By Lee Taft

It is very common to go to a volleyball practice or game and see every player with their ankles strapped down with braces. It has become as important as the spandex they wear. Personally, I question this practice.

Before I write any further, let me emphasize this is my personal opinion. There is some research on the effects of prophylactic ankle bracing and the foot, knee, and hip. 

In a normal functioning body, the joints are made to absorb forces independently, but they are also made to work in conjunction with other joints of the body. To me, it only makes sense that if you restrict on joint from doing its job optimally the joints above and below will be altered. I say this with some experience. I have a frozen joint on my big toe. This occurred over 25 years ago. I never had anything medically done with it so over the past 25 years my normal gait pattern has changed. I now have many issues that have come from this isolated joint. My issue was permanent structural damage. In the case of ankle bracing, it is not permanent but can cause long term damage.

When an athlete lands there are kinetics (forces) that occur. There is kinematics (motion) that occurs naturally. When something changes or blocks the natural forces and motion there is bound to be a negative result. If the ankle is being blocked from its normal pattern of movement by a brace, then the forces from the ground through the foot and ankle must change. As well, the motion of the joints of the ankle, feet, knees and hips must change. This can’t be good.

If we consider the ankle joint is being restricted to protect against ankle sprain and therefore isn’t able to go into its normal motion, then that loss of motion must become picked up by another joint. The problem, as I see it, is that the joints picking up the “slack” are doing things they normally wouldn’t do. This can cause an acute problem or a chronic problem. 

My issue, without going into an entire dissertation on how the ankles effects the rest of the body, is the goal of preventing ankle injuries is causing other potential more disastrous injuries. Especially when there are exercises to perform that lessen the change of a “bad” ankle injury. Here is a list of some exercise I use to reduce the potential for ankle injuries.

1. Barefoot warm ups- have the athletes walk on their toes and heels on a soft surface and turn the toes in and out to strengthen different muscles.

2. Perform various ankle ranges of motion exercises like spelling the alphabet with their feet, rolling up a towel with their toes, picking up marbles with the toes, and performing water exercises with the feet.

3. Foam roll and stretch the supporting lower leg muscles of the shin.

4. Roll the bottoms the feet with a tennis ball to reduce the fascia tension.

5. Perform low level skipping, running, lateral movements, while barefoot. This will strengthen the feet in their natural state.

6. Perform heel raises in all planes- frontal, sagittal, on an angle board, and on a cushion surface.

I am sure you can come up with many other but these will give you a good start. 

The bottom line for me is the body is designed well without us doing things that change its normal function. I will say this, if a doctor has prescribed an ankle brace for the short term, then you should abide. But in the long run, if ankles braces can be avoided I would do just that.

Again, this is my opinion and I do not expect all players to just take off their braces without checking with their coach, doctor, or trainer. I hope this article does make you think about the effects of bracing one joint on another. 

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