Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries we see in basketball, netball and football – any sport that requires pivoting or changing direction really!
Chances are you’ve sprained your ankle before, gave it a rest for a week or two and went back to play with no problems.
If you didn’t do exercise rehab back then and you relate to that meme, you’ll definitely want to read on – you’re at a higher risk of re-spraining that same ankle.
With each ankle sprain, the ligaments of the ankle can either tear or become much ‘looser’. This can result in an unstable ankle.
You can imagine, landing on an unstable ankle, you can do further damage to the bones that make up the joint of the ankle, particularly on the inside of the ankle. These bony injuries can also take much longer to heal, keeping you out of sport for longer periods.
One of the biggest risk factors for spraining your ankle, is having sprained it in the past!
Luckily, we have a lot of research that explains some simple ways to keep your ankles healthy.
Keep up good ankle mobility. Having a stiff ankle means your ankle has less ‘give’ if you land a little off balance, making you more prone to sprains.
Increase your Gluteus Medius strength. Those who sprain their ankles are often found to have weakness in the big muscle on the side of their glutes, the gluteus medius. This makes strengthening exercises, for example a crab walk with the band around the arches of the feet can easily get the gluteus medius firing.
Work on your balance. This doesn’t mean spending hours standing on one leg – balance is much more than that. Can you catch and throw a ball on one leg? Can you jump, turn 180 degrees in the air and land comfortably? This is the type of advanced balance that is required in sports.
The old way of managing ankle sprains included rest, icing and elevating the ankle and taking anti-inflammatories.
We now know better – there is a more efficient way to manage ankle sprains.
The new way to manage mild ankle sprains includes taping the ankle for support, compression, no anti-inflammatories and gradually practicing walking as early as possible.
However, this isn’t the case for all ankle sprains, so it’s important that you see a physiotherapist to assess your ankle to work out the type of sprain and what is safest for your ankle.
If you’ve never sprained your ankles and you have good ankle mobility, good glute strength and good balance, then there is likely no need to tape your ankles.
However, most people will not be able to tick off those few things listed above. Therefore, for many people who play pivoting sports, there is a benefit to wearing ankle tape or ASO braces. Just remember, you can still sprain your ankle wearing these – so it’s not an excuse to not do your injury-preventing exercises.
Remember, each person will have different reasons for being at risk for an ankle sprain – therefore you’re much better off seeing a Physiotherapist so they can test and explain which factors apply to you.
Keep those ankles healthy and stop rolling your ankle with every uneven concrete footpath!
– Yana
Yana Dellavedova is a Physiotherapist at MCAP Essendon & Brunswick. She has a special interest in injury prevention programs, particularly for children and adolescents. To book an appointment with Yana, Click Here.
