Injuries are the greatest enemies for all type of sports because it can be life threatening, career threatening and also interest threatening. In this lovely sport we call Badminton, discussing about injuries, no doubt, ankle injuries are the top and commonest injuries followed by knees etc. All Sports Clinics through out the world received staggering numbers of cases of new (occurrence) and repeated (recurrence) case of ankle injuries every month. Having injured my ankle many times both right and left varying from type 1 to type 11/111 teaches me the important of injury prevention, and one of it is to do a ankle warm up exercise before you play. Going through a lot of physio programs, orthopedics consultation and own experienced as both as a coach and player, these are the simple, roughly 30 minutes of systematic ankle warm up exercise that i usually do before i go and play/coach that you also can do which i want to share with you: Do this first....... 1. ROM exercise (Range of Motion) a. Clock wise and anti clock wise exercise Sit down, let your foot hang and make a circle clock wise and anti clock wise. Do it 5 circle with every 3 repetition b. Dorsiflex (toe towards you @ foot up) and plantarflex (toe away from you @ foot down) exercise While still sitting down, move your foot up and down. Do it 10 times for every movement with 3 repetition. For the final movement, hold it and count for 15 sec. c. Inversion exercise ( twisting movement of the foot inward.) While standing, do this and hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition. d. Eversion exercise (twisting movement of the foot outward) While standing, do this and hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition e. Abduction exercise (movement of the foot away from the center line of the body) While standing, do this and hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition f. Adduction exercise (movement of the foot towards the center line of the body) While standing, do this and hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition ..........Very good, now we proceed with this exercise 2. Strength exercise a. Dorsiflex exercise Push your foot downwards against a non movable object (wall etc). Hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition b. Plantarflex exercise Push your foot upwards against a non movable object ( you can use the forces of your hand against your foot also). Hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition c. Abduction exercise Push the lateral/outer side of your foot ( the area align with your small toe) against a non movable object. Hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition d. Adduction exercise Push the medial/inner side of your foot ( the area align with your big toe) against a non movable object. Hold for 10 sec. Do 3 repetition ..Excellent.. and the most important and final one.... 3. Proprioception Exercise This most important exercise and the type of exercise that people rarely focus that much. This is a position-movement exercise that will enhance the sensory ability of your brain awareness in regards with your foot positioning. Studies shows that there are strong correlation between by improving individual's proprioception, the of risk of an ankle injuries can dramatically be reduce. The method of this exercise is by doing a single leg balanced exercise. The approach can be different (sometimes in your own creative ways also), but the objective is just the same that is to challenge your proprioception ability. This are what i usually perform: a. Single leg stand with arms apart and the other leg flex at knee Do this for 30 sec. or more for both legs b. Single leg stand with arms around body and the other leg flex at knee Do this for 30 sec. or more for both legs c. Single leg stand with arms apart , other leg flex at knee and eyes close. Do this for 30 sec. or more for both legs d. Single leg stand with arms around body , other leg flex at knee and eyes close. Do this for 30 sec. or more for both legs ................. Magnificent. If you want to supercharge your proprioception ability more than do this this challenge.... e. Single leg stand with the other leg flex, take your badminton racket than do a forehand stroke movement (10 strokes), forehand lift movement (10 strokes) and left hand lift movement (10 strokes) f. Single leg stand while the other leg in full swing, take your badminton racket than do a forehand stroke movement (10 strokes), forehand lift movement (10 strokes) and left hand lift movement (10 strokes) Even though prevention of ankle injury involves other important aspect similarly like other type of injuries, locating ample time to do warm up is a must because it can and will make a huge significant impact in preventing ankle injuries. Safety starts from the beginning
