The head idiot at iRunFar has once again sprained his ankle. Doh! It’s nothing major … it’s happened before and it’ll happen again. However, with fine spring weather here and some pacing fun coming up soon, we’ve got our crack staff thinking about how to rehab the ankle ASAP. Sure there’s the RICE (Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation.) part of rehab in the short term, but what about after that. Well, a balance board or wobble board is an excellent way to rehab an ankle. Using a balance board will help improve:
- Range of motion;
- Strength of support muscles; and
- Propioception – the body’s near-instantaneous sensing of joint position.
Can anyone recommend the best type/design of balance board for rehabbing an ankle? Any specific brands of wobble board that you’ve found to be particularly well designed or built?
Carefully running trails is also a good way to help rehab an ankle – particularly the proprioception aspect. Just in case you were wondering, carefully running trails does not include running rocky sections of trail after dark with no headlamp. No, that’s just a good way to sprain your ankle in the first place.
