Look Above to Properly Treat and Prevent Ankle Sprains

It’s an awful feeling when you “roll” your ankle after missing a step or come down on someone’s foot playing basketball. You never forget the shock that goes through your entire body as you're on the floor writhing in pain, which is quickly followed by your ankle swelling up and the unrelenting throb that lingers throughout the week. I am all too familiar with it as an avid basketball player.  

In high school and college, I used to roll my ankle every single time I played basketball. I have probably rolled each of my ankles 30+ times. And that’s probably under shooting it.

I wish I had an ounce of the knowledge I have now about how to properly treat and prevent ankle sprains back then. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to injuries.

Through the teachings of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation and Anatomy Trains, we know that the body is interconnected and works in patterns. To properly treat and prevent ankle sprains, you have to train the foot and ankle with the rest of the body. We call this (re)integration.

Take a look at this picture above. An anatomist named Thomas Myers discovered that there were “Myofascial Chains” or “Anatomy Trains” that were connected through connective tissue from head to toe. There are specific lines of “trains” on each side of the body. Different “trains” have separate responsibilities but also work together to perform meaningful tasks. Notice that all the different “trains” still end up in the feet and have connections through the knee to the hip to the core of the body.

Research has shown over the years that people who have Chronic Ankle Instability demonstrate weakness in their hip and altered knee kinematics during a jumping task (DeJong, 2020). If not properly addressed early on, you can go from developing ankle instability to a potential knee, hip or lower back issue due to compensations.

When I personally learned to train and connect my body through these functional patterns, I was able to decrease my ankle sprains dramatically. This knowledge was the missing link to properly treating and preventing my chronic ankle sprains. Please consider this information if you are struggling with ankle problems and feel free to reach out with any questions and comments.

Note: this is not a substitute for treating the foot and ankle locally. You must still treat the issue at hand while considering the entirety of the body.