WAG Gymnasts who roll their ankles

[azara]

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience with gymnasts who tend to roll an ankle whilst practising? Do you take any measure/have advice to prevent it from happening? I'm sure I'm not the only one. The problem is that it's not necessarily just doing "big" skills, yesterday I managed it doing a round off, and a month or two ago doing a jump full. Anyway, I'd really like to know what you do for the weaker-ankled gymnasts among us

 

[NY Dad]

I rolled my ankle several times when I was much younger. For me, I stopped doing extra stretches/strengthening exercises once my ankle felt better.
I eventually learned that I needed to do it for a couple of months until I had full strength/flexibility/balance back. After that it didn't happen again. In the meantime I would tape it if you can but I'm sure there are tons of more qualified experts that can give you advise about what to do in the meantime.

There are tons of resources online about rehab for ankle roll/sprains
Link Removed

 

[flipandfly]

I often roll my ankle doing romanians (spelling?) or grapevines, etc. but it is always fine after a few minutes. However, last week I rolled it seriously just tripping over a mat, which was pretty fun. I am off of that ankle for a little while. I also have weak ankles. I just ice and mainly promise myself I will stop being clumsy and pay attention to where I step... So yeah that's the prevention and when you roll it, just ice it. Doing ankle alphabets strengthens the ankle, too.

 

[ascarter1]

Depending on the grade sprain it is, it could take nearly a year to truly fully recover from a rolled ankle. I would see your orthopedic dr and see if they could prescribe some physical therapy.

My dd rolled her ankle (grade 1, minor) and then 5 weeks later rolled it (grade 2-3, somewhat severe). It took 6 months of wearing a brace during practice and pt to fully recover. She still does her pt to continue to strengthen and protect her ankles.

Best wishes!!

 

[emilykatherine]

Mine!!! I tape both every practice. My ankles are weak and most of my ligaments are torn so they tend to roll because nothing keeps them from rolling, but the tape helps

 

[sce]

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience with gymnasts who tend to roll an ankle whilst practising? Do you take any measure/have advice to prevent it from happening? I'm sure I'm not the only one. The problem is that it's not necessarily just doing "big" skills, yesterday I managed it doing a round off, and a month or two ago doing a jump full. Anyway, I'd really like to know what you do for the weaker-ankled gymnasts among us

Get checked out. Repeated injury could have weakened your ankles. Physical therapy or so e other treatment may be necessary.

 

[ayyyrial]

I also had this problem in practice occasionally and actually broke my 5th metatarsal twice on each foot, always on stupid things like jumping down off a mat or a round-off. The thing I noticed was that this would happen more if I felt physically or emotionally weak - if I hadn't slept enough before, if I was stressed, if I wasn't eating enough. We did a lot of ankle and wrist exercises (alphabets, exercises with weights and therabands) at my gym already so that wasn't really an issue.

 

[azara]

Thank you all for the responses. The sprain isn't bad, but I'd like to prevent it happening again. I was hoping that visiting a doctor wouldn't be necessary, but I probably should.

Thank you for the link, @NY Dad, I'll take a look and give some of them a go!

I'm surprised that it could take so long to recover completely! The things you learn .

 

[vans2]

DD's a lvl 6 gymnast and had her first (really severe grade 3) ankle sprain with partial tearing. She literally couldn't put any weight on it for the first 2 weeks (crutches). Took her to the dr (podiatrist) which then sent her to physical therapy. That was in July.

The physical therapy has literally worked WONDERS in her recovery. I'm not a dr., but they told us that your ankles become weaker by not using them. She's on a 20 minute per day "ankle strengthening" regiment at home on the days she has no practice. She can walk again without aching in her foot. Still in a light brace for gym though. They said 6 months bare minimum. I'll try to find some YouTube vids demonstrating the drills she's doing.

 

[vans2]

Equipment they had us purchase:

Dynadisk: Link Removed
You stand on it on one foot. Close your eyes and try to balance. Second drill -- have someone play catch with you while you're on it (while standing on one foot)

Video that has a few of the other things they have her doing. Plus she does one where she stands on one foot on a book and raises her hurt ankle up and down like 50 times:

I know it sounds strange to do ankle rehab, but it is a "thing" and it really does work. I hope these help you!

 

[raenndrops]

I have a "history" of ankle sprains, lol. AFTER the dr diagnosed it as "a history" of them, I found that I have sprained / rolled it more often than I did before.
My "history" at the time of diagnosis:
1 - 5th grade, jumped out of tree and sprained ankle (along with sprained wrist and 7 cracked ribs --- I was over 1 story high and landed on uneven grass with hidden brick sidewalk)
2 - 7th grade, doing jump combination in cheerleading tryouts, I sprained it.
3 - New Years Eve when I was 39, sprained it standing in the kitchen.
That was it.
Since then, I have sprained it 10 times in the last 5 years.

 

[azara]

Yes, I think once it's been done once, it becomes easier to do it again, and the second time you do it, even easier...and so on and so on.

Thanks for the helpful videos and exercise ideas. I'll also ask my doctor (presumably a normal GP will know what s/he's talking about) for some specific exercises.

 

[flipandfly]

Yes to the repeating pattern! I tripped on mine again twice yesterday with simple leap, etc. gotta be more careful where I'm going! I admit to clumsiness at times.
Another note: it could be awareness of where you are in relationship to the ground on skills where you get a little flight (like azara's roundoff and full) sometimes I think that I don't plan for when I hit the ground??

 

[GymCMLA]

once you sprain an ankle it is at risk of repeat injury b/c you lose some proprioception (knowing where you ankle is in space) so rehab should include working on that proprioception - you can do this at home by "writing" the capital alphabet in the air with your big toe (I have people do both feet) At PT they use a balance board to achieve return of proprioception.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience with gymnasts who tend to roll an ankle whilst practising? Do you take any measure/have advice to prevent it from happening? I'm sure I'm not the only one. The problem is that it's not necessarily just doing "big" skills, yesterday I managed it doing a round off, and a month or two ago doing a jump full. Anyway, I'd really like to know what you do for the weaker-ankled gymnasts among us

tape your arch.

 

[Miss Alyssa]

To strengthen your ankle and prevent injuries for warm-ups I would recommend walking on the outside of feet, then on the inside of your feet. On your toes and on your heels. Just a slow walk/stretch and this helps to strengthen the muscles around your ankle so if you do happen to roll it in the future you hopefully will not end up with a sprain! We used to do these for cross-country when I was younger and I still use it sometimes now. Never had an ankle injury! (knock on wood)

 

[MaryA]

Ha! Skimming through the titles I thought it said "Gymnasts who roll their eyes". I've got one of those!

Luckily, though she does roll her eyes, she seldom rolls her ankle. However she has a friend and former teammate who did and her mom told me that there is research that shows that athletes who frequently roll their ankles have a much increased chance of tearing their ACL. Unfortunately she learned this after her daughter tore her ACL (which is why she's DD's former teammate).

 

[sce]

Ha! Skimming through the titles I thought it said "Gymnasts who roll their eyes". I've got one of those!

Luckily, though she does roll her eyes, she seldom rolls her ankle. However she has a friend and former teammate who did and her mom told me that there is research that shows that athletes who frequently roll their ankles have a much increased chance of tearing their ACL. Unfortunately she learned this after her daughter tore her ACL (which is why she's DD's former teammate).

That is sad. I can totally see this though. I roll my ankles a lot and have definitely been at risks for twisting my knee some of those times.

 

[Gymnastbecki]

This is literally my problem every practice! I have to wear an ankle brace on my left ankle because of torn ligaments and it being so week! Although I do excercises on both my ankles I find they don't really get better as I still keep rolling them!

 

[sce]

This is literally my problem every practice! I have to wear an ankle brace on my left ankle because of torn ligaments and it being so week! Although I do excercises on both my ankles I find they don't really get better as I still keep rolling them!

If the ligaments are too damaged, strengthening exercises may never be enough. You might need surgery.