An Innovative Ankle Device to Help With Ankle Rehab: An Ankle Patient’s Recovery and Reasons Why the DART Should Be Made Available for All
An Adult Figure Skater with a History of Ankle Injuries
It is said that 25,000 people sprain their ankle every day in the U.S., and more than 1 million people visit emergency rooms due to ankle injuries. On July 21, 2022, I became one of those statistics — for what seemed like the millionth time in my life. I am by no means a stranger to ankle sprains, having sprained both my right and my left ankles on a variety of occasions, including, but not limited to: running down a hill, falling off of a chair, and missing the last step of a staircase. However, this most recent ankle sprain was the most devastating.
As an adult figure skater who is passionate about being on the ice, the last thing I needed was an ankle sprain. On an average week prior to injury, I was averaging about 7–10 hours of week on the ice and taking private lessons 2–3 times a week. Suddenly, I found myself with all this extra time on my hands.
I remember sitting in the office in urgent care and asked the doctor there: “How long do you think it’ll be before I can skate again?” not even wanting to entertain my question, she instructed me to wear an air cast for a minimum of a week and follow up with my regular doctor. It hit me then that this was not just a twisted ankle, and recovery time would probably take longer than I had thought.
When I finally received an appointment for an evaluation physical therapy, it had been a month since initial injury, and I was more than ready to be back on the ice. I had initially assumed that my appointments would be similar to chiropractor sessions — I’d lay there on a table while I’d get electrical stim treatment, massages, heat/cold pack therapy, and maybe some stretches. Maybe with some physical therapists…
First Experience in Physical Therapy
On making my first appointment for physical therapy, I remember being shocked. The scheduling receptionist had originally told me that I would be allowed 1 evaluation and 2 follow ups. That’s it?! I thought. At that rate, my ankle would not be better until sometime in 2023 or later! And so, my first session of physical therapy came.
During the initial evaluation, I missed my physical therapist’s name — only to remember that he was the “ankle expert” in the clinic. I knew I’d be in good hands (feet? ankles?).
Over the course of that first session, I learned the ankle exercises that I’d become intimately familiar with — inversion (30x), eversion (30x), & dorsiflexion (30x) — because I’m a figure skater, and figure skaters need ankles of steel. The therabands, which I already owned because of an impulsive previous Amazon purchase, had to be set up at specific resistances, and at certain angles.
And I promptly went home and called my coach to set up an off ice session figuring out how to use these therabands and ankle exercises. Knowing myself, left to my own devices, it’d take me weeks before I’d feel comfortable to try them at home on my own. And so the initial weeks began of clunkily learning how to set up and use the therabands and how to strengthen my ankles.
One day, while sitting in the library during my work day, a thought came floating across my mind. Wouldn’t it be nice if there could be something portable that ankle rehab patients could use — then I could pack it with me and do ankle strengthening exercises ANYWHERE without having to figure out how to set up a theraband at the library (or any other public location).
“I wish there was something portable that I could use for ankle strengthening.” I told my physical therapist during the next session.
HAVE NO FEAR, THE DART IS HERE
Little did I know, such a portable device had already been invented — the Dynamic Ankle Rehabilitation Training (DART) device. Which I eagerly tested out for the first time the following week. I found it surprisingly easy to use. Strap your leg in, and use a simple pulley system to adjust what angle to work your ankles at, and off you go! There are different tension resistance bands that can be swapped out depending on what stage of rehab you are currently at.
I’ve been lucky enough to trial the DART a few times during my physical therapy sessions, and I’ve grown to be a huge proponent of this device being made readily available both on the market and in doctor’s and physical therapy offices.
Here are just a few reasons why:
It provides consistency to the home exercise rehabilitation process. Early on in my ankle rehab, I knew that I needed to find a consistent location and time to do exercises. However, as this was my first time doing any sort of ankle rehab, it was difficult to find a good place to do exercises in my home environment. A few times, I tried having my parents help by holding the resistance band, and one day, it would be too tight, and the next day, it wouldn’t be tight enough. Each day, there would be a different variable to contend with.
The DART provides this much-needed consistency in the ankle rehab process. No more trying to figure out what therabands to purchase, what angles to set things up at. No more having to bother other people. The DART provides in-between resistances, whereas the traditional therabands might either have too much resistance or not enough resistance for your ankles. With the DART, there are no more excuses to not do ankle strengthening exercises.
Ankle rehab can be done hands free. One of the annoying things about doing the traditional theraband exercises is that it requires hands to hold the theraband — or lots of creativity to find a way to sit and do the exercises hands free. This is quite frustrating because my work consists of typing or mouse use daily. Sometimes, I just want to be on my computer and continue to work while I do ankle exercises. With the DART, since your leg and ankle are strapped in, this essentially becomes a hands-free device, freeing up your hands to do other things while your ankle does the work — as it should be!
It saves on cost. One key component of ankle rehabilitation after injury is building up strength in the muscles surrounding the injured ligament by targeting specific muscles in the ankle. Though having manual manipulation provided by a physical therapist in office is the most ideal option, the DART is the next-best thing to having a “portable physical therapist.” Having this device readily available for home use equates to less time spent in the physical therapy office (for patients), and for athletes who would like to return to their sport more quickly, this device provides an easy way to incorporate ankle strengthening exercises into a strength & conditioning routine.
It is a device that is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. The DART is made so that it is simple and easy to use for someone who has just sustained their first ever ankle sprain as well as for the seasoned athlete who has injured their ankle multiple times. Likewise, the resistance bands can be used in early injury recovery through the later stages of ankle strengthening. Young, old, athletic, just wanting to get back to walking up the stairs… it is a versatile device that anybody can use.
It’s now been over 5 months since my initial injury, and I’ve been back on the ice gaining my skills back now (some of which are stronger than they were before!). I really hope that one day soon, the DART will be made available for use in clinics and available on the market for individual use— this would help patients like me to get stronger and get better faster so we can go back to do the things that we enjoy doing.
