At the start of my runs recently, I have been struggling with stiffness in my right ankle.  When flexing this ankle today, I noticed that I am not able to bend it as much as my left ankle. Clearly I need to work on mobility in this ankle, and so I went and found my wobble board.

A wobble board, sometimes called a balance board, is a circular piece of wood that is supported by a ball.  When standing on the board, it is possible to rotate your ankle through 360 degrees of motion.  You do this by subtly shifting your weight, so the ball on the bottom rolls slightly.

This tool is excellent for strengthening ankles and increasing their mobility.  Doing various exercises, like rocking back and forth or side to side, also helps improve overall balance.  If you spend enough time on the board, your core muscles get a workout too.

I tried single foot exercises with both my left and right feet today.  When doing this, I confirmed there is a major difference between them.  My right side was weaker and I could feel the stiffness difference that I mentioned above.

Looks like I will be using this board for a while.  I am thinking 15 minutes of exercise, twice a day, will be a good place to start.