In sports injury clinics, patients with chronic external ankle pain are encountered from time to time. Some of these patients have what is called ankle instability. Most of the reasons for ankle instability is a history of a more severe ankle sprain (we are talking mainly about external ankle sprains). After the sprain, one or more of the major ligaments responsible for maintaining the stability of the ankle joint are damaged, lax or ruptured to the point of loss of function, which is the result. Most ankle instability is caused by having had a more severe ankle sprain. The stability of the ankle joint is crucial, as it is a continuing problem after a sprain on the one hand, and in turn affects the recovery process after the injury on the other. This is why when an ankle sprain is sustained, no matter how big or small, medical protection personnel will always recommend a patch or ankle brace to stabilize the ankle joint. Simply put, if the ankle is unstable, it is harder to heal from the sprain, and even easier to sprain again to aggravate the instability, a vicious circle of trouble. Subjective feelings, objective tests, do you have these problems if your ankle is prone to discomfort? Patients with ankle instability may or may not feel it, depending on the severity of the problem. Patients with sensation often say that their ankle is “loose and unstable”, while others will explicitly tell the physician that they have “sprained more frequently after a certain injury, and that they will turn a little bit if they don’t move”. As for the patients who do not feel anything, they often feel that “the lateral side of the ankle joint tends to be sore after walking or standing for a long time”. These are all subjective symptoms. In addition to the subjective symptoms, the physician may also notice some objective phenomena, including a large angle of inversion of the ankle joint and significant looseness during the examination. In some cases, there may be more pronounced tightness and pressure in the lateral calf muscles. In patients with this phenomenon, if the physician examines carefully, the lateral calf muscles on the affected side, or even the gluteal muscles, may be atrophied and weaker than on the opposite side. These subjective and objective manifestations are organized as follows, and you can also try to self-evaluate them Ankle instability and weakness of the calf and hip muscles can make the injury persist! How should the general public understand the above problems? We can divide the problems into “local ankle problems” and “leg and hip problems” to understand. For the performance of the ankle joint, simply put, one or more major ligaments responsible for maintaining the stability of the ankle joint are damaged, relaxed or ruptured after a sprain, resulting in loss of function, so that the ankle joint becomes loose, unstable, and too mobile… and so on. The instability of the ankle joint will in turn increase the burden on the ligaments, so when standing or walking for a long time, localized soreness will easily occur, which will fall into a vicious circle again. As for the problems of the calf and hip, they are more often due to more serious sprains in which the affected side does not dare to pick up the ground and exert force in the short term, and the related muscles become atrophied and weaker than the opposite side within a few weeks. However, because the muscles of the lateral calf (mainly the peroneus longus) and the muscles of the hip (mainly the gluteus medius) are closely related to the control of the ankle and knee joints, when the lateral calf muscles and hip muscles are weak and ineffective, they will in turn make the instability of the ankle joint worse and the injury less likely to heal. Comprehensive treatment: external stabilization in the early stage, promotion of repair in the middle stage, and active stabilization by training in the late stage! What does this have to do with the subsequent treatment? With these concepts in mind, it is easy to understand the following treatment steps: stabilize the ankle with a protective patch. The purpose of this is to stabilize the ankle with external forces such as patches, bandages, and ankle guards to avoid further or repetitive injury. Combine with augmentation injection therapy to promote local ligament injury repair. Combine with acupuncture, physical therapy or other means to improve the tightness of the relevant muscles and relieve pain and discomfort. Combine with exercise training to strengthen the relevant muscles and actively increase the stability of the ankle joint. Only through such a comprehensive treatment, especially the last step of ankle stability training, can we have the chance to say goodbye to chronic ankle pain and habitual sprains most completely through the strengthening of our own muscles. If the sprain is not serious, or if there are no symptoms of instability, do we still need to cooperate with the training? We suggest that if there is no instability of the ankle joint, you should still cooperate with the ankle stabilization in the early stage of the injury, and then you can use these methods selectively, which are basically beneficial to the speed and effectiveness of the injury healing! The following methods belong to “proprioceptive training” in medical terms, and are the easiest to perform at home. On the tricky puzzle, close your eyes and stand on one foot. The duration of the above training is 30 seconds to 1 minute, and three rounds can be performed each time. If one stage is quite easy, you can proceed to the next stage. If you do it carefully, you may feel improvement within a few weeks, but if you have been doing it for more than a month and there is still no sign of improvement, it is recommended to seek medical treatment!