Favorite stretches for sore ankles & feet?

[Danielle*]

Originally Posted by in paris

Give him the massage at least once (Men looooove this but aren't as likely to do it them selves until they see how good it makes them feel. It's a great way to loosen everything up before you do the exercises in the beginning.)

And then maybe he'll reciprocate

Great idea!

[Eibhinn]

I have chronic lateral instability in both of my ankles. I have ligament laxity which causes all of the stabilizer muscles to have to work overtime to keep my feet in place. Even so, they regularly fail so I regularly turn my ankles, and they hurt to some degree all the time. Which is my whiny way to say - I feel your pain. My ankles have been like this since I was in elementary school.

Unfortunately there isn't much out there specifically focused on ankles.

I've been looking into Yamuna's Save Your Ankles kit. Glamgal has it coming in the mail, apparently, and I'm eagerly awaiting her report once she tries it. Most of the stuff I've found so far helps to stretch or strengthen the ankles, but I feel like Yamuna's stuff might possibly help with the inflammation that is clearly causing a lot of my pain.

I've also recently found Katy Bowman's Aligned and Well series, and wondered if the foot one might be helpful.

I've considered Stacy Leigh Krauss' download, or even Willpower and Grace: Mile High, which is described as having a 5 minute long warmup for the feet. Beyond Balletone (and I think the others with Shannon Fable) has a decent foot warm-up and the balance work challenges ankle stability.

I'd also considered the Stilleto Recovery Workout by the woman who does V-Core, but I found her so annoying in V-Core that I wasn't about to buy a DVD-R of something i probably wouldn't use. But that could be an option for you.

The things I actually use and find helpful to some degree are:
- Jill Miller's Quickfixes, and also the Kneehab disc is helpful for the entire lower leg.
- Yoga for Every Body with JJ Gormley has a practice focused on the feet and legs.
- In Lee Holden's Deep Sleep he has you do ankle circles while you're doing supine leg/hamstring stretches. Not only does it seem to loosen up the leg, but doing the ankle circles while the foot is elevated seems helpful as well. I now do ankle circles whenever a yoga practice or workout includes supine leg stretches.
- I've also found wearing Yoga Toes has helped with my ankles, although I can't fully explain the causality on that one.

I'm looking forward to hearing what other people have to say.