Test your hip strength for your chronic ankle sprain

Hip weakness is often neglected but is crucial to be identified especially for a chronically sprained ankle that is not improving. Hip weakness may have developed since the very acute stage of your injury when you walked in a compensatory movement pattern to avoid putting weight on your injured ankle. If the hip or gluteal muscles continue to stay weak at the later stage, it would put extra stress and continue to irritate your ankle.

Test your hips: Can you perform 25 reps*? (or at least the same reps as your non-injured side)

Check out 2 simple hip strength tests below recommended by our physiotherapist Yi Jing:

TEST 1. SINGLE LEG SIT-TO-STAND
CHECKPOINTS
1. Are both hips level?
2. Is your knee pointing forward?

TEST 2. SINGLE LEG BRIDGE
CHECKPOINTS
1. Pelvis tucked under
2. Toes pointing forward; knee pointing upward

• Can you perform 25 single leg heel raises (both with straight-knee and bent-knee) Or at least the same amount of repetition as your non-injured side?

If you do not pass any of the above tests, you can use the test itself as an exercise to strengthening your ankle or your hip.

The other not as common but possible causes of chronic ankle pain from sprain injuries include:

• Missed avulsion fracture
• Loose bodies in ankle joint
• Secondary tendon injuries, e.g. Peroneus tendinopathy

Please feel free to contact us at In Touch Physio if you have difficulty identifying the cause of your chronic ankle pain.