Coming off my second twisted ankle of the season, I was wondering if anyone can suggest any exercises to strengthen the ankles. BTW, this is my second twisted ankle of the summer (outdoor) season, not the indoor one. 
I don't have problems indoors, at least not with my ankles. After tearing up my ankle in January, '91, I learned a lot about strengthening the ankle. I was in physical therapy (PT) for 4 and a half months. The main exercises were to stretch the ankle forward and back using PT-supplied elastic bands. These oversized rubber bands were large (18 diameter), flat (6 wide), and color-coded (by levels of elasticity). As you perform the following exercises and your ankle strength increases, switch to the next level of colored rubber band. For forward and back motion strength: I would place my leg straight out in front of me. You can do this anywhere during the day. Either sit on the floor or put your leg up. Starting with the easiest 'rubber band', loop it around the ball of your foot, holding the other end of the loop with your hand. Allow the rubber band to pull your foot backward, toward your body. Slowly push forward with your foot until fully extended and hold it for 15 seconds. Slowly allow your foot to be pulled backward by the rubber band, supplying resistance with your ankle the whole way back. The key here is SLOWLY! Next, reverse the whole process. Using a stationary _object_ like a heavy chair's leg, loop the rubber band around it. Then loop the other end of the rubber band around the top of your foot near the arch. Again, with your leg extended in front of you, pull yourself far enough awway from the staionary _object_ to stretch the rubber band putting some resistance on the top of your foot, pulling away from your body. Slowly flex your ankle toward your body and hold it for 15 seconds. Slowly allow your ankle to be pulled forward by the rubber band. Again, the key is SLOWLY. Do as many repetitions as you feel comfortable with. Move up in elasticity approximately every three weeks. I used three levels of elastic bands. I'm sure that you can buy these at any major drug store or pharmaceutical supplier. The elastic bands come to the supplier on a large roll. The pharmacy cuts off about 3-4 feet of a length of the rubber band material and you just tie the ends together to make it a loop. For lateral motion strength: This usually required another person to help me effectively do this exercise, but they can be done with a chair legg as well. Loop one end of the rubber band around the chair leg. Slip your foot through the loop, placing the band near the inside ball of your foot, pulling away from the chair leg causing resistance to the inside of your leg and foot. Slowly curl your foot inward as far as you can. Hold this position for 15-30 seconds. Slowly allow your foot to be pulled outward away from the side of your body. SLOWLY! Next, the reverse process. Extend both legs out in front of you. Double up the rubber band and loop it around the outside balls of your FEET. The band should be literally pulling you feet together sideways. Using one ankle to provide resistance against the other ankle, slowly rotate or curl the exercising ankle outward, away from the other foot. Hold the position for 15-30 seconds (these were the hardest for my injury). Slowly allow the rubber band to pull your ankle back inward, providing resistance all the way back with your exercise ankle. SLOW once again. Do as many rep's as possible. Others: The PT clinic also used a whirlpool with an ultra-sound treatment and gave me an ankle rub down with an aspir-gel (numbed the ankle so the Therapist could gouge the callus tissue off of the injured muscles/tendons/ligaments with her strong thumbs and sharp thumb-nails). Now I know why PT is often referred to as 'Physical Torture.' They also had a round disk that pivotted underneath at the center, in all directions. I would grab on to something anchored to the wall and try to pivot the disk in every direction, rolling it on its outside edge. That was tough to do for the first month or so. She started me doing it while I was seated, with no weight applied, just the circular motions for flexibility. Finally, using only my body weight, I did toe-raises. Starting out standing flat-footed on the floor, slowly raise up to your tippy-toes. Hold the position for 10 seconds, then slowly lower back down. Rest between each repitition. As the ankle strengthens, you can do these exercises on the edge of a stair step and lower yourself down below flat footed height. Summation: I hope that this helps you out. Be careful with these exercises. We tend to want to progress faster than we should. Don't rush it. Take it a step at a time regarding progression through the rubber bands and the toe raises are concerned. My Therapist told me that my ankle healed very well, that it is probably stronger than before the injury. I've been back playing since the fall of '91. I was alittle tentative the first season back, but little by little got right back into it full bore. I'll be conscious of that ankle for the rest of my life, though. Joe Arkin MarqEl-NASDAQ
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Work hard, play hard.
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