Advanced Plyometric and Co-ordination Exercise
Key notes
- Type of exercise: plyometric
- Muscles used: Gastrocnemius, soleus. Tibialis posterior, peroneus longus, peroneus brevis, tibialis anterior
- Good for: Developing elasticity in the achilleas. Improving co-ordination and foot/ankle stability
- When to use during rehab: End stages
Equipment options
If you’re doing this exercise with a patient in clinic, it’s best to use a speed ladder laid out on the floor. If the patient doesn’t have access to this piece of equipment either at home or via a gym, they can use the cracks in paving slabs or pavements instead. They could also use the patterns in carpets if they’re exercising indoors.
Method
- Have your patient stand on one leg and ask them to hop along the speed ladder.
- Once they reach the end of the ladder, have them turn around and complete the exercise again, but this time using their other foot.
Escalating Difficulty
There are a few ways of progressing this exercise or making it more difficult. The first is to start adding different planes of movement such as having the patient hop sideways instead of forward. You can also look at having the patient hop backwards, which is a challenge to their coordination.
Finally you can consider changing the number of hops the patient takes in each direction, such as asking them to take two-hops left and then two-hops right.
