How to prevent ankle injury

Ankle injury is common in athletics, and many daily sports like running, playing tennis, and more. You may sprain your ankle just by stepping off a  curb, or simply roll the ankle while playing sports. Fortunately, you can decrease the risk of injuries by doing something to strengthen your ankle muscles and ligaments.

Improve your sense of balance

Your body has 45 miles of nervous tissue that is in charge of your sense of balance. For instance, when you walk, the nerves in your foot will help you sense the surface and protect you from getting hurt. And the vestibular system in the inner ear works to let you know you are moving, falling, or spinning. If you find yourself easy to strain your ankles, the first thing you need to take into consideration is the ability of balance. To practice balancing, you can keep yourself on one leg while brushing your teeth, watching TV, or other light upper-body exercises. That way, the nerves, muscles, and the ankles in your body will be trained to be better at controlling your movement as a whole.

Enhance your core

One aspect that is easily be ignored is the strength of your hips and trunk. Without a well-functioning and powerful core, as long as you abruptly change direction when running, your body weight will push you forward more than your feet and ankle can control. The consequence can be that you stumble in heels or roll your ankle. So during daily exercise, it is suggested to pay more attention to the hip and lumbar strengthening.

Do warm-up activities

If you are going to have high intense workouts, never start it without warming up your body. Lightly stretch yourself, do a slow jog, or better yet form a habit of exercise every day until your muscles are used to the feeling of activities. Whatever you do, the key is that you are preparing yourself for the upcoming new sports or activities and against any possible injuries on your ankles.

Protect your ankles and feet

If possible, use a brace to protect your ankle from injury. Braces will provide support and boost feedback as well so that you can know for sure how your ankles feel when doing activities. On the other hand, it is important to choose suitable shoes according to your foot type. People with low arches should choose shoes that can offer stable support in both the front and the back of the foot. While for those with high arches, it’s better to choose shoes with a softer sole.

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