Intermediate Stage of Rehabilitation (day 3 to day 7 or longer)
The beginning of the intermediate stage is not a set time after injury, nor will the change in exercise from early to intermediate rehabilitation occur for every muscle group or action at the same time. For example you will probably find you can progress much faster with dorsiflexion and plantarflexion than with inversion and eversion.
Once the pain, swelling and bruising in your ankle has stopped increasing and is steady or reducing, you can start this section by putting gentle force through all directions of movement at the ankle. This is done with isotonic strength exercises: this means strengthening the ankle through producing movement. You should not need to wear a brace when not standing on the injured ankle in exercises, but you may still need to ice and compress the ankle after exercise and in between sets as well if needed. When you are not exercising and walking around gently you may still need the support and protection of a brace occasionally at the start of this stage.
This movement occurs in two directions:
concentric = muscle shortening whilst controlling a force,
eccentric = when the muscle is lengthening whilst controlling a force. Both of these movements are needed for use of the ankle and are trained in opposite directions.
Once the pain, swelling and bruising in your ankle has stopped increasing and is steady or reducing, you can start this section by putting gentle force through all directions of movement at the ankle. This is done with isotonic strength exercises: this means strengthening the ankle through producing movement. You should not need to wear a brace when not standing on the injured ankle in exercises, but you may still need to ice and compress the ankle after exercise and in between sets as well if needed. When you are not exercising and walking around gently you may still need the support and protection of a brace occasionally at the start of this stage.
This movement occurs in two directions:
concentric = muscle shortening whilst controlling a force,
eccentric = when the muscle is lengthening whilst controlling a force. Both of these movements are needed for use of the ankle and are trained in opposite directions.
Shown above is the equipment used in this exercise programme. There are:
- three exercise bands of differing strengths, (the company Theraband make them in specific resistances, the ones above are just classified light, medium and heavy and can be brought cheaply from most large supermarkets or department stores with a sport section),
- an ankle weight set with five removable sections, each weighing 300g, so that you can increase the weight slowly as your ankle recovers strength. (Again brought cheaply at a large supermarket or department store with a sports section)
- A shuttlecock!