You may have been told in the past that you have weak ankles. You may notice that you turn your ankles often by just miss stepping or especially if you wear shoes that have heels on them. It often doesn’t even hurt but looks like your joint really shouldn’t turn that far.
As a child (or an adult) you may have jumped down off of a jungle gym or just off a higher surface where you were seated and felt a weird shock go through your ankles. It would go away after a minute or two, so you may never have known what that feeling was and just shook it off as how it feels to land sometimes.
You may also have had incidences where you actually full out sprained your ankle or ankles through a trip, a fall or a tumble.
When this happens repeatedly over time the muscles and tendons in your ankles begin to loosen abnormally leading to weak ankles and instability. This instability leads you to be even more prone to twists, turns, and sprains.
Chronic sprained ankles can be diagnosed by your doctor, podiatrist, or chiropractor. A physical exam is performed for rotation, flexibility, flexion, and all-around motion. MRI or X-rays may also be ordered.
Treatment for chronically sprained ankles
Physical therapy to strengthen the joint and surrounding ligaments, muscles, and tendons is the first recommendation after an adjustment to make sure the ankle is in place. Along with exercises specifically created to strengthen the area a brace may be recommended to prevent further injury.
Most of the time weak ankles do not cause pain, however, they can lead to problems with stability causing falls or other injuries. Having strong stable ankles means you have a strong base. You wouldn’t drive a call around with the wheels only half screwed on with loose lug nuts. Why? Because it could easily cause an accident. So can weak chronically sprained ankles especially as we age.
If you suffer with ankle weakness come see us at the office of Kaster Chiropractic and Associates of Fort Myers, Florida. Dr. Jason Kaster, D.C. can help. 239-332-2555. www.kasterchiropractic.com.