Over 1 million people each year visit an emergency room due to ankle injuries. One of the more common injuries includes ankle sprains.
Ankle sprains can lead to pain, discomfort, and force you to step away from the physical activity you’ve been doing.
If you are looking for information on how to avoid a painful sprained ankle, keep reading below for our top five tips everyone should know!
If your ankle feels week during any activity, even just walking, you should consider increasing the muscle strength around your ankle.
Weak muscles leave you significantly more susceptibility to ankle sprains. To increase your muscle strength, try doing some simple ankle exercises.
One easy one includes placing a towel around your foot to create resistance and moving it in different directions. Be sure to consult with a doctor or physical therapist before doing exercises if you’ve had a prior injury.
A sprained ankle is when there is an injury to a ligament. Because of this, you can also limit your chances of this injury by working on your balance.
A super simple way to improve your balance is to stand on one foot and then the other during the day. Brushing your teeth? Stand on your right foot. Combing your hair? Stand on your left foot.
As you improve, keep making it more difficult. Hop up and down, stand on a pillow, etc.
While many people think of taping only when you are healing from an injury, taping or wearing a brace can actually be done at any point to protect your ankles.
The extra support can be great for weak muscles and ligaments.
Some find it unhelpful, but it is worth a shot. Speak with an athletic trainer before jumping in to ensure proper technique.
Can you touch your toes? If you slack on stretching, especially after a sweat sesh, you may be setting yourself up for a sprained ankle.
Limited range of motion and tight muscles can cause you to move in awkward ways. This leads to injuries.
Look for a stretching routine you can stick to. If you are really busy, create a five-minute routine to do once in the morning and once before bed.
One of the best pieces of advice for avoiding an ankle injury? Don’t jump into a marathon if you have never run more than two miles. Don’t do an Olympic lifting routine if you don’t know what a dumbbell is.
Ease into any new activities and slowly work your way up to extra miles or weight.
With these five tips, you should now feel confident that you can avoid a painful ankle injury. No matter if you are starting to work out for the first time or are a seasoned marathoner, these tips are good to know!
By keeping your ankles happy, you will never be sidelined from an injury.
Have some other questions? Maybe you recently hurt your ankle and want to get it professionally checked out? Contact us and we would be more than willing to help!
