Foot and Ankle

Hey gymnasts!

The ankle is the most commonly injured body part in gymnastics. Actually, it’s the most common body part injured in all sports.

Common injuries in the foot and ankle include:

• Ankle sprain (twisting your ankle)

• Sever’s disease (pain at your heel)

• Stress fractures (this can happen with too much impact on any one of your foot bones)

• Osteochondritis dissecans of the ankle joint at the talus (breakdown of cartilage of the bone at the joint between your foot and ankle)

• Os trignoum (pain at the back of the foot/ankle due to an extra bone)

• Accessory navicular (pain at the arch of your foot due to an extra bone)

If you have pain, you should consult a medical professional to guide your care - especially if you can point to the spot that hurts with one finger, if your pain has been going on for more than a week, or even if it doesn’t hurt all the time but it keeps coming back.

Here are a couple of exercises you can do to strengthen your foot and ankle.