Low tops ankle injuries high tops blow out knees???

[sundizz]

I heard the Warrior announcer, Jim Barnett, say this. That back in his playing days people almost never got an ACL tear/knee injury and that it was thought of as a skiing injury.

He reasoned that wearing low top shoes had more give so players would roll their ankles and further, that now, current shoes stop your ankle from taking the injury and push it up the knee.

Agree/disagree?

Random quote to get us going:

Martin Kuban - personal trainer, author, and founder of Fix Knee Pain - agrees that high-tops restrict mobility. He asserts that if a joint intended for mobility becomes less mobile, a stable joint directly above the less mobile joint picks up the slack with increased mobility and, subsequently, less stability. Simply put, if you lack ankle mobility, then you automatically have a higher susceptibility to knee pain.

[navy]

Or people just get injured

[beastee]

I am sure that logic is partly correct, but it really is mostly genetics and playing style. Rose and all the hyper athlete PGs jump stop so often it is just a matter of time.

[Horde of Temujin]

High tops are overrated.

Kobe Zooms are the best basketball shoes ive ever had.

They are the only shoes i play in. Particularly, the Kobe Zoom V

[triangleoffense]

yea nevermind that the regular season was like 40 games back then.

[GreggPopazit]

I am sure that logic is partly correct, but it really is mostly genetics and playing style. Rose and all the hyper athlete PGs jump stop so often it is just a matter of time.

My thoughts as well.

[OldSchoolBBall]

I am convinced that a LOT of the injuries we see today are due to two things:

1) Better traction on the court surfaces leading to less sliding/give during lateral movements

2) Better sneaker technology leading to the same as the above. If your foot doesn't get to slide AT ALL during a sharp cut, all that force is transferred to the joints instantly, leading to a much greater impact.

If you watch games from the 80's and even early 90's, the players' feet would slide for a half a second before gaining traction, lessening the impact on the joints (the same force applied over twice the time = half the impact).

[SHAQisGOAT]

yea nevermind that the regular season was like 40 games back then.

:coleman:

[Rake2204]

The logic behind the suggestion of the trainer seems like it could have some merit (fully restricting ankle movement possibly effecting knees) but I'd wonder just how many high tops actually restrict ankle movement to that degree.

I switched from Reebok Questions (low) to Jordan V's (high) after some ankle injuries in high school. The V's made my mind think my ankle was more stable, but I still think there was a wide range of motion available.


I am convinced that a LOT of the injuries we see today are due to two things:

1) Better traction on the court surfaces leading to less sliding/give during lateral movements

2) Better sneaker technology leading to the same as the above. If your foot doesn't get to slide AT ALL during a sharp cut, all that force is transferred to the joints instantly, leading to a much greater impact.

If you watch games from the 80's and even early 90's, the players' feet would slide for a half a second before gaining traction, lessening the impact on the joints (the same force applied over twice the time = half the impact).Interesting notion to contemplate. I wonder when the NBA finally got around to collectively treating their courts with top-notch love and care. At first I scoffed at courts not being top notch by the 90's, but then I remember the Boston Garden was still around with all its "four quarters fitting into holes" hardwood.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Not going to look into old schedules/stats to prove it, but some of it might just be more wear and tear in this age.

The game is more strenuous on the body than 30-40 years ago (pretty sure of that), there's more games in a college season than there used to be, there's more games in a typical high school season+aau than there used to be, and so on. I follow a lot of these guys in high school and there really don't get much of a break. You have your high school stuff, then show cases, then national aau events, then some play usa basketball, then you have those camps, and the next thing you know it's high school basketball season again. Also a lot of these guys play multiple sports. Football, baseball, track and field... And then consider the potential increased schedule in those sports (which I'm guessing because I don't really follow any high school sports other than basketball).

[GimmeThat]

I generally agree with the logic behind it.

From my experience though, high top utlizes a bit more of my cavs and the muscle groups on the front end of my thighs when I jump, and it utilizes my upper body when I absorb contact

Where as low top uses also more of a one leg jump ability, with your lower body still able to adjust and absorb contact.

[CavaliersFTW]

It's too late for Rose

[oarabbus]

It's true. Any of you every play ball in running shoes? It's a stupid, stupid idea because all the stress goes to your ankles, there's absolutely no support for it. Put a ton of support on those ankles, well it's not like the force of your legs hitting the ground just disappeared. It gets transferred up to your ankle instead.

Just as a thought experiment, if you somehow had boots that went up to your knees and above (ignore the fact you wouldn't really be able to move lol) then all the stress would be transferred to your hips. The force is going to go somewhere no matter what.

[WTFdidNBAbigsGO]

That could be very true considering low tops let your ankle move and hightops brace you whole lower leg and bending moves up to the knee

[GreggPopazit]

Luckily I have never had issues with either.