At northlondonosteopaths Alan Nevies and his colleagues often have conversations about joints and the focus is usually on hips and knees. Now it is time for a careful look at the ankles. Maintaining good ankle strength helps to improve walking speed. Our bodies rely on our ankles for good posture, stability and shock absorption. Stiff ankles can be the cause of pain in other parts of the body. If your ankle joints and the tendons and muscles in the feet and lower leg that support them are not strong, it will affect the way you stand and move and can leave you more prone to injury and falls. Ankle sprains are one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries accounting for up to 5 per cent of all A&E visits in the UK. Having good ankle strength improves balance and helps to overcome the risk of twisting or spraining ankle ligaments.

So Alan Nevies and his colleagues agree with these suggestions to keep ankles mobile and strong.

• Go barefoot for 5 minutes a day. Running shoes and trainers often do not provide lateral support so doing some ankle exercises barefoot or even a barefoot walk around house can help to strengthen ankles and muscles surrounding the joint.
• Do ankle rolls every morning to keep joints mobile. Moving the joints in different directions lubricates them and keeps them healthy. Lift one foot off the floor and rotate it clockwise, anti-clockwise. and backwards and forwards. Repeat on both sides five to eight times.
• Do calf raises 5 days a week to protect tendons. These help to keep ankle joints in shape and strengthen the achilles tendon, the longest and strongest tendon in the human body. Stand facing a wall with both hands on the wall for balance. Lift up on your tip toes then lower heels down again. Repeat 15 times. Perform 3-4 sets 5 times a week.
• Stand on one leg regularly for stability. There are several large ligaments round the ankle that stabilize it and prevent excessive rolling. The ligaments are prone to straining if twisted or sprained. They are usually damaged when forced beyond a normal range of movement. The single leg balance helps to retrain the ligaments following an ankle sprain but is also useful for general ankle conditioning at all times.
• Use an exercise band to boost ankle mobility. Sit on the floor with a band looped around the mid foot of both feet. Keeping the left foot upright, slowly press the right foot to the right side as far as possible without rotating the ankle. Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times before changing sides. Flex the feet and then point them to feel another good stretch.
• Stretching your calf muscles will help protect your ankles. Stiff, tight calf muscles can reduce ankle mobility and regular stretching can produce a small but significant improvement in the ankle range of movement.

Alan Nevies and his colleagues are happy to explain and supervise any of these exercises. Strong ankles are an important part of keeping active and mobile so you can enjoy lots of spring walks, runs and activities in the fresh outdoors.