankle sprain because they're going to control that movement of the foot where it starts to turn in and you want those muscles to be able to react and pull the foot back out of that painful position. Okay, so I'm going to go back to standing.

What I want to do now is I want to start working a little bit of balance work on this, on the bad ankle. So I'm just going to start by standing on one leg. You may want to be next to a wall so you could have got something to support yourself if you start losing your balance. I'm just going to, and what you'll feel is that the muscles in your lower leg and your foot are having to work to hold that position.

And you're also working what's called proprioception, which is your brain's understanding of where your joint is in space. And that's something that can be damaged when you sprain your ankle. And by working these balance exercises, it helps to retrain that. Okay, I'm going to put my foot down and have a rest.

If that's feeling pretty easy, no problems there. You can make it harder. You can make it harder by closing your eyes. You suddenly find that that's, you're having to work much more because you haven't got the visual clue to help you with your balance.

You can make it harder by doing things with the other leg as well. We'll come more onto that later in the programme. So for now, again, just about holding that position. And again, this is something you can do as you go about your day.

And if you're stood waiting for a bus or if you're brushing your teeth, you can do it standing on one leg and you're getting the extra ankle rehab into the bargain. Okay, and we've done that. We're going to now, we're going to go into a calf raise. Again, keeping within the comfortable range, I don't have to go as far as I possibly can.

I might just start taking the weight onto my toes, lifting a little bit. If you're comfortable doing it, you can start taking it further. Again, all the time, with all of these programmes, you're being guided by how your body feels because everyone's injury is going to be slightly different. Again, if you want to use a bit of support, something from the back of a chair or a wall, that's absolutely fine.

Okay, and take a rest there. And what I'm going to do now, I'm going to use the back of a chair for this one. At least at first, and I'm going to go into an assisted squat. So, because I'm working with the ankle mobility, I can put as much or as little force through the support as I need, support as I need, just to help me get to that position.

Now, if you can't get that far, because the ankle is swollen, it's painful, then, so just partial squats, it's absolutely fine. And you can gradually start to increase the depth. Okay, I'm going to go back to the calf raise, do some more of these. Again, you might find that you want to cut some of these sets a bit short.

So, if things are starting to get painful, then it's fine to do fewer reps and build up to it. Okay, getting the chair again, we're going to go back to the squat. Okay. And that's it for day two.

I will see you back here tomorrow for some more exercises.