Ankle Pumps
Improves circulation and helps reduce swelling.
What it helps
Keeps blood moving to reduce swelling and the risk of clots while you're less active — small, frequent, and important early on.
How to do it
- Flex your foot up, pointing your toes toward the ceiling.
- Point your toes down, away from your body.
Tips
- Move slowly and with control.
Commonly done as 20 repetitions, several times a day.
Where this appears in recovery
Ankle Pumps is part of 117 recovery programs, most often at the immediate recovery (weeks 0–2), immediate recovery (weeks 0–1) and wound and swelling (weeks 0–2) stages, among others. Each program shows how it fits alongside the other movements:
- ACL Revision Reconstruction exercise guide
- Tarsal Tunnel Release exercise guide
- Distal Fibula Fracture ORIF exercise guide
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Implant exercise guide
- Knee Arthroscopy (Diagnostic / Debridement) exercise guide
- Kyphoplasty exercise guide
- Knee Arthroscopy with Partial Meniscectomy exercise guide
- Achilles Tendon Lengthening exercise guide
- Lapidus Bunionectomy exercise guide
- Soft Tissue Mass Excision (Deep) exercise guide
- PCL Reconstruction exercise guide
- Bone Graft Harvest (Iliac Crest) exercise guide
- …and 105 more
All exercise guides · Condition guides · Recovery education
These are general exercise guides, not a personal prescription. The repetitions and frequency shown are what's commonly used — your own surgeon or therapist may advise something different, and their guidance comes first.