Ankle weakness? Is this a common thing?

[aerialriver]

So a bit of a back story. I have always considered myself to have very strong but very flexible ankles. I danced ballet and did pointe work for many years with no issues as a matter of fact I have never had a sprained ankle before this year.

In January I did a back layout and came down on my left ankle with my foot turned in like an axe head and sprained it severly, I am still wearing a brace on it for support and it has taken months to heal, I missed half my competitions over it.

Lately I have "zinged" my right ankle a few times. I would come down on it and feel a quick zing pain but I wasn't overly worried. Last night I did a back flip into the foam pit and on impact I felt a block snag on my foot and pull it inward just like the other one. It is a bit swollen today but is not as severe as the other. I have had it looked at and it is just a simple sprain (not looking for medical advice )

My questions are how common is this? Is there anything that makes a person prone to this? And now should I be prepared to brace both of them up? And if so am I going to have to wear them forever? Also is it more likely that I just have pathetic weak ankles now or that I was favoring the already injured one to the point the other one weakened? And any general ankle advice from those who have this issue. I want to stay healthy and not have to keep doing this. Thanks!

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

Understand that this is NOT medical advice, just personal experience w/my DD. She badly sprained her ankle in November of 2007. We did the whole ice/motrin thing and in addition, got her a good ankle support/brace. After it seemed to have healed, she just seemed to reinjure it over the least little thing. FINALLY 4 MONTHS LATER... I took her to a physical therapist who worked with her for 8 sessions. They did all kinds of ankle strengthening exercises for a month and a half and she has been fine w/that ankle ever since.

One of DD's teammates has had ankle issues off an on for about a year and a half now. Well, no PT was ever done and she finally SEVERLY, and I mean it WAS BAD, sprained it a week before states (March).... same thing.... she did a layout and landed on the side of her foot. I had been telling her mom for months that she needed some good PT to make that ankle stronger!!! Well, she's finally just started PT on that ankle, so I'm hoping in a month or two, she'll be ready to get back to her tumbling!

 

[canadiangymnast_eh]

This is just what I have learned in my sports med class, but it might help explain a bit. When you roll/sprain your ankle, the ligaments get stretched. this is what causes the weakness. After your ankle heals, the ligaments contract, but not all the way. This is kind of like an elastic band. When you stretch an elastic band, it gets stretched out. It still contracts some but not as small as it was before. As you keep stretching it, it contracts less and less. This is the same to a ligament in the ankle. The more you hurt it, the more prone you are to hurting it. The best way to help it would be to do exercises to help strengthen your ankles and go to physio. Another thing that may also cause the weakness is continuously using a brace, especially if you arnt doing any physio exercises at the same time. This is because the brace is acting as muscles to support your weight and the less you use your muscles, the more muscle loss you will have.

Hope this helps some and remember that I'm not a doctor. And if I'm confused on something, someone please correct me. I am only a 16 year old. Not a doctor.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

This is just what I have learned in my sports med class, but it might help explain a bit. When you roll/sprain your ankle, the ligaments get stretched. this is what causes the weakness. After your ankle heals, the ligaments contract, but not all the way. This is kind of like an elastic band. When you stretch an elastic band, it gets stretched out. It still contracts some but not as small as it was before. As you keep stretching it, it contracts less and less. This is the same to a ligament in the ankle. The more you hurt it, the more prone you are to hurting it. The best way to help it would be to do exercises to help strengthen your ankles and go to physio. Another thing that may also cause the weakness is continuously using a brace, especially if you arnt doing any physio exercises at the same time. This is because the brace is acting as muscles to support your weight and the less you use your muscles, the more muscle loss you will have.

Hope this helps some and remember that I'm not a doctor. And if I'm confused on something, someone please correct me. I am only a 16 year old. Not a doctor.

... and that's exactly how the PT explained it to both me and my DD!

 

[gymnast695]

I'm interested in this thread.. I "severely sprained" my ankle two months ago and I'm still not allowed to do anything on it I don't want to wear that brace forever but it seems like I will, what a bummer. Thanks for the explanation canadiangymnast!

 

[CoachTodd]

Rehab exercises are very important to get the strength back. Most folks seem to just wear the brace and hope it heals. From what I've seen, they spend the rest of their career wearing the brace. I would definitely check with a doctor for correct information but my best guess would be rehab but wear the brace when doing high impact things until it has completely healed. I have also seen quite a few folks injure one ankle, come to practice with the brace one and inadvertently injure the other ankle trying not to land on the weak one.
Always error on the safe side.

 

[aerialriver]

I understand about rehab, and pt. I cannot afford to go to pt as our insurance sucks. I was given excersices at the regular doctor and I looked up additional things to do. As far as the brace I was told initally to wear it for everything and then to only use it for gym. It was so bad I had to tape it and wear a brace, now I just wear it only for gym. I was also told the chance of re injury was so high I should do all the excersices/stretches but that I should use the brace.

I am just wanting to know how common it is. If wearing 1 brace may have caused me to injure the other ankle. Should you brace both like wearing tiger paws? And do most folks get off wearing a brace or are you doomed forever? I know how important rehab is, but are some folks just prone to injuring their ankles?

 

[Kiwi]

Exercises are your best bet. Doing lots of repetitions of pointing and flexing the foot, and foot rotations inward and outward. Also, using a wobble board is great for this. They are not expensive and you only need to use it for a couple of minutes each day. As well as building strength and stability, you improve proprioception, which helps to prevent injuries.

 

[CoachTodd]

My daughter had a brace for a while but doesn't need it any more. She did have quite a bit of time to exercise and rehab since she was injured in the off season. I'm fairly certain most of the folks that do the rehab and don't reinjure it while rehabbing eventually get rid of the brace but this part does take some time.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

there really is no such thing as "weak ankles" there are conditions that can cause ankle joints to not work as well when compared to others and underperform. things like overt pronation, overt suppination, hypermobility, ligament lax, etc;

obviously, a serious ankle injury can compromise the mechanics of the ankle joint. and some can be repaired quite well thru surgery. and braces limit the ankle joint from/of its proper tracking. and for some remaining/continuing in sports, ankle conditioning becomes a sports career in and of itself. it never ends...