When prescribing exercise, it is important to focus on what the client needs from their physical sporting needs, to their reoccurring injuries and the goals they have. Taking all this into account exercise should be prescribed that will cover these areas. Completing a movement screen like the Functional Movement Screen(FMS) this will allow it to ensure that you are aware of any movements that cause pain or discomfort. Assessing the posture of the client will help you see any unbalances that may be contributing towards the ankle sprain. The way the results are interpreted will help you with your prescription of exercise. Also when writing out a programme for an exercise prescription it should use exercises that are proven to help ankle sprains, give as much detail as possible about how to complete the exercise correctly, keep consistency in the level of difficulty but variety in the exercise with in sessions and ensure that the programme fits around the clients lifestyle.
When an athlete performs any running or jumping movement the ankle and surrounding muscles will be put under a lot of stress. As the ankle muscles get stronger, the athlete can endure larger forces before an injury is sustained. As well as decreasing ankle injuries, strengthening lower leg muscles, it will reduce the possibility of chronic conditions such as shin splints and Achilles tendonitis. Athletes with superior balance and awareness are going to be able to control his or her body more effectively and therefore they will be able to strengthen the ankle muscles more effectively.
When prescribing exercise, it must ensure that the client is fully aware of how to complete any exercise that they have been given correctly. If they are doing the exercise incorrectly they may not be strengthening the correct muscles and they could accidently cause themselves another injury and leave themselves vulnerable to an ankle sprain.
Throughout the programme the level of difficulty should be keep consistent if that’s a slow increase over time or maintaining the difficulty as if the difficulty is increased to quickly it may cause an injury to the client as they are not yet ready to progress so far.
When creating an exercise program to prescribe it must make sure that it fits in and around the clients lifestyle and career because no matter how good all the exercises are and how well explained it is, if the client cannot fit it in to their day to day living it will not help them at all. A well-planned exercise programme that fits into a client’s lifestyle will be easier and more enjoyable for the client to complete.
Strengthening each muscle, ligament and tendon is important as the ankle bear a large amount of weight and can be highly mobile, although they fragile and quite easy to damage. Ankle stability has an effect on balance and posture, these both can lead to injury if not maintained correctly.
Some risk factors for an ankle sprain are poor athletic conditioning, muscle and ligament fatigue, not warming up before activity, carrying excess weight. Anyone who attempts strenuous athletic activities without prior conditioning, like a daily routine of ankle and calf stretching and strengthening exercises, runs an increased risk of spraining or straining the ankle ligaments and muscles during activity. When muscles and ligaments become fatigued at or near the end of a strenuous activity, people run a greater risk of injury if they “push through” the fatigue in pursuit of more activity rather than resting. As an example, someone running a marathon may run a greater risk of ankle sprains or strains during the ending few miles of the race. Athletes who go right into vigorous activity without doing a gradual warmup session beforehand, like gentle stretching and walking before starting a sprint, run a greater risk of ankle sprains and strains. Without a warmup period, muscles and ligaments will remain tight, and reduced flexibility means greater risk for stretches and tears(Clinic, 2014). Excess weight places greater impact load onto the joints when walking, running, and jumping, which might increase the likelihood that ligaments and/or muscles are stretched or torn during activity. Some studies indicate that the chance of developing ankle sprains and strains is slightly higher for overweight males than for overweight females.(P & MP, 2006)
References
Clinic, M. (2014). Sprains and Strains. Patient Care and Health info.
P, M., & MP, M. (2006). Risk factors for noncontact ankle sprains in high school athletes: the role of hip strength and balance ability. Am J Sports Med, 34(3), 464–470.