Ankle Stability and Strengthening Exercises?

[kmfisher]

Are there any ankle exercisess that can be done to strengthen the ankle and prevent rollovers/sprains?

I rolled my ankle 2 weeks ago in a basketball game. It was sore, but it seemed to get to about 90% over the last 2 weeks. It still feels weak, and rotating my ankle around provides light pain in some positions. Last night, I rolled it again in a game, and although not as bad as the first time, it still hurts.

Would one of those neoprene ankle supports help prevent me from rolling it again? If I wore those every game, could it be detrimental to my ankle stability?

Thanks for the advice.

[Kevin T.]

Try one of those lace up ankle braces that you can get from any sporting goods stores. McDavid is a common brand. They lace right up the side. Most players wear something like that. It's a cheap way to add some support. Also, why type of shoes do you wear? Myself, all sports shoes, and thats a lot of different footwear, have to be either 3/4 cut or above for ankle stability. If you wear low cuts, try switchin to 3/4 or the good ole' hightops.

[][P3trarch]

My ankle has sprained various times, and what has worked so far in preventing from it to sprain and become stronger has been balancing in one leg. Of course, it should heal before attempting this, I believe.

[somewhattossedup]

I have also have sprained/broke both my ankle's more times than I would like to remember. I wear an ankle brace everytime I play basketball. Something that has helped my ankle strength is while your sitting down write your abc's with each foot a couple of time. Also you can sit on the end of your bed with a plastic grocery bag with some canned cans goods in the bag. Hang the bag from your shoe at the toes and raises and lower your foot. Hope this helps and makes sense.

[eastcoastsurfer]

When I went to the doc for my last sprained ankle he gave me an aircast to wear when playing basketball. He did say that after a month or so I should wean myself off of the aircast though. Keep in mind I'm not a doc or anything, but after xrays and seeing there were no busted bones it basically came down to ice it and then take it day by day pain wise.

I guess some people could just have naturally weak ankles and will always need the extra support. Any sports docs want to comment? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Steve-O-68]

If you do get a support, you won't want to wear it all the time. It'll actually make your ankle weaker if you do. You might try some unilateral leg work... 1 leg ball squats, 1 leg calf presses, etc. There's a machine at my gym, not sure what it's called, but it's like a rotational calf press, and it's done wonders for my ankles.