Yoga for Ankle Sprain?

I have to again thank my dear friend Heather Johnstone for inspiring another yoga-related post.  She has kindly referred to me as the Yogi dressed as a PT.  I am very flattered by that remark as I like to think that I am very open minded when it comes to different treatment modalities and that I employ a very wide range of treatment philosophies in order to help people get better.  I am also very humbled to receive such high praise from someone that I admire greatly.

I am blessed with 4 wonderful children, the youngest of which is a ballet dancer.  She suggested that I write something regarding ankle injuries.  So, this one's for you, Gabby!

Most of us have "rolled" our ankle at one time or another.  Clinically, we would call that a sprain.  These sprains can range from a mild irritation to an injury severe enough that crutches are necessary.  One of the things that happens, besides the swelling, discoloration and pain is that we lose position sense in the joint.  The fancy term we throw around in the office is proprioception.  Basically, the body's ability to know where it is in space.  This ability helps us not sprain our ankle in the first place.  Proprioception allows us to sense when our ankle is starting to roll as when walking on uneven surfaces.  Sensing that the joint is moving in an undesired direction, the brain tells the muscles to bring it back to where it should be.  This happens unconsciously.  The sooner we sense this the sooner we can correct for it.  If our joint doesn't recognize it soon enough we move farther than our muscles can control and we suffer an injury - a sprain.

When an injury occurs we lose this position sense mentioned above.  This, unfortunately, also tends to be the last thing we regain following injury.  If we don't work on it, we fail to regain it to a large degree.  This causes us to be more susceptible to another injury.

This is where yoga comes in.  Speaking of ankles, specifically, one of the best ways to retrain position sense in the ankle and prevent recurrence is tree pose.

To make it even harder you can do this with your eyes closed creating an even bigger challenge to your ankle and really making those joint receptors work.  And the best part?  You don't have to do more than 1 minute a day to make improvement.

This is not only a good way to help rehabilitate an ankle injury.  This is a great way to help reduce the likelihood of suffering an ankle injury in the first place.