Valerie Valberg-Yeoh (top picture) wants to dance with her husband at their silver wedding anniversary in September.
Being an avid student of Latin and ballroom dancing, she wants to sashay with flair.
However, an ankle injury sustained when she was in secondary school threatens to slow her down. Of course, it doesn't help that the 52-year-old mother of three is also an exercise fanatic and places pressure on her ankles by attending hour-long exercise classes at least seven times a week.
Last year, the ankle gave way again and a torn ligament required a two-month layoff to heal. Now she's back with vigour and requests Urban to help make sure her ankle is ready for that much-awaited dance.
Kelvin Chew, consultant sports physician at Changi Sports Medicine Centre and Singapore Sports Medicine Centre, says the most common ankle injury is a sprain. This happens when the ankle twists inwards, resulting in the ligaments of the ankle joint getting stretched, strained or torn.
Such sprains, he says, usually result from poor proprioception (the ability to sense where the joints are), muscle weakness, ligament laxity (some ligaments don't provide sufficient support) and inadequate rehabilitation from an old injury.
He warns that ankle stiffness usually sets in after such an injury. So it's better to do exercises that test your range of motion before launching into these exercises demonstrated by Valberg-Yeoh.
He recommends that you consult a doctor for an accurate diagnosis, as these injuries could also result in a fracture.
ONE-FOOT BALANCE
How to do it: Stand on the injured foot and hold your balance for two to five minutes or as long as possible. Once that becomes easy, try it while standing on an unstable surface like a pillow. Do this three to five times a week.
How to do it: Stand sideways next to a wall or some fixed object, with the heel of your right foot almost touching it. Using just your ankle, push the front of your foot against the wall for 10 seconds.
You can also do this with an elastic band (available from most pharmacies) hooked against your other foot to provide resistance. Do it with both legs, aiming for three sets of 10 reps, three to five times a week.
How to do it: Stand facing a wall. Using it for support, lift your heels off the ground as high as you can and return to start position. Do three sets of 10 reps, three to five times a week.
