Quick question about ankle braces

[cbombdotcom]

Ok, so this summer, I started wearing my ankle braces again with a new pair of sneakers to hoop in. Things were smooth at first, but now I'm noticing my feet really hurt after playing, especially my toes. I wear a 10, the shoes are a 10 and I'm thinking it may be because of the added snugness. Should I look into getting a 10.5 so they fit better with the braces?

[C_lake2802]

You want your shoe to be tight on your foot honestly. The ankle brace helps you fill up your shoe a bit along with stabilization of course. So yea i say go up half size if it hurts, cuz that's no good when balling.
I've worn ankle braces a couple times myself, and i felt that my ankle was relying to heavily on them. So i stopped wearing them and the re-occurrence of injury is far for me. So maybe you should train your ankle to not rely on ankle braces if you can.

[cbombdotcom]

Thanks a lot for that. I used to never wear them. When I was about 16-17, I never wore them and even used to wear ankle socks. After rolling my ankles numerous times since and even spraining one, they + thicker socks have been a mainstay, but perhaps you're right. Honestly, I like the way they look haha. Calf socks and ankle braces are my thing, but I suppose performance trumps style.

[01amberfirewv]

If your concerned about your ankles or knees read this article, it may save you time money and pain.

http://blog.strongerteam.com/post/2011/09/13/Ankle-Braces.aspx

and this one

http://blog.strongerteam.com/post/2010/05/17/NEW-Ankles-Feet.aspx

People look at me like I'm crazy when I suggest no braces and low tops but I would trust Stein over about anyone

[Ai2death]

I tried bracers and such, but could never get comfortable, so now I don't worry bout them. I've still had injuries to my ankles. But all my ankle injuries have been from people stepping under me during a Jumpshot. Ankle brace or not, if some one steps under you in the air, chances are you'll get hurt so yeah, no brace for me lol

[01amberfirewv]

I tried bracers and such, but could never get comfortable, so now I don't worry bout them. I've still had injuries to my ankles. But all my ankle injuries have been from people stepping under me during a Jumpshot. Ankle brace or not, if some one steps under you in the air, chances are you'll get hurt so yeah, no brace for me lol


Yeap, and if you read the article above, limiting the motion on the ankle can transfer the stress to the knee. It's easier to recover from an ankle injury than a knee injury. If you land on someones foot somethings gotta give

[C_lake2802]

Thanks a lot for that. I used to never wear them. When I was about 16-17, I never wore them and even used to wear ankle socks. After rolling my ankles numerous times since and even spraining one, they + thicker socks have been a mainstay, but perhaps you're right. Honestly, I like the way they look haha. Calf socks and ankle braces are my thing, but I suppose performance trumps style.

No reason to suffer your overall ankle/knee health for looks. get some balancing activities going, and stretch properly to get the range of motion back. and take your time coming back and lose the ankle brace!!

[Kiarip]

My personal view on this is that you want to have as little things on your feet as possible.

Barefoot running is the healthiest and safest, so if you're doing regular running do it barefoot, it strengthens the foot a lot.

Obviously you can't play basketball barefoot, and a lot of injuries are caused by contact rather simply by running/jumping, so make sure you stretch a lot, walk on the sides of your feet (unless you're currently injured,) walk on your heels a bit, a bit on your toes.

do some 1 or 2 legged squats while standing on the edges of your feet etc. Training is the best protection against injuries. The other stuff can be sometimes useful if you're already injured, but honestly if you're injured you're better off sitting out unless your livelihood depends on basketball.

Also, make sure to maintain your weight.

I land on the sides of my feet, etc. frequently when there's contact, sometimes full force, but I rarely suffer ankle injuries because of this, you just have train them routinely. Not a lot of people do it, because people would rather try to get verticle, and etc then train for injury protection, but in the long run it will be better for your game.

Also beware of shoes that try to do too much, you want them to be tight on your feet, but not too tight around your ankle imo, if you're wearing the tall ones. a good way to check that they're tight enough is to throw some jab steps full force, and feel whether the foot moves inside the shoe, if it does it's not the basketball shoe for you.

[NotYetGreat]

I'd say no ankle brace. A better way to go about this would be to STRENGTHEN your ankles. I've sprained both my ankles more times than I would like to remember and I actually did think I was going to resort to playing in supports forever. Did it for like a month til I said "Screw this, I'm gonna make my ankles bulletproof." I simply did one-foot balancing drills every day, progressing from just 30 sec on each foot, to 1 min, to doing it with eyes closed (it's a lot harder than you'd think. A LOT.). I'm not too sure about the formal anatomical lingo on it, but it has something to do with proprioception and your body's natural sense of being somewhere without having to rely on vision. You should really try it, along with the suggestions above. :cheers: to strong ankles, buddy!

[Pushxx]

I used to have awful tennis elbow on my off-hand and I used an elbow brace. It helped immensely, but my body created a huge dependancy and it took me 5 months to fix it.

Really messed with my off-hand dribbling and weight training.