Is Something Wrong With My Joints?

[mr_dude]

Don't know if joints is the right term (sorry, never took biology).
Anyway, in my topic HERE I discussed an ankle injury. It's still cmpletely screwed up 4 months later BTW, so any advice there is greatly appreciated. Then, about 2 weeks ago, I stepped awkwardly on a stair and injured my other ankle, it's not as bad, but it hurts. Sounds like a weak injury to me.
Before my second injury, my first one was healing very well, and was healthy enough for light practice sessions. I warmed up well, jogging, stretching, loosened my body, but even though it was only light excercise my hamstring tendons on both legs felt really tender throughout, as if they'd start to hurt if I did anything more. And just before the new year, I had problems with my left Achilles tendon.
I don't really get muscle cramps, but apparently my tendons and ligaments don't like football. My ankle injuries are a little understandable, first one to my right ankle was because a player fell directly on it. Left ankle was so worn out from all the pressure I put on it during the right ankle injury that anything would have done it. They're taking a really long time to heal though. Anyone have a possible explanation?
BTW, I probably contradicted myself about my right ankle. It was healing nicely until my second ankle injury, at which point it's started to hurt again.

[RoryBen]

It's common after ankle injuries for the muscles and tendons on the back of the legs to tighten up - this is because your body is trying to protect the foot by keeping all the muscles as tense as possible. It's usually your calves, but it could explain some of the tightness. One of the rehab exercises that is recommended after ankle sprains is to stretch the calves - stand on your tiptoes on the edge of a step, before lowering yourself down slowly, so your heels go below the level of the step - you should feel the pull on your calves. Hold it for 10 seconds and raise back up. Try that 10 times, twice a day or before you train.

It might just be that since you've considerably reduced the amount of running you were doing during your downtime, any increase from zero is going to be a shock to the hamstrings for the first few sessions - so it's probably nothing to worry about.

In terms of timeframe, significant ankle injuries can unfortunately take a long time to heal. I sprained my ankle while out running 3 months ago and still haven't got back to playing football. If you're not experiencing any pain any more then then key is strengthening the muscles around it and good old proprioception training (aka balance).

Proprioception: try all those standing on one leg tricks (whilst in the shower, or when you're brushing your teeth, or while having someone throw a ball to you, or on a wobble board etc etc).

Strength: as long as there isn't any pain, try some single leg squats and single leg calf raises. Get a resistance band and try some Eversion and Inversion exercises (see http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/stren ... ebands.php for an example)

Note. I'm not a doctor! This is just from personal experience. If you do this stuff and your foot falls off then it's not my fault

[mr_dude]

Wow, thanks for that response!
I've been doing calf stretches, some ankle circles, and been debating icing it (don't know if ice helps after the inflamation stops), as well as the one legged balance.
And good to know about the hamstrings.
Thanks!