By Elizabeth Towe
Objective: Improve ankle stability and proprioception—especially after ankle injury.
Exercise:
- Use a tubing or Theraband at the ankle and anchor the other end low on a post.
- Take a single-leg stance on the non-tubing side with a slight bend at the hip and knee. Gently brace abdominals. Keep both hands on pelvis.
- Begin to kick the leg (with the tubing), swinging from the hip. Kick forward and backward at a controlled but one-full-swing-per-second pace (small and fast).
- Take 15-20 full leg swings then turn the body 90 degrees and continue for 15-20 more leg swings forward and backward. Turn 90 degrees again and continue leg swings forward and backward, then turn again to complete all four directions. To progress, add arm swings with counter-rotation of the trunk over the pelvis (running arms).
The resistance of the band creates perturbation from all four directions on the standing leg to increase the response of ankle muscles to postural disturbances. This exercise will also enable the body to re-establish proprioception after an ankle injury.
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Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for over 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life – and to remember to have fun doing it.
