When your goal is to get rid of ankle scar tissue, it’s not just a massage to break it down and remove it. Stretching and stretching directed towards this goal can also be of great help. Understanding what scar tissue is important to understanding why we don’t want it to stick around too long.
When your body is injured, it responds by sending fluids to the area (in addition to excess bleeding in the area). These fluids temporarily protect the joint from further injury. Your body then begins to rapidly repair the scarred area in your ankle, with the goal of providing a short-term fix to get you back on your feet. However, this ankle scar tissue is inferior to the original ligament it replaces. It is weaker, less flexible, and can cause surrounding tissue to deform, making it susceptible to reinjury. Thank you scar tissue for helping us short term but get out ASAP.
The longer the ankle scar tissue remains, the more seated it becomes, causing the joint to become stiff and inflexible. So as soon as you are on the road to recovery (after your 48 hours of RICE), you should start stretching the area. Yes, rest is important, but ‘rest’ doesn’t mean you have to be a pain in the ass for a couple of months until you don’t feel any pain. Rehabilitation is not easy, but if you take it easy, it can make a big difference in your recovery time and the condition of your ankle in the future.
At first, rehabilitation aimed at breaking up the scar tissue in the ankle can be very simple. Flex the ankle forward and backward. Move it in circles. Drawing the ABCs seems to be a favorite with physical therapists. All of these are simple but effective exercises that can test and improve joint flexibility. As you progress and are able to stand on the injured area, isometric exercises can help strengthen the area. Isometric exercises are exercises that you don’t actually need to move. Sitting in a chair with your foot against the wall, push off with the toe or heel of your foot. This can help you increase the amount of pressure you can put on the joint. As your condition improves, you will be able to push your ankle in more directions.
As the scar tissue in the ankle breaks down and the range of motion exercises (drawing pictures in the air that I mentioned earlier) become easier, you can combine them with massage, using your hand to stretch the ankle in different directions. When you can get up and move around, walking is an easy way to strengthen and stretch the area. You will be able to see a noticeable improvement every day as long as you keep walking. Find some stairs and go up and down them. This exercise will keep you busy for a while! It took me a long time to conquer the stairs and for some reason going down them is harder than going up them! The 90 degree ankle on the ladder is also good for pushing off and gradually regaining full flexibility. An old towel or rag can be used to increase the flexibility of the ankle. Take the towel in both hands and hook it around the injured area. Pull slightly and you can feel a stretch in the ankle. Using this method is great because even sitting on the floor you can stretch your ankle in many directions.
Eventually, you can work up to more difficult and complicated strength training exercises like standing on one foot, lunges, jogging, running, and finally jumping and weights (if you have them). One of the hardest things for me was jumping and making sharp turns. For a long time, although I could run with no problem, sharp turns in more explosive sports like basketball or tennis caused me pain. Running in a figure eight or jumping exercises can help with this.
These exercises are just a few ideas to get you started with rehabilitation and getting rid of scar tissue on your ankle. Remember that the longer ankle scar tissue remains, the more difficult it will be to get rid of in the long run. Some people have surgery three or four times if the scar tissue on their ankle is bad enough, so start your rehab routine soon!