Preventative Treatment of Recurrent Ankle Sprains (or How to Strengthen Your Ankles)

My whole life I have felt that I had weak ankles. While it was never terrible, and I have only broken my ankle once and never had another major incidence, I would often roll my ankles, especially while playing tennis.

In chiropractic school, one of my professors, Dr. Marcus Strutz, introduced me to the wobble board. The wobble board (also called a balance board) is a device that you stand on and try to balance. After using one for awhile, my tendency to roll my ankles completely disappeared. In fact, in circumstances when I would feel my ankle starting to roll, it would self correct.

What is happening when we use wobble boards? We stand on them and we attempt to balance. In doing this, we strengthen the muscles in and around our ankles. There are many ligaments, muscles, and bones in your feet and ankles. Unlike your knees, which solely flex and extend (bend forward and backward), your ankle joint allows your foot to flex, extend, rotate to the right and to the left, evert, and invert. This requires the coordination of a great many muscles. The coordination and strength of these muscles increases from wobble board use.

In addition to increasing the strength of these muscles, you also increase your ability to balance and self-correct. As a result, you decrease your tendency to "roll" your ankle, and thus the likelihood of a sprain/strain ankle injury.

For two years, every time I stood at my desk, I stood on a wobble board. Which brings to mind the second great feature of these devices - when you stand on them, you engage all of the muscles involved in standing and balancing. If you have a tendency to get a sore back when you stand for too long, your back will not get sore!

The only trouble with wobble boards is if you have a history of knee injuries. In this case, as you strengthen your ankles, you can increase the chance of further knee injury.

In conclusion:

1. Consistent use of wobble boards will increase your ankle strength and stability, and reduce the recurrence of ankle sprains.

2. Consistent use of wobble boards will increase your overall balance.

3. Wobble boards are inexpensive and easy to use at home.

4. Wobble boards should not be used alone in people who have a history of knee injury.

Here are a few quotes from some studies:

A study done by the Department of Epidemiology at Maastricht University in The Netherlands concluded that

"It is likely that exercise therapy, including the use of a wobble board, is effective in the prevention of recurrent ankle sprains."

A study at the University of Calgary using a home-based balance-training program using a wobble board, concluded that

"Balance training using a wobble board is effective in improving static and dynamic balance and reducing sports-related injuries among healthy adolescents."

Another study looking at volleyball teams found that there was

"a significant reduction in ankle sprain risk...for players with a history of ankle sprains." However, they also noted that wobble board use was contraindicated in players with a history of knee injury, as incidences of knee injury were more common in the treatment group.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome or Myalgic Encephelatis) is a debilitating constellation of symptoms that turn a person's life into a frustrating, unpredictable, and miserable struggle. At least that's how I felt about my life when I had CFIDS. Before I got sick, I was a college student with a part-time job and an active social life. Once I began suffering from the symptoms of CFIDS, I was forced to drop out of school, I could not work, and I lost my desire to socialize.

It all started when I noticed that I was having trouble focusing and concentrating. I then had a fever for a few days and was very tired. I realized that I had been exposed to the mono virus, and at the college health clinic, I tested positive for mono. So that was it, I had mono. A few weeks of rest, maybe a month, and I would be fine again. End of story.

But that was not the end of the story. I dropped out of school and went home to recover. The problem was, I wasn't recovering at all. With each passing week, I seemed to get another symptom. First I was tired and couldn't concentrate. Then I started having night sweats. My throat became constantly sore, and I was constantly producing this stringy, thick saliva. The worst thing, though, was the fact that most of the time, I had this brain fog. A sort of dizziness in my mind, that made it very hard to enjoy socializing and other activities. I also started getting headaches, especially when there was too much noise or excitement. Perfumes, incense, and any other strong smelling substances made me feel ill.

Life was becoming miserable. Then, suddenly, something went wrong with my sleeping. I slept, and every time I woke it was as if I'd never slept at all. Very quickly, I started suffering from roving muscle aches. At the high point of my suffering, I found some descriptions of people sick with CFIDS, and I realized that I too had this mysterious Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Along the way, the doctors that I saw were zero help. In fact, several doctors indicated that it was very possible that I had hepatitis, AIDS, or lymphona. None mentioned the much more likely diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

There seem to be many ways that people end up with CFIDS. Most of the people that I have met with Chronic Fatigue drove themselves pretty hard and then had a bout of the flu or mono. Some of the people had their sleep patterns disrupted for an extended period of time (through alternating night shifts, for example).

In my opinion, no magic pill is ever going to be able to cure Chronic Fatigue. I feel that people with CFIDS have an exhausted system. To me, CFIDS is just a particular way that people's systems tend to break down. This being the case, there is really only one approach to "curing" CFIDS. You absolutely must eliminate as many unhealthy habits as you can tolerate, while adding as many healthy habits as you can handle. This will give your system a chance to recover.

The problem is that it is hard to assess your unhealthy habits without help. In B.E.S.T. chiropractic, we look at six essential areas: what you eat, what you drink, how you exercise, how you rest, the quality of the air that you breathe and what you think.

What you think often proves to be of highest importance. Your thinking can be a constant source of stress for your body. The healthiest diet and the best habits cannot overcome a system that is stuck in a state of high stress. A good chiropractor or other practitioner who uses gentle techniques should be able to calm your system so that it can function normally. In addition, if you can understand the role of your thoughts and attitudes, and begin to change them, this will cascade into all kinds of benefits.

When I was sick with CFIDS, I was able to change my thinking. Enough of my unhealthy habits followed, and my CFIDS, which had lasted for over 6 months, improved dramatically within a few weeks.

In addition to these changes, I was treated by a B.E.S.T. chiropractor who supplemented her work with homeopathy. Within 2 months, my symptoms were gone and I was back to leading a normal life. Her treatment was critical in my recovery and my subsequent health. It has been over ten years since I was sick, and I have suffered no relapses. I became a chiropractor so that I would have an opportunity to help others as she helped me.

If you are suffering with Chronic Fatigue (or Fibromyalgia) do not lose hope.

Tension Headaches

Do you suffer from headaches? While this is about tension headaches specifically, it does apply to other headaches as well, in my opinion.

A variety of studies have connected anger with headaches. What specifically has been connected is suppressed anger. This is when an event in your life should cause anger, but your reaction is not one of anger at all.

In a study in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback in 1997,
"tension headache sufferers were found to have significantly more anger held inward than nonpain controls." (PMID: 9428970) Another study in the journal Headache by Hatch and Schoenfeld et. al, found that tension headache sufferers "showed significantly greater levels of suppressed anger" than non-headache controls. Meanwhile, the amount of expressed anger was similar for both groups. (PMID: 1860788)

Two things most likely are taking place here. For one, the energy that is to be expressed in the anger is not recognized and vented. Instead of exploding outward then, there is more of an implosion. In the book Dynamic Health, the chiropractor M.T. Morter talks about this tendency for unexpressed emotions to cause an implosion that results in pain.

The second factor is the physical process itself. The process is clenching one's jaw, and biting down on the anger. This holding back is a source of constant muscle tension, which can lead to pain and fatigue. This is especially true of headaches in the temporal region (the side of your head, between the eye and the ear).

The best way to deal with tension headaches is to become aware. Might there be something you are mad about or someone you are mad at? Look carefully. Once you have awareness, this will help a great deal. On the other hand, you may know full well who you are pissed at or what you are mad about. Also, have perspective and recognize that some of your anger might be irrational and too intense for the situation.

To deal with this anger, physical exertion is a must. If you play a sport and get some exercise sometimes, do not neglect this! In fact, make sure that you get exercise on those days when you feel tension headaches are likely. If you do not play a sport and do not like to exercise, then just hit your bed and yell into a pillow. This will help your muscular system get some of that stuck energy out - allowing you to have a small explosion instead of a big implosion. I consider it like a controlled burn, when firemen prevent a huge forest fire by burning several small fires.

Naturally, the best thing is to simply express your anger appropriately - at the appropriate time to the appropriate person. For most of us, this is not easy. And in many situations, in fact, it is impossible (being mad at one's boss or a professor would be examples).

These methods are always recommended and should help to some degree. If you need more help, I specialize in a form of chiropractic (called B.E.S.T.) that identifies and helps to neutralize the stresses and emotions that are directly related to your condition.

To learn more about me, visit my website at www.pinkertonchiropractic.com

To learn more about B.E.S.T. and Dr. Morter, visit the Morter Health System website at www.morter.com

Back Pain

Have you ever experienced the following?

You do a lot of work, say cleaning, for example. And at the end of the day, you feel good, but tired. You go to sleep that night, and wake up in the morning and everything is fine.

A few weeks later, you do a very similar amount of work. But this time, you feel tight as you work, and you start to get sore. By the end of the day, your back aches. You are glad to lie down to get rest, but you wonder how it happened. Then the next day, you wake up and you are still sore. In fact, you have to take the day off or curtail your activities to keep the soreness manageable.

Why did your back hurt the one time but not the other? Most often, we look for a physical reason. We think things like, "I guess I worked too hard today." Or, "Well, today I probably didn’t take enough breaks."


We tend to look for the cause of our pain in this way. But your body is not just reacting to the stress you put it under physically. It is also reacting to the stress you put it under mentally and emotionally.

Did you know that every thought you have creates a physical reaction in your body? Your heart rate, your muscles, your blood flow, adrenaline production…all of this can change in reaction to your thoughts. Those thoughts associated with strong emotions will cause the greatest change.

In B.E.S.T. chiropractic, we call this fighting tigers. Due to the reaction to some stress, your physiology is acting as if you were fighting a tiger. Many times, when we are sore after we exert ourselves in a typical way, we were fighting tigers to some degree, in addition to the actual physical work. In such cases, we are, in effect, forcing our body to do double duty.

In these cases, the stress and our body's reaction is the cause of our soreness. The way to get over lingering aches and pains is to discover, identify and neutralize the stress that existed at the time the “injury” occurred. The best and quickest way to do this, in my experience, is with the Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.), an advanced form of chiropractic treatment.

There are many ways to prevent this from happening in the first place. One is to become aware of when you are under stress. Are your shoulders raised? Is your heart beating faster than usual? Do you feel tense, on edge, or stiff? Once recognized, it is essential not to freeze up and hold your breath. This is an extremely common reaction to stress. While it helps us to feel in control, it, in effect, locks the stress in our system. This is when we suddenly get pain and feel sore.

Keep your body, your jaw, your shoulders and your eyes moving. And continue to breathe. In fact, make an effort to breathe more deeply than usual. You may be surprised at the difference this makes.

To learn more about me, visit my website at www.pinkertonchiropractic.com

To learn more about B.E.S.T., visit morter.com