Strengthen your ankles for better running

When you have to run in the dark, at some point you will probably have to tackle the dreaded twisted ankle problem; when you suddenly trip or put your foot down a mysterious hole...

Unfortunately this is an occupational hazard for runners and the more miles you run then the more likely it is that you will twist your ankles.

The best way to avoid this problem is to be prepared. Obviously accidents happen, but as part of your normal training you can prepare and train your ankles to be stronger. The easiest way to strengthen your ankles while running is to run off road as much as possible, as this gets you used to the constant twisting and rolling on uneven ground.

The more you run on uneven ground then the stronger your tendons will become around the ankle and foot to compensate for the extra loads placed on them during the foot plant stage. If you cannot run off-road, don’t worry because you can also strengthen your ankles while running on-road.

As you run predominantly on flat hard surfaces on the roads, the tendons and muscles around the foot/ankle will become accustomed to the linear plane of your foot strike, i.e. there is little twisting/turning involved. As a consequence of this, when road runners do twist their ankles it often causes more problems than someone who runs a lot off road.

There are a few tricks that we can all use to try to avoid the dreaded twisted ankle.

Firstly, try and get into the habit of seeking out uneven patches on a run and purposely running on it. Be careful for the first few times but eventually you should be able to run on it without any problems.

Secondly, instead of just stepping up kerbs, try bounding a little more and landing on your toes to strengthen the forefoot area and the tendons attached along the bottom of the foot. Then when you come to step off kerbs, again bound off it, but this time try and land on your heels a little bit more than normal. This will help strengthen around the heel area and lower ankle joint. These movements don’t need to be large (don’t go bounding out into the middle of the road!) but just enough so you have to make an effort when you land. This effort of stabilising yourself will eventually become second nature.

Thirdly, you can incorporate a twisting movement into your normal runs to help build up the lateral strength. Instead of running in a straight line along a section of your run, try zig-zagging from side to side for a few seconds. This zig-zagging doesn’t need to incorporate the whole street as you only need to increase the pressure on the ankles for a split second, so it can easily be done on a normal pavements width. A few repetitions of this throughout your run will suffice and it can be done on most steady runs. Again you will become accustomed to this and eventually it will become second nature.

These exercises can all be done on flat surfaces to start with but eventually you should incorporate them into uphill and downhill running as this intensifies the forces going through the ankle and helps to strengthen them even more.

Finally, the easiest way to help ankles is to stretch the areas around the foot and calf. Start with the simple rotation of the foot and ankle and gradually work up to dynamic stretching over the stairs or box with your body weight as resistance. Don’t think of ankle strengthening as an extra training session, it should be a routine part of your run and after a few weeks you won’t even realise you are doing it.