While ankle braces fit comfortably in most traditional athletic shoes or sneakers with a tongue and laces, there are some shoes that don’t work well with braces.

If you purchase an ankle brace and can’t fit it inside your shoe, or its uncomfortable while you’re wearing it with your shoes, it may be due to the design or style of the shoe and not the ankle brace. For that reason, it’s a good idea to know up front which shoes you should avoid when wearing your ankle braces.

The style of sneaker that works best with ankle braces have a traditional tongue and laces design so you can spread out the opening of the shoe and easily insert the ankle brace. Low-top athletic shoes work best with ankle braces because they don’t apply undue pressure over your ankle bones like a mid- or high-top shoe will.

Athletic shoe styles are changing all the time. It’s important to know how these new styles impact the fit of an ankle brace inside the shoe. In recent years athletic shoe companies have been introducing sneakers that deviate from the traditional shoe design. Rather than having a traditional tongue and laces, this new style of shoe has a collar or sleeve design that makes it almost impossible to fit the brace in the shoe. These shoes typically are of the mid- or high-top design and are hardest to fit an ankle brace inside.

We have found that our customers with these newer types of shoes can usually wear a hinged ankle brace if their foot size is above a women’s size 9 or a men’s size 7 – it all depends on how large the opening to the sleeve of the shoe is.

For those without a traditional tongue and laces design, a smaller shoe size, or a high-top shoe a lace-up ankle brace will most likely be the best option for you. The Ultra 360 locks your ankle in place while the figure-8 straps provide 360º of ankle support to help prevent excessive ankle rolling. The multi-adjustable design allows you to customize your level of support.

Athletes

If you’re an athlete who is planning to wear an ankle brace and you want it to fit in the shoe properly and be comfortable to wear for long periods of time stick with a traditional, low-top sneaker designed for the sport you play.

No high-top shoe is going to prevent an injury in sports that have a higher risk of ankle sprains (such as basketball or volleyball) where the mechanism of injury is coming down from a jump and landing on an opposing players foot at a high velocity. Therefore, we recommend wearing a low top athletic shoe with a high performance ankle brace, like the Ultra Zoom, which is designed to help prevent ankle injuries or lessen the severity should an injury occur. The Ultra Zoom will fit easily in a traditional low top sneaker and provide a comfortable fit all season long. 

Conventional wisdom is that high-top athletic shoes or tall work boots can support the ankle more effectively than low tops primarily because the high-top shoe is higher and therefore has more leverage to grab the ankle and hold it in place. However, todays high-top sneakers are not your parent’s high-tops.

These new high-top designs use flexible and stretchable materials with the goal of being comfortable to wear for long periods of time. And if the material stretches it’s probably not going to provide much in the way of ankle support. While high-top shoes are advertised to provide additional ankle support, the truth is that no shoe can support the joint and help prevent ankle injuries like an ankle brace can. 

Tall Work Boots

Let’s say you are a construction worker and you suffer from ankle osteoarthritis, so you like to wear a sturdy work boot to help stabilize your ankle. Let’s say recently your ankle started hurting on the job site and you’re thinking about getting an ankle brace for additional support.

Two things happen when you try to wear an ankle brace in a tall work boot:

  1. The ankle brace is very difficult to fit inside your tall work boot, or
  2. If you get the brace to fit in the boot it may not be very comfortable. This happens after you lace up the boot, which pushes the sides of the brace against the ankle bones, potentially causing pain and irritation.

In general, we recommend a low-top work shoe where you can spread out the laces enough to easily fit the brace in the shoe. Since the sides of the shoe are below the joint  there is no potential for irritation over your ankle bones. A low-top work shoe combined with a good professional ankle brace can provide more ankle support than a tall work boot worn by itself by far.

For those looking for an ankle brace that will fit in a high-top work boot, the Ultra 360 Lace-up will be your best option. This flexible, fabric brace fits in almost any shoe – providing extra support and compression to help protect your ankle. 

If you have questions about which ankle brace would fit best inside your athletic shoes or work boots you can send one of our athletic trainers a message. They will be able to take a look at a photo of your shoe and help you determine the right ankle brace for your situation. 

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries

One thing is certain with volleyball, every year you play the sport it becomes more and more competitive, aggressive, and intense. With the increased level of play comes an increase in injuries, which are oftentimes more severe due to the higher level of intensity athletes are consistently performing at.

Most volleyball players, parents, and coaches have come to accept that the ankle is the most injured body part in volleyball – especially for those of you who play at the net. With the jumping, cutting, and diving in volleyball a tremendous amount of stress is put on the ligaments that hold your ankle joint together. This, in addition to the dangerous environmental factors at play – such as jumping and landing on another players foot – means that the risk of hurting your ankle while playing volleyball is extremely high.

Once an ankle injury has been sustained, you are 70% more likely to re-injure your ankle. Each time your ankle ligaments get stretched or torn from excessive twisting or turning, they never regain their integrity and tightness making it easier to get another ankle sprain. This cycle of injury is common amongst competitive volleyball players and if you’re one of the people who suffers from constantly twisting or spraining your ankle then you’re probably all too familiar with this process.

As a certified athletic trainer, the best advice I can give young competitive volleyball players is to help prevent the cycle of injury before it starts by wearing a preventative ankle brace that is built for athletes and optimized to enhance their performance. Soft, lace-up ankles braces can’t provide the level or length of support serious athletes need and hard plastic ankle braces are too rigid and bulky for many players to tolerate. At Ultra Ankle, we work with some of the top competitive volleyball clubs in the country for their ankle bracing needs. Here are some of the common questions we often hear from parents or players learning more about why ankle braces are important in volleyball –

Do all players need to wear an ankle brace? Or only certain positions? While most teams require all of their players to wear preventative ankle braces due to the constant threat of jumping and coming down on another player’s foot, some teams only require those playing at the net to wear ankle braces. Since our Ultra Zoom preventative ankle brace uses a material that form fits to the ankle, it only restricts any excessive movement that causes injury while allowing you to move in all of the natural ways needed to play your sport. It’s flexible enough for defensive specialists while being  supportive enough for those playing at the net.

Do ankle braces limit my vertical jump? After training hard to maximize your performance and improve your jump height, it’s crucial that your protective gear doesn’t limit you in any way. The only ankle braces that limit your vertical are those without hinges. Any ankle brace that laces up, wraps around, or binds up your ankle is restricting your natural range of motion and therefore limiting your performance. If you play at the net its very important that you choose an ankle brace that is not going to negatively impact your vertical jump.

Will ankle braces weaken my ankle? Currently there is no clinical research that confirms wearing a preventative, hinged brace every practice or game will weaken your ankle or cause injury to another body part such as your knee. If you wear a hinged brace your ankle can move through its full range of motion keeping your joint flexible and your muscles strong.

Aren’t all hinged braces big and bulky or made of hard plastic that is prone to breaking? If you’ve been playing volleyball for awhile you may have noticed that some of the hinged ankle braces players wear are big, bulky, rigid and have a tendency for the hard plastic to crack. And you’re right. It’s because of those outdated designs that we developed the first performance based, hinged ankle brace that uses your body heat to form fit to your ankle for a low-profile, comfortable fit that will never crack or break. It’s not too soft and joint restricting, and it’s also not too bulky and hard. When it comes to volleyball ankle braces, the Ultra Zoom fits just right. It’s on your ankle in seconds, protects you consistently for hours, and lasts for years.

Will the Ultra Zoom ankle brace work for my specific ankle condition? Since every volleyball player and their ankle injury history is different, we offer the ability to message our certified athletic trainers directly to receive a customized bracing recommendation. If you’re interested in learning more about which one of our Ultra Ankle braces would be best for you, send our athletic trainers a message.

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries

With the start of club season, it might not seem like your freshman year of college is quickly approaching. But let me be one of the many to tell you that it will be here before you know it. Aside from continuing to work hard at improving your game, there are plenty of things that you can be doing to help get yourself ready to take that big step from club to college volleyball.

Get to Know Your Teammates

After you’ve made your commitment, take some time to get to know the other freshmen that are coming in with you. Connect with each other on social media, text back and forth, check to see if you’re playing in the same tournaments so you can meet face to face – whatever works for you to establish some sort of relationship. This is a great way to relieve some of your nerves when you arrive on campus in the summer as well as helps your class start bonding long before you hit the court together. 

Learn More About the Game

One of the biggest differences between club and college is the speed of the game. The biggest thing you can do to help prepare yourself is to learn as much about volleyball as possible. I think too many times, freshmen come into the gym and are surprised by what they see and it takes them a month or two to get used to that speed. Talk to parents, coaches, and other mentors in your club to see what skills they feel like you could improve on a little more before college season starts. Utilize your existing club network to become the best player you can be before heading off to a new school with a new group of teammates. Above everything else, remember that volleyball is a game of mistakes (even at the highest levels!) so just keep playing. 

Manage Your Time

Your club may practice multiple times a week for 2-3 hours a night. It can be hard to manage all of your volleyball obligations in addition to school activities and homework but your schedule will only get crazier in college! The best thing you can do to help get ready is learn how to manage your time and prioritize the important items. Once you become a collegiate athlete, you will have to learn to manage your time wisely and effectively otherwise certain responsibilities will start to fall behind. In college, you will have practice, film sessions, weight lifting and study tables all in addition to your classroom studies. Learn how to manage your time wisely now!

Stay in Shape

While it’s important to celebrate your last club season and enjoy your last few days of high school, it’s equally as important that you don’t get super out of shape in the offseason. By eating right, keeping up with your strength and conditioning work, doing what you can to prevent injuries, and getting plenty of rest you won’t fall behind before you head to campus.  Pre-season conditioning and workouts can be brutal even if you are in shape, so doing whatever you can to help get the season started on the right foot is a must.

Keep Playing & Have Fun!

Transitioning from club to college volleyball can be an exciting, but stressful, time in your life. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, always remember how fun the game can be. This should never change, regardless of the level at which you are playing. Never forget why you started playing volleyball in the first place and why you love the game. The next thing you know you’ll be hanging up your jersey after your senior year, looking back at how fast the time flew by!

Guest post written by former collegiate volleyball athlete, Aubreigh Applegate.

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries

Can you believe it’s almost time for another season to get started? It always seems that no matter how many years you play, the excitement for a new season never fades and then it’s over before you know it! Because practice time is so limited during volleyball season, it’s important to make the most of the time with your teammates and coaches while you can. By prepping for the season before it arrives you are not only bettering yourself as a player, but also doing your part in helping your team. As a college coach, here are the top three things I expect my players to do to prep for an upcoming season.

Be Prepared Physically

Most schools only have a short window to get their teams ready for the season. As a coach, the last thing that I want to do with my players when they come to campus is to take time out of practice to get them in shape. Make sure to schedule or find time to do your training and conditioning over the summer. No matter how hard it may be at the time, you will always thank yourself in the long run. If everyone on your team comes back in the gym in good physical shape, you will get more time with a ball to work on skills to make sure you are all ready on the court. 

Be on Top of Your Mental Game

Come to try outs and practices with the mentality that you want to get better. Speaking as a coach, the best players are not always the most skilled or athletic but those that come in day in and day out and want to get better. They aren’t going to settle for anything less than their best. They want to compete.

Set Your Priorities

What do you want to accomplish this season? Don’t let small things get in the way of those goals. Sure, you will set team goals, but it takes each individual team member working together and trying to better themselves to be successful. If you have a tournament, do what it takes to make sure you are physically and mentally ready. This means getting the proper amount of rest and fueling your body the right away – not staying up all night eating junk food. Not only are you setting your priorities, but you are doing your job to help your team.

In my opinion, volleyball is the epitome of a team sport. It will take each and every member of your team to help make your season successful so make sure you do your role to help your team get off to a successful season. Good luck and have fun!

Guest post written by Coach Ashlee Pritchard. 

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries

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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Yes, there is etiquette for being a great volleyball parent. After paying all of that money and investing all of your time into your child’s sport, you don’t want to end up being that parent, do you? You know, the one screaming from the sidelines at the officials and players, bugging the coach before/during/after practice, or causing a scene after a loss.

Ok, it may be rare that you find a parent that bad in volleyball because most of being a great volleyball parent is common sense. That being said, it still needs to be reinforced occasionally that there are some things that are frowned upon.

Respect the Coach

While it goes without saying that everyone should respect the coach of the team, sometimes people forget that disrespect can be portrayed in other ways that aren’t as obvious as yelling or being rude.

Never talk about playing time with the coach – If you’re concerned about the amount of time your daughter is playing, encourage her to organize a time to meet with her coach one-on-one and ask what she needs to improve upon to gain more playing time.

Give the coach their space after a loss – Coaches are often extremely competitive and take losses as hard, if not harder, than other people. It’s best to keep your comments about the game to yourself immediately following a loss unless you’ve really gotten to know the coach’s personality.

Teach respect by showing respect – Your volleyball player will learn how to address and treat their coach by observing how you speak with their coach. When possible, keep criticisms and opinions to yourself unless asked. Allow the coaches to be the leader they were chosen to be ­– they are the coach for a reason.

Be Courteous at Tournaments

Between travelling, play time, and waiting between games, volleyball tournaments can be long, grueling days. Being surrounded by hundreds (if not thousands) of people all day, constantly hearing whistles being blown, and getting occasionally hit in the head with a ball can wear any parent’s patience thin. Keep these tips in mind as you’re trying to keep your cool:

Share your memories – If you regularly videotape the matches, try to upload them and share them with other parents that couldn’t make it to the tournament. If the team doesn’t have someone in charge of recording matches, share the videos with the coach for analysis purposes.

Never yell at the officials – Even if you’re right, yelling at or critiquing the officials being paid to do their job sets a bad example for the players and other children watching.

Encourage the Players

Be positive with every player – While it’s up to your discretion how positive to be with your own child, sometimes players whose parents weren’t able to make the tournament also need a few positive words of encouragement. If you notice that some parents aren’t in attendance that day, try to say a few kind words to their player just as you hope another parent would do in your absence.

Be realistic about your child’s ability – Not every volleyball player is destined to be a superstar. Don’t spend your time comparing your daughter’s abilities to others, instead continue helping her to improve week after week.

Learn the Sport

If you’ve never seen a volleyball game before, it can take some time to learn the general rules. Once you’ve got an idea of what’s going on in the big picture, take some time to learn the specific rules of the game. This will help you understand why the coach chose certain strategies during game situations, help explain those decisions to your daughter, and allow you to make informed constructive critiques of her play.

These four keys to being a great volleyball parent are only a starting block. Take some time to learn from veteran volleyball parents how you can make the game the most enjoyable for your player while still having a good time yourself. If you’re a veteran volleyball parent what would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries

“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.

Ultra Zoom

Help prevent ankle injuries all season long.

Ultra High-5

Reinforce the ankle after a history of multiple ankle injuries

Ultra CTS

Maximize stabilization to treat acute ankle injuries