Im just getting over an ankle sprain and I just got back into my yoga class today after a summer long hiatus. Im noticing that my other ankle and my wrists (which are small and have always been a bit weak) just seem to be getting weaker and I was dying doing a simple downward dog. Any suggestions on how to Improve the strength in these joints without harming them? also should I be wearing somehting on them to protect them???
~Adia~
I would recommend that you have a look at Mukunda Stiles’ book Structural Yoga Therapy to become familiar with joint isolation exercises called Joint Freeing Series. This is a practice which retrains your muscles to work efficiently by isolating the movements to a specific joint, one at a time. Both strength and flexibility can be developed.
Additionally, you can try to turn your wrists out at a 30-40 degree angle in the case of wrist pain, or practice poses with NO wrist flexion by using a soft fist (not gripping in the arms/shoulders) or by practicing on fingertips. Practicing on finger tips will definitely strengthen the forearm muscles, which control movement at the wrist. Other things to consider are using a tennis ball and squeezing to develop strength in the wrist flexors and avoiding any poses which hyper extend the wrist joint as these can over stretch the carpal tendons and be a major factor in wrist discomfort.
For the ankles, in addition to practicing Joint Freeing Series, you can practice your standing poses while you pay attention to the weight distribution in your feet. Without more information, I cannot evaluate which muscles of the lower leg may be involved. Do you have a low or a high arch? Often, there is a falling toward center or dropping of the arch associated with weak ankles. Lifting the toes off the ground during standing poses is helpful to rebalance the action of the lower leg muscles. You can also practice standing on tip toes, and coming into a knee bend while on tip toes to improve stability of the ankle.
Namaste,
Chandra