Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsGetting StartedAnkle Pump-UpsAnkle Pump-DownsBent-Knee Wall StretchStraight-Knee Wall StretchToe Pick-UpsHeel RaisesPlantar Fascia MassageTowel Calf StretchIce Bottle Massage
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Ankle Pump-Ups
Ankle Pump-Downs
Bent-Knee Wall Stretch
Straight-Knee Wall Stretch
Toe Pick-Ups
Heel Raises
Plantar Fascia Massage
Towel Calf Stretch
Ice Bottle Massage
When you experience an ankle or foot injury, exercises are likely to be recommended as part of your recovery. A well-structured physical therapy program can stretch and strengthen muscles in the lower leg and foot, helping restore stability,flexibility, and balance.
Ankle pumps, the bent-knee wall stretch, and toe pick-ups are just some of the moves you may be prescribed. In addition to helping heal your injury, these and other exercises may help prevent new sprains or strains, too.
Any foot or ankle exercises should be done under the guidance of a healthcare provider. It’s important that they ensure the moves are safe for you, especially if you have undergone foot or ankle surgery.
They may green-light the following set of exercises, a modified version of this, or something else entirely.
The following program is meant to be performed three times per day. These exercises work to stretch your tendons andligamentsto improve therange of motionof the affected joints.
Before starting the routine, warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of low-impact activity, like walking or riding a stationary bicycle. As you get stronger, you can move from these stretch exercises to active strength training.
Stop if you feel any pain.
Terence Vanderheiden, DPM
Static stretching has been shown to improve the upward movement of the foot (ankle dorsiflexion) when combined with standardized care.Ankle pump-ups increase ankle dorsiflexion and strengthen the muscles in the front of your lower leg (shin).
9 Best Dorsiflexion Exercises
This exercise helps increase ankle plantarflexion (downward movement of the foot) and strengthen the muscles in the back of your lower leg (calf). This includes the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles that taper at the base of the calf and merge with the Achilles tendon.
There is some evidence that stretching the calf muscle will improve ankle plantarflexion.
This exercise mainly stretches the soleus muscle on the inside of the calf, which is particularly helpful for recovery from disuse muscle atrophy.To begin:
This exercise—sometimes referred to as the runner’s stretch—helps stretch the entire gastrocnemius-soleus muscle complex.
To begin:
This exercise helps to strengthen your toes, feet, and calves.To do it:
As you get stronger, you can begin to do single-leg toe raises, which place additional weight on each leg.
4 Natural Treatments for Plantar Fasciitis
This assisted exercise helps to increase ankle dorsiflexion and stretch the calf muscles safely and effectively.
If you have trouble sitting upright on the floor, you can either sit with your back against the wall for support or place a cushion beneath your buttocks to elevate the hips.
Some people will do this exercise with both legs at once, but this tends to cause the foot and ankle tosupinate(splay outward) and may end up exacerbating an ankle injury.
To round out your exercise routine:
If the cold causes discomfort, you can place a kitchen towel between the bottle and your foot. If there is pain or a prickly sensation, stop and avoid this exercise. This is especially true for people withdiabetic neuropathy.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: OrthoInfo.Foot and ankle conditioning program.Terada M, Pietrosimone BG, Gribble PA.Therapeutic interventions for increasing ankle dorsiflexion after ankle sprain: a systematic review.J Athl Train.2013;48(5):696-709. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.4.11Medeiros DM, Martini TF.Chronic effect of different types of stretching on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Foot(Edinb). 2018;34:28-35. doi:10.1016/j.foot.2017.09.006American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.Foot flexibility exercises.Chiu LZF, Dæhlin TE.Midfoot and ankle mechanics in block and incline heel raise exercises.J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(12):3308–14. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004145U.S. National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Plantar fasciitis.
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: OrthoInfo.Foot and ankle conditioning program.Terada M, Pietrosimone BG, Gribble PA.Therapeutic interventions for increasing ankle dorsiflexion after ankle sprain: a systematic review.J Athl Train.2013;48(5):696-709. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.4.11Medeiros DM, Martini TF.Chronic effect of different types of stretching on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Foot(Edinb). 2018;34:28-35. doi:10.1016/j.foot.2017.09.006American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.Foot flexibility exercises.Chiu LZF, Dæhlin TE.Midfoot and ankle mechanics in block and incline heel raise exercises.J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(12):3308–14. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004145U.S. National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Plantar fasciitis.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: OrthoInfo.Foot and ankle conditioning program.Terada M, Pietrosimone BG, Gribble PA.Therapeutic interventions for increasing ankle dorsiflexion after ankle sprain: a systematic review.J Athl Train.2013;48(5):696-709. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.4.11Medeiros DM, Martini TF.Chronic effect of different types of stretching on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Foot(Edinb). 2018;34:28-35. doi:10.1016/j.foot.2017.09.006American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.Foot flexibility exercises.Chiu LZF, Dæhlin TE.Midfoot and ankle mechanics in block and incline heel raise exercises.J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(12):3308–14. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004145U.S. National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Plantar fasciitis.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: OrthoInfo.Foot and ankle conditioning program.
Terada M, Pietrosimone BG, Gribble PA.Therapeutic interventions for increasing ankle dorsiflexion after ankle sprain: a systematic review.J Athl Train.2013;48(5):696-709. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-48.4.11
Medeiros DM, Martini TF.Chronic effect of different types of stretching on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Foot(Edinb). 2018;34:28-35. doi:10.1016/j.foot.2017.09.006
American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.Foot flexibility exercises.
Chiu LZF, Dæhlin TE.Midfoot and ankle mechanics in block and incline heel raise exercises.J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(12):3308–14. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004145
U.S. National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Plantar fasciitis.
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