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Dear Barbara and others, I think I posted on this topic before---but I thought it wouldn't hurt (excuse the pun) to recommend that we all should consider physiotherapy early and whenever it is needed. Which is oftener than your doctor will think of it. This is a long message - you may want to skip the section in the middle and go to the last paragraph...it's the important one. Now to pain in the ankle and foot, knowing that the resulting poor gait can ruin your knees AND your hips and back. About 5 yrs ago I started getting the most awful pains on the outside of my foot just to the front and down from the ankle bone. It didn't help that I was "going over on my ankle" and injuring it. I saw a physio who had treated me for other problems and she suggested the following -- after observation-- The inside of the calf was cramping up and shortening thus weakening and stretching the muscles down the outside of the leg, right down to the foot, which was turning in and twisting. With the weak muscles I was injuring the ?ligaments and ? and this was causing slight swelling and bad pain. First thing was to ease the pain and swelling. We started work with the "twitcher box" -you can tell I am no professional. We got the the outside muscles to respond. Later I graduated to a new type of torture. Sitting with legs extended and feet tied together with an elastic bandage I pulled my toes away from each other, using, groan, the full set of muscles on the outside of the foot and leg. It took a long time but now I can keep the pain at bay by working the outside of the legs several times during the day. I don't bother with the bandage now. All this happened about 4-5 years ago and as I am much slowed by the Parkinson's. I don't know how good I would be if I walked as much as a person without Parkinsons would. I would like to add this comment:- Use your body as much as you can when the drugs make it possible to move. It is hard to keep at the exercises alone--try a group. In just one week our exercise class will start again. How we miss it! How good we feel after each session! It will raise our spirits to see the 'gang' again. I must put our music on, get out of my chair and get the blood circulating. Anne Rutherford [log in to unmask]