. . . to check out
I never gave much thought to my ankles. They never bothered me. Until they did. In 2016, about 8 years into my running “career”, suddenly my ankles hurt. Bad enough that I had to tape them. I saw my chiropractor, I saw a physical therapist, and I was gifted with the Shintek (see my review here).
2017 dawned and there was no more taping. Sometimes my ankles will begin to ache on a long run, but they’re fine post run and haven’t been a problem this year. I no longer get out of bed in the morning and hobble around like my 90-year-old parents.
I’ve come to realize that a lot of runners have tight ankles — you may not realize that you do until they start speaking to you. I’ve also come to realize that it’s very important to keep working on mobility and flexibility as we age; use it or lose it!
Since I am not a coach or physical therapist or chiropractor or any type of medical professional, today I am joining up with the Friday Five 2.0 from Fairytales & Fitness and Rachel @ Running on Happy to share five resources for ankle mobility exercises. There are many sites out there; these just happen to be the ones that caught my eye.
How to improve wrist and ankle mobility
In this post at Mark’s Daily apple here, not only do you get ankle mobility exercises — many of them videos — you also get wrist mobility exercises. Now, I know that our wrists don’t have much to do with running. But due to our time on computers, our wrists do tend to take a beating.
Improving ankle mobility for runners & triathletes
Not only will you find video of ankle mobility exercises for runners here, you will also find information on the importance of testing ankle mobility both before and after doing the exercises to see if those exercises are working for you.
Self Myofascial Release for Happy Feet!
In Debbie @ Coachdebbieruns own words:
There are many kinds of body care, all of which can be helpful. There is nothing like a good sports massage, especially during training or after an event. If you haven’t tried fascial stretch therapy yet, you’re missing out on a key tool in improving performance and recovery.
You can see her video for happy feet here.
Foot pain & Plantar Fascitis Stretch
I love Jill Miller’s Yoga Tune up series. I wrote a small blurb about it in my 5 Yoga DVDs I love (read it here). Watch this quick video clip on Youtube here; it has one of the stretches I do almost daily for my ankles — although I use my Original Worm (Amazon Affiliate link — more information on the Worm here).
Foot & Ankle Mobility Drill
I’ve seen this drill on several different websites — take a look at this video here which goes into some in depth discussion of why this simple drill is useful and gives you tips on how to do it.
This isn’t a drill I’ve been doing, but I think I’ll be adding this to my morning mobility routine. Yes, I actually have one. I started several months ago. I think it’s really made a big difference in how my body feels. I do a little bit while waiting for a furkid to eat, while waiting for the dogs to do their business, while waiting for my tea to brew. Just a few exercises here and there, not necessarily all every day — like yoga, it’s better if you do a little every day than a lot on just a couple of days.
Again, I am not a medical professional or coach, so use your own common sense and if you’re actually in pain and your gait is effected — seek out professional help. If things just ache, I hope you find something useful in one of these links.
So let me know in the comments:
What body part is aggravated by running?
Have you ever done PT for it?
Have you ever done any of these exercises/stretches/drills?
Chocolaterunsjudy 
I obviously have a tight ankle due to all that hardware in there but it doesn’t affect my running and I am used to the discomfort so I don’t give it a thought.
I think if you have a new pain, you would worry and do something about it.
Thanks for the share. Hope I don’t need to use your tips LOL
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I think everyone benefits from mobility exercises as they age, but hopefully you’ll never “need” them.
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Me too.
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My pilates instructor always insists on us warming up our ankles saying they are the most neglected parts of our bodies! Fortunately, I have not had any ankle trouble so far. Just my knee – but after seeing a physiotherapist I have been very careful to make sure I warm up quite a bit before my runs. And so far that seems to have done the trick.
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Well, I hadn’t had ankle problems either . . . until I did! I do warm up for my runs, but some of those body parts need more attention than others!
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Great point! I definitely have lots of feet and ankle issues so I have to remember to do the exercises from the podiatrist. I never thought about my feet and ankles so much before I started running.
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I was pretty lucky those first few years . . . although I had other issues. The whole feet/ankle thing is a recent issue for me!
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These are all great links!! You are so right ankle mobility is something my PT elevated and said I needed to work on when I was having a plantar fasciitis flare up. One tight area causes another to overload and sometimes the body can handle it and sometimes not.
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I try to point and flex my feet a couple times before getting out of bed and after runs I always stretch my calf by doing the heel hang off my steps. But I know there is so much more I could be doing for my feet and ankles!
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Oh and I did go to PT for something unrelated to my ankles and they had me do an ankle stretch and it was so bad! But by the time I was done with PT, it improved a ton.
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I actually have a whole stretching routine I do before I even get out of bed! Which Mr. Judy so appreciates since I get up before him.
I don’t do it every day, but I try to hit it on a run day. Or when I’m just feeling more tight than usual.
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This is funny, I did my run yesterday, and my ankle bone feels tender today. There’s nothing around the ankle that hurts, just the knobby part of the bone. I don’t know what I did yesterday, and I don’t think I banged it into anything. I could’ve and it just didn’t register.
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That does seem an odd place. I have a tendency to hit it, though. When I first started running, it was so bad it would get really bruised! I’ve gotten a lot better about that.
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I get sore ankles every now and then. There is an area on my foot between my arch and my ankle that hurts if I’m running long and don’t focus on form, it usually subsides after I stop running or correct my form so I haven’t put much thought into getting it checked out.
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So many things to always think about while running!
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I almost rolled my ankle on the trail this morning. Glad it wasn’t bad. Thanks for the links!
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That’s great that no damage was done. I haven’t rolled an ankle . . . yet . . . but have fallen once or twice.
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I’ve had some aches and pains because of running but never have I had an issue with my ankles. Now that you mentioned that I will have to pay more attention to that area.
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I ran for quite a few years with zero foot issues. Until they started to bother me! I’m guessing it may actually be more of an aging thing for me.
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Thankfully, I have never had any ankle issues (knocking loudly on my desk), but I have had plenty of hip/glute/piriformis crap. I try to foam roll (though not as often as I should) and I massage the hamstrings every morning before I climb out of bed. I also do a lot of ankle rotations and arch massage each morning as well to combat the PF returning.
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Well, so far I haven’t battled PF & I’d definitely like to keep it that way! I have definitely had hip/knee crap and lately my knee has been just a wee bit tight — although it was fine today for my tempo, knock on wood.
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Thanks for the resources! I learned the hard way about what happens when I let my ankle and hip exercises slide. Thankfully my chiro seems to have me all fixed up in time for my race.
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I hope that your trip is smooth from here on out & you have a marvelous race in Berlin. Good luck!
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