As a runner, your legs are your primary tools for your sport – after all, if you can’t run, then you also can’t run. Because of that, it’s vital to keep your feet and ankles strong in order to avoid potential injuries, especially if you’re dedicated to long-distance running and practice more than 3-4 per week.
Many people think that because running is an endurance-based sport, it doesn’t require you to build muscles. However, that’s a false assumption. In reality, strength training is at the core of any endurance sport, as it is what gives your body the power to push through long and frequent workouts. That’s why it’s recommended that you do strength training at least 2-3 times per week to strengthen your lower and upper body muscles as a runner.
Why Do Runners Complain About Ankle Pain?
Injured ankles are quite common for runners, especially if you do your training on uneven terrain. That’s especially through for beginners, but it does sometimes affect seasoned athletes as well. Essentially, when you run, your feet carry and feel the entire weight of your body, and therefore each step puts pressure directly on your calves, ankles, and feet. Over time and with frequent runs that can lead to pain and even to injury – the question is why?
Typically, there are five main causes of ankle injuries or pain among runners:
- Ankle Sprain: When the ligament in your ankles is torn or stretched and thus swells and is in pain, that’s referred to as an ankle sprain. In some serious cases, it can lead to you not being able to train for a few weeks.
- Ankle Strain: An ankle strain is called an ankle strain if the tissue that connects the muscle to the bone is stretched or torn. Typically, it leads to pain and even swelling and cramps.
- Ankle Arthritis: When people hear arthritis, they think “old people.” However, in reality, it can affect runners at any age as it’s typically related to the weakening and damage of your foot joint, which makes it difficult to move.
- Tendinitis: Ankle pain often results from something called “tendinitis.” That’s basically inflammation in the tendons caused by covering too much distance during your run. It can also be caused if you wear the wrong trainers or if you’re only running in one direction.
- Stress fracture: Here, the issue is with your bones. As you can guess by the name, a stress fracture is what’s called when you get racks in your bones caused by too much stress, such as the one long-distance running can cause. Other things that may cause stress fractures include running on uneven surfaces, having a bad form, and lack of nutrients.
Along with all that, ankle pain can also be caused by osteoarthritis, wearing incorrect footwear, flatfoot, or chronic ankle instability. However, there are things that you can do to prevent possible injuries as much as possible and to ensure that you can train sufficiently without causing yourself any permanent damage.
How To Strengthen Your Ankles: 5 Easy Tips
Regardless of what issue is causing your ankle pain, there’s a way to strengthen your feet and ankles so that you avoid such issues in the future. And the cool thing is that you can make that happen by following just a few simple tips.
Always Warm Up
Everyone always misses this part of the workout, as they feel it’s a waste of time. In reality, however, your warm is the time when your foot, ankle, and overall entire lower body muscles stretch and get ready for exercises. Warming up helps get your blood pumping, thus increasing the oxygen levels in your body. It helps minimize the risk of injuries and muscle tears, especially if you’re planning to jump right ahead into a difficult session.
Do Strength Training a Few Times a Week
Strength training should be a part of your weekly training – even if you don’t feel like it. Incorporating some ankle strengthening exercises is easy enough and will only take you around 10-15 maximum per training session to complete them. Most exercises for runners put a particular emphasis on fixing your posture and improving your ankle stability, as well as making your ankles more flexible.
Get a Massage or Do One on Your Own
As already mentioned, your feet and your ankles carry your entire body weight when you run. And that means they need a little extra love and care from your side. If you don’t have the means or the time to go and have a massage, you can easily do one at home with either massage tools (such as a foam roller or massage ball) or with a massage gun. Both are super effective ways to loosen up tight muscles and help your lower body recover faster after many miles.
Maintain a Healthy Diet
Your diet can have a massive impact on the way you perform. In order to have a strong and healthy body, you need to eat a variety of foods to ensure you get all the important nutrients you need for recovery when it comes to your muscles and tendons; that includes having an adequate protein intake and also calcium and vitamin D3 for its absorption.
Do the RICE Method
The so-called RICE method is a way to relieve pain, and it’s quite popular among athletes and runners in general. The acronym stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation, and it’s an effective way to rehabilitate an injury once you’re already in pain. The first step is to let your muscles rest; then, you have to either use an ice bag to rub the injured area or you can do an entire ice bath, which will help decrease inflammation and swelling. After that, use a bandage or a compression sock to apply pressure to the injured area. Lastly, if you have swelling, make sure you keep your ankle elevated to reduce it.
3 Great Ankle-Strengthening Exercises You Can Do Anytime
Strength training for your ankles isn’t all that difficult to incorporate into your workout in the gym, and adding just one or two of these exercises per session is more than enough to get the desired results. Along with that, most of my favorite exercises don’t require you to use any equipment and can be done at any time, even when you’re training at home.
Calf Raises
This is an easy yet effective exercise that helps you stretch your ankles while strengthening your calves. How is it done? Well, it’s quite simple:
- Stand up straight and slightly bend one leg while standing on the other.
- Raise your body by raising your heel off the ground and pushing on your toes.
- Hold this pose for a few seconds and return to standing.
- Repeat with the other leg.
To make the exercise more challenging, you can raise your toes on a platform or carry additional weights in your hands.
Lateral Hops
This is a fun exercise that’s excellent for strengthening your ankles, and it can be beneficial not only for runners but for most athletes. With that said, it’s one of the exercises you should avoid if you’re experiencing any pain in your ankle.
How is it done?
- Place any object (could be a small ball or a barbell) or simply imagine a line on the ground and stay behind it.
- Then raise one leg while putting your weight on the other.
- Hop with one leg back and forth the line.
- Repeat for 25-30 reps per leg, then switch.
Here again, if you want to make things more difficult, you can add extra weight or reps.
Forward Shuffles
Forward shuffles are an incredible exercise for improving the endurance of your ankles and your feet. It places a particular emphasis on the anterior part of the foot. And it’s super easily done.
- Stand in a squat position with your knees bent.
- Lift your toes in the air while the rest of the foot is on the ground.
- Drive your knees forward along with your right foot sliding forward until it goes past your toes.
- Shuffle between both feet while keeping the big toes lifted, and the knees bent.
- As a beginner, you can start shuffling for 30-45 seconds and generally increase the time to 3 minutes. It’s normal to feel a burning sensation in your shins after a while, but make sure it’s not turning into a sharp pain.
Along with that, it’s vital that you perform this exercise on a smooth platform.
Why are Strong Ankles Vital for Runners?
Strong ankles are of crucial importance for runners, as they’re one of the parts of your body that takes the most damage while performing the exercise. But why exactly are ankles so vital for runners?
Improve Balance
Being balanced is essential for a good runner. It ensures that you are able to run smoothly and prevents you from stretching or pulling your muscles. It also helps you prevent falls when running on trails or uneven surfaces, especially if you do that at high speed.
Better Performance
Having strong ankles helps improve your efficiency and your speed. They also allow you to improve your heel stride, and as a result, you can land your foot more firmly. All these factors help you improve your performance as a runner and make you a lot more efficient on longer runs.
Prevent Injuries
Ankle injuries are painful, take quite a bit of to heal, and, unfortunately, are common among runners. Having to treat such issues often will not only affect your performance but may also limit your ability to compete in the sport that you love. Along with that, having to deal with pain constantly more or less takes the pure joy out of the running, which is something you want to avoid at all costs.
Having strong muscles in your ankles, feet, and legs will protect you from potential ankle issues. Additionally, increasing the mobility and flexibility of that part of your body will enable you to avoid stains and sprains.
On the Journey to Getting Better
One of my favorite athletes of all time likes to say that “in sport, there are no small details,” meaning that everything matters. And so, even something as basic as doing a few calves raises a week and stretching your legs can help you increase the strength and mobility of your ankles, thus improving your running performance and giving you more longevity in the sport.
Whether you’re a professional athlete, a casual marathon runner, or a beginner, putting your effort into all the seemingly small details will help you get 1% better every single day, which is what we’re all about.
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