Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 9: Ankle Sprain
Presented by Phil Plisky and Nate Denning
This course is part of a series designed to be taken sequentially. It is recommended that learners view the series in the following course order:
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 1: A Case-Based Series
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 2: Movement, Strength, and Power
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 3: Speed, Agility, and Metabolic Training
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 4: Managing Workload (Webinar)
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 5: UCL Reconstruction
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 6: Shoulder Instability
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 7: Sport-Specific Progressions (Webinar)
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 8: ACL Reconstruction
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 9: Ankle Sprain
- Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 10: Putting It All Together (Webinar)
Learning Outcomes
- Plan phase-specific clinical goals and progression criteria based on the physiological stages of healing following a lateral ankle sprain
- Implement core rehabilitation essentials necessary to protect and support adequate tissue healing of ligamentous ankle structures
- Modify lower extremity strength training progressions throughout the healing timeline to safely optimize an athlete’s return-to-sport readiness
- Apply power training and plyometric variables safely across all phases of lateral ankle tissue recovery
- Prioritize speed, agility, and metabolic conditioning pathways across the phases of healing to prepare the athlete for full sport return
Meet your instructors
Phil Plisky
Dr. Phil Plisky is a professor in the University of Evansville’s Doctor of Physical Therapy and PhD in Health Professions Education programs. He is the host of the Medbridge Rehab and Performance Lab podcast and founder of the Coaches Club at
Nate Denning
Dr. Nathan Denning is the founder of Integrated Performance and a partner at Athlete Development Solutions. His mission is to revolutionize human performance and rehabilitation through the integration of physical, mental, and educational support. Nate believes that peak performance—whether for an athlete or a clinician—is the…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Lateral Ankle Sprain Instability: The Essentials
This chapter introduces the recurring case—a 19-year-old Division II basketball player with a grade II lateral ankle sprain—and establishes phase 1 priorities: beginning athlete development immediately; restoring closed-chain dorsiflexion; taping and bracing; balance work; starting performance drills as soon as the athlete is weight-bearing; and testing and restoring hip strength. It also examines the evidence on balance and proprioception, including why unstable-surface training shifts control to a hip strategy rather than targeting the ankle. Establishing these essentials protects the healing ligament, keeps the athlete progressing, and corrects a common misconception about balance training.
2. Power and Speed
This chapter details power and plyometric progressions from phase 2 to return to sport—advancing from lower-impact bilateral drills toward unilateral, depth, and reactive plyometrics—alongside speed progressions built on A and B series, sled and prowler work, and sprints. It emphasizes that speed can begin as soon as the athlete is weight-bearing. Because delaying speed and power work forfeits important neurological and physiological windows, progressing both of them early and in phases restores the explosive qualities that the athlete’s sport demands.
3. Agility
This chapter builds agility from its foundations—gait reeducation and wall and marching drills across linear, lateral, and crossover categories—through the fundamental change-of-direction strengths and into true, reactive agility that progresses from simple single-stimulus reactions to complex, chaotic, partner-driven cutting. Because agility can start as early as day one with slow assisted drills, developing the fundamentals rather than jumping to high-tech complexity prepares the athlete for the unpredictable demands of live sport.
4. Strength and Metabolic Training
This chapter covers lower extremity strength progression and metabolic conditioning across the phases, including how quickly different performance qualities decay when training stops and how cross-training on a stationary bike, in a pool, or on an unweighted treadmill maintains conditioning with normal mechanics and low or no pain. Because qualities such as speed begin decaying within about a week, continuing to train strength and metabolic capacity and replacing missed practice load keeps the athlete ready and reinforces that rehabilitation and performance are one path, not two.
More courses in this series
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 1: A Case-Based Series
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 2: Movement, Strength, and Power
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 3: Speed, Agility, and Metabolic Training
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 5: UCL Reconstruction
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 6: Shoulder Instability
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 8: ACL Reconstruction
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
Simplifying Performance Rehab Part 9: Ankle Sprain
Nate Denning and Phil Plisky
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