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Ankle sprains are one of the most commons injuries seen in athletics. Although preventative exercises can reduce the risk of an ankle sprain, some sprains are inevitable. Below is a list of actions athletes can take after an initial ankle sprain to get back to the competition more quickly.

Seek Medical Attention

After spraining your ankle it is imperative to seek medical attention. Injuries other than mild to moderate sprains that can occur when rolling your ankle include severe ligament tears, bone fractures, high (syndesmotic) ankle sprains, and more. Failure to properly identify all possible damage to your ankle may lengthen healing time – meaning more time away from your sport. Always make sure to check in with a certified athletic trainer or doctor after you sustain an ankle injury.

Move Early

Gentle range of motion exercises right after injury help to improve functional outcomes and may decrease your return-to-play time. Start by moving your ankle up and down, side to side, and in large, slow circles. I often tell my athletes to draw the ABC’s with their big toe very slowly, making the letters as big as possible. Completing these exercises with your foot elevated will help to decrease swelling as well. If bearing weight on the newly injured ankle is tolerable, you can try shifting your weight from one foot to the other while standing.

Protect and Support

When it comes to recovering from an acute ankle injury, physicians will sometimes prescribe a walking boot that restricts all ankle movement. Once a patient is ready to transition from a walking boot and resume movement, but isn’t ready to go straight to a preventative ankle brace, we recommend they wear the Ultra CTS brace.

This one of a kind, hinged ankle brace supports and protects a newly sprained ankle while encouraging athletes to move through their normal range of motion. The Ultra CTS includes a semi-rigid foot plate to decrease weight bearing pain and gives an athlete more stability on a questionable ankle, decreasing fear of movement, guarding, and painful gait patterns. As the injury heals, the Ultra CTS upper cuff can be detached to transform the brace into a low-profile activity brace.

Control Pain

If your pain prevents you from moving the joint early, use ice. Intermittent use of an ice bag or ice water bucket is a drug-free and cheap way of reducing pain and is something you can utilize before seeing a physician. Make sure to check the skin occasionally for signs of ice burn or allergy.

A compression bandage and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs will also help reduce pain by decreasing the amount of swelling in the joint. The Ultra CTS and its Performathane® Custom-Fit technology does a great job of providing gentle compression and forming to your ankle but wearing a compressive bandage underneath for the first few days is even more helpful in reducing swelling.

Strengthen

If you’re able, find an athletic trainer or physical therapist that will give you therapeutic exercises and guidance while you perform them. Having a more structured rehab regimen will improve your recovery time. At the very least, get exercises from your physician and perform them on your own as prescribed. After spraining a ligament in the ankle, the joint needs to rely on the surrounding muscles more, making therapy exercises a must.

Help Prevent Ankle Sprains

Sports are unpredictable. Even with strong muscles, perfect biomechanics, and great conditioning, ankle sprains are still possible and in some situations highly likely to occur. If you have not yet sprained your ankle there are ways to reduce your risk of doing so:

  • Wear a preventative ankle brace that provides full range of motion. Unlike lace-up ankle braces, hinged ankle braces do not restrict natural range of motion and help prevent extreme ranges that lead to injury. You CAN reduce risk of ankle injury and not adversely affect performance!
  • Do preventative ankle exercises regularly. Reach out to a medical professional to find the best exercises for prevention. They should include not only strengthening exercises, but also plyometric and proprioceptive exercises.
  • Perform sport specific conditioning before and during the season. Doing sport-specific training will ensure your body is ready for competition and able to react to the stresses you will be placing on your ankle.
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With 25,000 ankle injuries happening a day in the U.S. there are a lot of people looking for a solution for their ankle injury or chronic ankle instability. Unfortunately, ankle bracing is something that people are not well educated on or have heard misconceptions about through the grapevine over the years. The Certified Athletic Trainers here at Ultra Ankle strive to provide the best ankle bracing solution to each customer based on their specific needs and we hope to do that through education, providing research, and answering any questions about ankle bracing that athletes, parents, or coaches may have.

This article hopes to clarify the different ankle brace designs available on the market today and to provide you the necessary information to choose the right ankle brace for your ankle condition. If after reading this article you still have questions about which brace is right for you, send us a message and we would be happy to help. 

Types of Ankle Braces

There are three main types of ankle braces available on the market today:

  1. Lace-ups (fabric based that may/may not have wrap around straps)
  2. Hinged (semi-rigid plastic shell with wrap around strap)
  3. Hinged-Cuff (semi-rigid or flexible shell with straps)

Lace-Up Ankle Braces

Lace-up ankle braces were first invented in 1887 as a basic corset design that uses laces or Velcro to bind the ankle to restrict all ankle range of motion. Today these lace-up braces will typically have straps that wrap around the ankle in a figure-8.

Since these braces can be laced up as tight as possible, they may give the wearer a false sense of support when they are first applied, however they lose support quickly as they resist the ankle’s natural range of motion. While lace-up ankle guards may feel comfortable because they are made out of fabric, this fabric is also less durable and will easily rip and tear over time… not to mention absorb odors and start to smell pretty bad.  

Research studies have shown that lace-up ankle braces can restrict performance by resisting the natural ankle range of motion. This is one reason why we recommend athletes wear a hinged ankle brace for prevention purposes – this way the ankle does not weaken over time due to being held tightly in place. While all hinged ankle braces are not the same, they do provide the necessary range of motion to enhance ankle strength and performance unlike the lace-up type braces.

Overall, the lace-up ankle brace is designed for individuals on a budget needing mild ankle support that are not engaging in competitive and/or high intensity activity. Some of the better brands in this category are McDavid®, ShockDoctor®, Cramer® and ASO®.

Hinged Ankle Braces

Hinged ankle braces were first introduced commercially in 1985 when I created a brace that utilized a pivoting hinge connecting the bottom foot section on both sides of the ankle to an upright section that was secured with a strap to the lower leg. This design went on to create the foundation of ankle bracing company Active Ankle® Systems.

 The innovative hinge design offered the athlete free up and down ankle motion to run and jump without restriction. With the brace moving with the ankle, and not against it like with lace-ups, the brace stayed securely in place maintaining longer-lasting ankle support.  Since the hinged brace is typically made with a semi-rigid plastic they can be durable enough to last a few sports seasons however have been known to crack/break a lot in recent years due to an adjustment in the materials being used by certain brands. Since these braces are typically meant to go under the insole of the shoe, they tend to move with the shoe rather than the ankle joint which increases the odds of an injury as well as creates unneeded space between the joint and the brace. The closer to the ankle a brace can get, the more control over excessive joint movement it will have.

Hinged ankle braces are good for individuals looking for moderate ankle support to help protect or prevent the basic “low” ankle sprain or inversion (turning) ankle injury. Brands in this category are Active Ankle® and McDavid®. 

Hinged-Cuff Ankle Braces

After years of studying hinged ankle braces and where their technology was falling short, we introduced the most modern ankle bracing technology in the year 2000 – hinged-cuff ankle braces. This design utilizes a pivoting hinge connecting the bottom foot section to the upright section.  The upright section is designed with a cuff that encircles the posterior or rear of the lower leg.  The addition of the cuff design helped to provide rotational stability to help prevent the more severe high (syndesmotic) ankle injuries. Hinged-cuff ankle braces are also crucial in helping to prevent low ankle injuries caused by excessive ankle turning by providing the support needed to keep the ankle in place while still allowing it to move as it naturally should.

 At Ultra Ankle® our hinged-cuff ankle braces are made with a flexible plastic outer shell called Performathane® that will typically last three sports seasons. Both the Performathane shell and padding system uses body heat to create a form fit to the ankle. Our braces are worn right over the sock, as opposed to inside or outside of the shoe, to get as close to the joint as possible for optimal levels of comfort, support, and durability.

Hinged-cuff ankle braces are the best ankle brace for individuals and athletes to wear for mild/moderate ankle instability, chronic ankle instability, or for acute ankle injury bracing. No other type of brace gets as close to the ankle while allowing it to retain its strength and full range of motion during activity. Popular brands are Ultra Ankle®, Don Joy® and Ossur®. 

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Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.
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Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries
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We’re excited to announce that Ultra Ankle® has been named the title sponsor of the JVA Player Awards in partnership with the Junior Volleyball Association. This group of player awards include the Ultra Ankle JVA Watch List, Ultra Ankle JVA All-National Team, and Ultra Ankle Athletic Leader Awards.

Here at Ultra Ankle we are committed to helping the JVA recognize and reward Ultra volleyball athletes both on and off the court. To read the full press release from the JVA and learn how to nominate your player for one of the Ultra Ankle JVA Player Awards, click here.

Interested in learning more about Ultra Ankle braces and becoming an Ultra athlete? Check out our list of upcoming events and stop by the booth to learn more.

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Short answer: Yes, in the majority of cases basketball players should wear an ankle brace. 

Most people don’t realize that 42.9% of high school basketball players will injure their ankle during the course of their season, making the ankle the most common basketball injury location by far. Once a player suffers from an ankle injury, they are five times more likely to have reoccurring ankle injuries in the future. With the ankle injury rate so high in basketball it’s always wise to take precautions that can help prevent the ankle injury or lessen the severity should an injury occur.

Athletic trainers remedy basketball ankle injuries a number of ways, typically by taping and/or bracing their players after an injury as well as implementing an ankle strengthening program that utilizes stretches and balance exercises. Unfortunately, no amount of ankle strength can prevent an injury when a players comes down from a rebound and lands on another player’s foot. The only way to prevent these initial injuries, and reduce the risk of reoccurring injuries, is to wear an ankle brace designed specifically to work with the basketball player’s ankle, not against it, to protect the joint.

Before you start your basketball ankle brace search, it’s extremely important to understand the different ankle brace designs and how they may affect ankle strength, range of motion and performance.

Today you see a lot of basketball players wearing the lace-up style ankle supports primarily because they are low profile and upon initial impression they appear to provide good ankle support. A lace-up is basically a corset that restricts all ankle range of motion which is not ideal when you are trying to keep the ankle strong and maximize performance.  Also, by restricting normal up and down ankle motion, the ankle works against the lace-up causing it to lose support rapidly.  Lace-ups became popular as a replacement for the ankle tape job, which loses 70% of its effectiveness during the first 20 minutes of activity. 

Rigid plastic ankle braces are another style of ankle brace.  These types of ankle braces have a hinge and allow free up and down ankle motion to maximize performance and keep the muscles strong.  They will provide much more ankle protection than the lace-up support because the brace moves with the ankle, not against it so the straps stay securely in place maintaining long last support.  The downside is because these braces are rigid they can be uncomfortable and bulky which basketball players typically do not like. 

A third style of ankle brace that offers the performance aspect of the hinged brace with the softness and low profile of the lace-up is the Ultra Zoom.  The brace shell is made of an advanced flexible material called Performathane that uses body heat to custom-fit to the ankle.  The hinged-cuff design allows full ankle range of motion and the cuff helps to restrict excessive ankle turning and twisting which causes both low and high ankle sprains. 

 Regardless of which type of ankle injury prevention methods you use as a basketball player, safely competing at a high level should always be one of your top priorities. If you’re a player with a history of basketball ankle injuries and want to speak with one of our certified athletic trainers about your specific situation, give us a call or send us an email and we’d be happy to help

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A few weeks ago I was watching a press conference with Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson who was commenting on how the ankle injury he sustained in the previous game was progressing.  When explaining his ankle situation the day after the injury he said the first thing he did was to take off the walking boot, because “You can’t play in a boot.” 

As athletic trainers we often use a walking boot to calm down a recently injured ankle, but we all know the sooner you transition out of a walking boot the better.  But the real question is, transition out of a walking boot to what?

What comes after wearing a walking boot is where athletic trainers earn their money.  The transition from the safety and security of a walking boot to the next phase of returning the athlete to competition is critical.  The ankle will need some sort of external ankle brace support because tape alone is not enough.  But what kind of ankle brace would provide a good transition from a walking boot? 

If the athlete has weight bearing pain, then you will need an ankle brace that unloads or offloads the ankle.  Meaning the brace will absorb most of the impact, not the sore ankle, thus reducing weight bearing pain.  Tape and lace-up supports have a soft bottom and cannot unload the ankle.  The ankle brace design that is the most efficient at unloading the ankle is a semi-rigid hinged-cuff ankle brace.  ‘Hinged-cuff’ means it’s a hinged ankle brace but with a cuff that encircles the posterior of the lower leg.  What makes this design the most effective is because you encircle the ankle/foot and lower leg in both the vertical and horizontal plane which provides a stable platform to absorb impact and control movement. 

Now that you solved the weight bearing pain issue, the next focus is providing sufficient ankle stability to secure the injured ankle and prevent further injury.  Yes, you can tape the ankle for stability, but tape loosens the longer you wear it.  We have ruled out lace-ups because they can’t unload the ankle.  Once again, a semi-rigid hinged-cuff ankle brace is the best option because it can provide more initial and long-lasting ankle support. Because the brace is hinged, it moves with normal ankle range of motion which keeps the straps securely in place maintaining long lasting ankle stabilization.  Every knee brace is designed upon that same principle.  Also, the cuff portion of the hinged-cuff design helps to restrict excessive ankle rotation which causes syndesmotic ankle injuries. 

To sum things up, when you come out of a boot it’s important to unload the ankle to reduce weight bearing pain and stabilize the lower leg and ankle to prevent further injury.  The hinged-cuff ankle brace design is the most effective when transitioning from a walking boot back to competition, because you can’t play in a walking boot.

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Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries
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On September 10, 2016 Assumption (Louisville) girls’ volleyball coach Ron Kordes won the 1,000th match of his career in the semifinals of the Ultra Ankle® Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament.

We recently spoke with Coach Kordes, who is also the Club Director of Louisville-based volleyball club KIVA, to congratulate him on his career milestone and also to ask him his professional opinion on ankle injuries and volleyball ankle braces.

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We hear all about it on TV and sports radio – the dreaded high ankle injury and how long we can expect the athlete will be on the sidelines compared to a regular ankle injury. But what is a high ankle injury and how does it happen? Why are high ankle injuries so much more difficult to treat?

Where a classic ankle injury is caused when the ankle turns inward, or rolls inward, a high ankle injury can occur when the ankle and lower leg twists excessively outward. Alternatively, a high ankle injury can occur if there is an excessive force on the ankle when the toes are pointing up. Unlike a classic ankle injury, a high ankle sprain is not to the ligaments surrounding and supporting the ankle, but to the tissue and ligaments that hold the lower leg bones, the tibia and fibula, together (hence the “high”).

Athletes with a high ankle injury will most likely complain of pain in the upper ankle and shin region. If an athlete believes they have a high ankle injury, they should cease activity immediately and get a quick evaluation by an athletic trainer or other medical professional. Since athletes with a high ankle injury are typically out twice as long as someone who suffers a classic or low ankle injury, it’s important to not make the injury worse by continuing activities.

Once evaluated, the sports medicine professional will most likely prescribe the common RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) for recovery as well as recommend an ankle brace designed specifically to treat a high ankle injury versus a low ankle injury. 

Since the high ankle injury is typically caused by ankle rotation, it’s important to wear an ankle brace that is going to restrict excessive rotation during recovery. The only braces to effectively restrict excessive ankle rotation utilize a “hinged-cuff” design where the cuff is the section above the ankle that connects the inside of the brace to the outside of the brace with a rigid connection. This connection combined with a semi-rigid stirrup that goes under the foot creates the stability necessary in both the vertical and horizontal plane to restrict excessive ankle rotation. 

Here at Ultra Ankle® we designed two advanced ankle braces with hinged-cuff technology that are prescribed by sports medicine professionals specifically for high ankle injuries. The Ultra High-5 (pictured) is a great sports ankle brace designed to treat both high and low ankle injuries, while the Ultra CTS ankle brace is designed to treat both high and low acute ankle injuries. Both braces will also unload the ankle which reduces weight bearing pain allowing athletes to return to competition quicker and safer.

If you’ve been diagnosed with a high ankle injury, have reoccurring ankle injuries, or an acute injury and are interested more in hearing about how our ankle braces can help you get back in the game – send our certified athletic trainer a message. We’d be happy to talk through your injuries and see if our technology would be right for you.

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Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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As a high impact sport, football players wear more protective gear than many other athletes. Players must protect themselves from injury by wearing the most advanced equipment from state-of-the art helmets, to breathable pads, all the way down to advanced ankle braces. Since the responsibility of each athlete varies greatly from position to position, some players are at a higher risk of ankle injuries and should be especially concerned with which ankle brace is best for football.

Football Positions that Should Wear an Ankle Brace

Unlike sports with a much higher ankle injury rate for every player, you’re not going to see the entire team wearing preventative ankle bracing in football – usually only the offensive and defensive linemen. The football players on the line are typically the most vulnerable for ankle injuries due to the fact that they quickly pivot and turn while other players are constantly falling on their legs/ankles.

Most of the ankle injuries suffered by linemen are high ankle sprains, which are more severe than a classic ankle sprain and can take twice as long to heal. Once an ankle sprain occurs, there is a 70% chance that the ankle will be re-sprained. With each ankle sprain the ankle ligaments become further and further stretched apart making the ankle joint more loose and unstable with each sprain.

Which Ankle Brace is Right for You?

For this reason, linemen have started to wear ankle braces to help prevent football ankle injuries or lessen the severity should an injury occur. For offensive/defensive linemen it’s not only crucial to keep their ankles healthy, but also to be able to get down in their stance comfortably while retaining their explosive power. To meet both of these expectations, the best ankle brace for this position would be a hinged brace with a flexible shell, such as the Ultra Zoom®, that custom fits to the ankle for maximum comfort and provides full range of motion.

Although linemen are the most susceptible to ankle injuries during play, many other players on the field may still be wearing an ankle brace – especially those with a history of ankle injuries or chronic ankle instability. In the case of chronic ankle instability, the athletes should wear an ankle brace that offers more long-lasting support than taping or a lace-up style support, such as the hinged-cuff Ultra High-5®, that can withstand the pounding of an entire football season while providing maximum protection to help prevent furthering injuring the joint.

Regardless of which position you may play, if you’re interested in learning more about if you should be wearing an ankle brace for football send us a message. Our certified athletic trainer would be happy to answer any of your questions and help you stay on the field all the way from two-a-days through the championship game.

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Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.
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Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries
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“Which volleyball ankle brace should I choose?”

That’s the question I hear all of the time as an athletic trainer with over 30 years of experience specializing in ankle injuries and ankle injury prevention. For as common as ankle injuries are in today’s sports (over 25,000 ankle injuries occur each day in the U.S.), it surprises me that there isn’t more available information about which ankle brace is the most effective for the various sports and athletes. 

Before you blindly take my opinion or assume that I’m only going to promote my own products and not give an unbiased review, let me share with you why I’m considered by others a leading expert in the ankle bracing field and have been evolving the ankle brace market for 35 years. In 1983, as an athletic training student working with a college football team, I knew there had to be something that supported ankles more effectively  than a century-old, corset style lace-up support.

That thought led me to invent my first ankle brace product and start my own company which quickly grew into a volleyball household name by the mid 90s – that company is called Active Ankle® and is still producing ankle braces to this day. Shortly after leaving Active Ankle® in the late 90s, I realized that my original design concepts could be pushed even further and really revolutionize the ankle bracing industry with product designs it had never seen before. I then started Ultra Ankle® and invented the first hinged-cuff technology ankle brace product line that you can see on our website today.

Since lace-up ankle supports were invented in the 1800s and I happened to invent the technology behind the other leading volleyball ankle braces, produced by Active Ankle® and Ultra Ankle®, I wanted to share my ankle bracing expertise with you and point out the differences in the most common volleyball braces used today.

Comparing Lace-Ups vs. Active Ankle® vs. Ultra Ankle®

As opposed to listing out individual features and dissecting each one at a time, I wanted to instead share this quick reference chart with you comparing:

Lace-up ankle supports – Based off of a corset-style design that uses laces to tightly join a flexible piece of cloth down the front center of the ankle. Common brands for this type of sports brace include: ASO®, Active Ankle®

Hard plastic ankle braces – Utilizes a hinge with foam padded stirrups on each side of the ankle joint connected with a piece of Velcro that wraps around the stirrups. Common brands for this type of sports brace include: Active Ankle®, Shock Doctor®

Soft-shell ankle braces – Composed of a flexible plastic material known as Performathane® lined with custom-fitting PerformaFit® foam. The hinged-cuff design wraps completely around the ankle and utilizes two Velcro straps to secure the top and bottom cuffs. Only brand for this type of sports brace: Ultra Zoom® by Ultra Ankle®

Key Takeaways

While all three types of braces claim to offer significant ankle support, you can see by the chart above that just isn’t the case. Let’s discuss some important key takeaways from this information:

  • The primary reason for wearing an ankle brace is to help prevent ankle injuries, but this is impossible to do when an ankle brace cracks or tears during a game/practice when it’s protection is needed most. If you’ve ever worn an ankle brace that has cracked/torn it’s important to start evaluating other ankle braces that can protect your joint during all high-impact and potentially hazardous situations.
  • High and low ankle sprains are two different types of ankle injuries caused by two different movements of the ankle. High ankle sprains are caused when the joint twists outward and the injury occurs above the ankle while low ankle sprains occur when the ankle turns excessively inward or outward to the side. Hinged-cuff braces are the only braces designed specifically to help prevent both twisting and turning ankle injuries.
  • Both hard plastic and soft shell braces have a hinge design, which means that they don’t restrict your natural ankle range of motion and allow the muscle to work as it’s supposed to without impacting performance.

Just as with other technologies, products that used to be considered state of the art are now outdated and being replaced with more advanced, functional, and effective devices. In the case of sports ankle braces, this is especially true when looking at the evolution of bracing from the century old lace-up to the semi-rigid Active Ankle® braces to the invention of the hinged-cuff Ultra Ankle® braces.

If you’re looking to upgrade to the latest ankle bracing technology and give the hinged-cuff brace a try, check out our Ultra Zoom® product page and read one of the many ankle brace reviews left by our Ultra athletes. If you have questions or hesitations about our brace, take a second to send a quick message to our certified athletic trainers and they would be happy to hear about your ankle bracing concerns and if a hinged-cuff brace would be a great fit for your athletic needs.

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Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries
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While wearing an ankle brace to prevent ankle injuries may seem like common sense to some athletes, many participants of sports with a high incidence of ankle injuries still don’t find the value in wearing a preventative ankle brace.

Since there are an estimated 25,000 ankle sprains every day in the United States, we wanted to create an infographic that illustrated what that number means in the variety of sports that have athletes that wear preventative ankle bracing.

Recapping Important Facts About Ankle Sprains

  • In the U.S. an estimated 25,000 ankle sprains occur per day.
  • 45% of HS volleyball players will injure their ankle during the sports season.
  • 70% of varsity basketball players have suffered at least one ankle sprain.
  • 85% of youth soccer injuries are recorded as ankle sprains.
  • After spraining an ankle you are 70% more likely to re-sprain your ankle.
  • Lace-up braces were invented before modern sports while the Ultra Zoom was specifically designed for modern sports.
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Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.
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Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries
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Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries
Shop Now