Tendinopathy Of The Ankle

Tendinopathy of the ankle is a term used to describe any kind of injury that happens to the ankle’s tendons.

There are 2 types of ankle Tendinopathy-

Tendinitis

Tendinitis (tendonitis) is the condition of inflammation of the tendon due to micro-tears of tendons caused by repetitive activity. for example Achilles Tendinitis, Patellar Tendinitis, calcific Tendinitis

Tendinosis

Tendinosis is the degeneration of the tendon’s collagen as a result of chronic overuse, caused by repetitive strain.

Cause of ankle joint tendinopathy

Tendinopathy around the Ankle joint could be caused due to overuse of the tendon. Overuse of the tendon occurs because of the sports activity you are involved in, a job that requires manual labor. In some cases, Tendinopathy of the ankle can occur due to the aging process, which leads to degeneration of the tendon. And degeneration of the tendon makes them more prone to stress.

In the ankle, there are different groups of tendons, such as the back, and the Achilles tendon. On the front, some tendons lift your toes and ankle up. And there are other groups of important tendons of both the inner and the outer side of the ankle.

Physiotherapy treatments for the Tendinopathy around The Ankle joint are:

Phase 1

For the treatment of ankle tendinopathy, sports physiotherapy is the best choice of treatment.
First of all, a sports physiotherapist does pain management with- Cryotherapy, which will relieve your pain and allow you to do ankle movement.

Then a sports physiotherapist will pay attention to reducing the ankle swelling for this- use

compression bandage

compression socks

ankle binder

Kinesio taping

ankle pumps and

keep your foot elevated with the help of 2 pillows under your foot.

A major population of people would get relief in pain from the above treatment, but still, there is pain felt while weight-bearing due to the formation of adhesion around the talofibular ligament, and this adhesion will resist ankle movement and reduce stability. To overcome these problems sports physiotherapists will do some more treatments such as:

Phase 2

Ankle ROM exercise will improve your ankle movements- such as active ankle ROM exercises, passive ankle ROM exercises, etc.

Deep transfer friction massage.

Foam rolling of the calf and anterior leg.

Then a sports physiotherapist will give you treatment for ankle strength and stability- sports -physiotherapist design an exercise program to improve your ankle dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, *eversion and inversion strength with the help of loop band, thera band, and resistive tube, etc.

Phase 3

Ankle proprioception exercise- using balance board, wobble board, Bosu ball, etc.

Along with all these treatment programs a sports physiotherapist is well trained in many manual therapies and special techniques that will help patients in faster recovery such as:

Dry needling.

Chiropractic adjustment.

Osteopathy.

Manipulation and mobilization.

Soft tissue massages.

Also in the sports physiotherapy clinic, there are many high-end equipment for ankle tendinopathy such as:

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy.

TENS + US Combo therapy.

High-intensity class 4 laser. Etc.

Once the pain subsides 100 percent and the strength and ROM of the affected ankle are similar to the contralateral ankle then the sports physiotherapist gives you some more advanced treatment such as:

Agility training- using agility ladder.

Plyometric training.

Conditioning exercises.

And also Sports specific training, etc.