Ankle Stretch for Older Adults

11. Ankle Stretch. Use a sturdy, armless chair for this exercise. We're going to lean back just a little bit, okay? Okay. Draw those abs in tight. We're going to lean back. We're going to take those legs out straight. Now, if you're short on time, you can do double leg stretches. But what we're going to do is we're going to start out with single ankle stretches. Oh, okay. Right leg first, okay? Right. Stretch that ankle down, pointing your toe away from you. Okay? Mm-hmm. You're going to hold that stretch 10 to 30 seconds. Bring it back up. You're going to push down again. Now, you'd want to do this 3 to 5 times. Mm-hmm. And bring it back up. Now, do you feel a slight stretch on the back of your leg? I sure do. Good. That means you're doing it properly. Good. Let's take it back down again. Point that toe. Bring it back up. Okay. Now, left leg. Okay. Here we go. Point the left toe away from you as far as you can. Can you feel a little bit of stretch? Mm-hmm. I sure do. Now, remember, stretching is just a slight tension, no pain. The more you do this, you're going to increase that range of motion. Let's do one more. Okay. And take it down. Okay. Perfect form here. Now, we're going to do a double ankle stretch, but we're going to make sure that we hold the stretch for 10 seconds each way. Okay. First, we're going to point the toes down. 10 seconds. Here we go. We've got five more seconds. That's great. Now, can you feel a stretch in the back of your legs? I sure can. Perfect. That means you're doing it right. Take it up. Point toward the ceiling or toward your body. For 10 seconds. Three more seconds. And let's take it down again. And hold it. Here we go. Back up toward you. We've got one more time to do. Ready? Now, the more you do this, the better your flexibility is going to get. And maybe tomorrow when you get out of bed, those ankles aren't going to be quite so stiff. I hope so. That would be a good thing, wouldn't it? As you're awake. Bring it back up. We've got 10 seconds. And hold, hold, hold. Five more. Last two. One.