One more thing. I come from a swimming background, and have a pretty fierce (I don't dare say that I'm FAST in this forum) kick, could this be a cause? Should I stay away from fins?

I'm no PT, but I've had problems with loose ankles and knees and here are some things I've learned that may be of help.

- Work on balance excercises. The fancy word is proprioreception(sp?) or your mind's awareness of the position of your joints. Get yourself a balance board(indoboard.com) and/or a wobble board. I keep a balance board in the house and just hop on periodically, it's amazing how you improve and my knees feel 'tighter'. After a while, I could do things like squat down or stand up on the board on the balls of my feet(releve, for the ballet-minded)

- Balance is #1, but if you want to work in some strength excercises, focus on low resistance and high repetition, on the order of 100(s). I used to be down on high repetition excercises but changed my tune when I learned that they really can help the connective tissue. You might try doing a search on Hindu squats(very simple body-weight excercise). It can be used to strengthen both knees and ankles.

Good luck,

--ashayk

Ankle exercises? Oh yeah. The standard set is what any PT will likely prescribe - inversion, eversion, plantarflexion and dorsiflexion. Take a length of surgical tubing or theraband and tie it into a loop. An old inner tube works well too. Hook it around a table leg or close it in a door (the point is to secure it so you can pull against it). Sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you and the loop over your foot - ideally around the head of the first/fifth metatarsal (your first toe knuckle). With a little tension on the band as your foot is straight up and down (90deg with the floor) point your toes to the right or left (away from the band) for 8-12 reps to start, and building up to 20 or so. Adjust tension as necessary. Swap sides of the table leg (or just spin yourself around) to work the other side. That covers inversion and eversion. To hit dorsiflexion, have the pull of the band directly away from you so if you were to point your toes forward, the band would shoot off straight in front of you. Flex your toes towards you as if tyring to point to yourself. For plantarflexion, stand on the edge of a stair and do one legged raises.

A few terribly drawn examples...

==========================================

Legend:

[] = Table leg, door or any anchor

---(band)--- = theraband, bike inner tube, surgical tubing....

| = foot in neutral position

/ or \ = foot in finish position

===> becomes - used to denote action

=================================================

[]---(band)---- | ===> []-----(band)------ /

| ---(band)----[] ===> \ ---(band)----[]



Balance exercises are good for ankle strength too, but can very easily be done at home (stand on one foot). If that's easy, try to "Superman" on that one foot and then return to standing. It's harder than it sounds.

---

<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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The ankle joint is different from any other in the body in as much that it is strictly ligamentous and there is no direct muscle attachment at that joint. The talus bone is a sort of hinge type joint that articulates with the end of the tibia to form the ankle joint. It is held by ligaments on both sides of the ankle joint but has no direct muscular tendon attachment to the talus. People who have flexible ankles so so because of lax ligaments. This can be genetic or it can be caused by recurring ankle sprains.

There is a theory that there can be a minor displacement of the talus and this is a factor in recurring ankle sprains. There is a chiropractic "adjustment" that is a traction/thrust to the ankle joint that is said to correct this. I was never really taught how to do it properly at chiropractic college but early in my career I worked with a old time chiro who showed it to me. I've used it on dozens of bum ankles over the years and it seems to work.

You can't really "strengthen" your ankles because there is no direct muscular involvement with the talus/tibia joint.

If you can find a chiro in your area familiar with ankle problems he may be able to help you.

Look out for the "ankle booth" manned by cerveloguy at your next race. I'll be 1st in line! :)

---

<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
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"Look out for the "ankle booth" manned by cerveloguy at your next race."

I said find an ankle chiro in your neighbourhood, not come to me. Otherwise suffer.

This isn't something that needs a million treatments. May not work for everyone, but I've found that if the ankles respond they usually do so on average between three to six treatments.

BTW, I've never stood in a shopping mall type "chiro booth" offering "free initial exams" in my life. I've seen others doing it, but IMO consider it kinda tacky.

You totally misunderstood what I meant there. I was just thinking that if a quick adjustment could cure my ankle problems, I'd totally line up to get it fixed. (I invert A LOT!) I figured a lot of other people might too.

I never meant to infer anything else. Sorry if it sounded like I did (as in retrospect, I can kinda see how it might have).

---

<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
Get your FIX today?

Hey, no problem. Everything's cool.