Temporary Ankle bracing tips?

[Rob Furness]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for strapping or bracing an ankle to prevent re-injury of ligaments. Basically I've crocked my ankle 3 times in 2 months and I keep losing training time so I was hoping to use some sort of support as a temp support till it heals up better so I can still get out and train. I have a cross trainer I can use but I find it pretty boring and hard to get the correct amount of effort in for a quality session.

I'm well aware that elasticated "support" bandages are pretty pointless but I'm struggling to get hold of any decent physio tape (without ordering it online) and I'm not sure if any of the various lace up or strapped type ankle braces are worth the money.

Anyone got any thoughts? If you tell me to rest I'll be grumpy.... promise

[IanDarkpeak]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for strapping or bracing an ankle to prevent re-injury of ligaments. Basically I've crocked my ankle 3 times in 2 months and I keep losing training time so I was hoping to use some sort of support as a temp support till it heals up better so I can still get out and train. I have a cross trainer I can use but I find it pretty boring and hard to get the correct amount of effort in for a quality session.

I'm well aware that elasticated "support" bandages are pretty pointless but I'm struggling to get hold of any decent physio tape (without ordering it online) and I'm not sure if any of the various lace up or strapped type ankle braces are worth the money.

Anyone got any thoughts? If you tell me to rest I'll be grumpy.... promise

try road running first, at least it's reasonably flat.

Don't rely on tubey grip or neoprene as they are not really for support, just keeping the area warm. If you knoe the extent of your injury try one of these they do work.


bioskin-tri-lock-ankle-skin or

bio skin Fig 8 universal ankle support this is the one I used after my tear. not cheap but they do work.

Worth noting that they come in L and R

a word of warning though, a support will allow your ankle to take more load before failing, so if it does fail it will fail bigstyle!

so be a bit grumpy and take it easy. the strength will come back.

[Rob Furness]

try road running first, at least it's reasonably flat.

a word of warning though, a support will allow your ankle to take more load before failing, so if it does fail it will fail bigstyle!

Already do a fair bit of road running as well as fell but it's not great for the soul :thunbdown:

As for failing bigstyle, I'm already used to that. I've had a tendon graft on my right ankle as a result of a non healing ruptured ATFL (which is now solid, but had me in a cast for 6 weeks and off work for 8) and I've had 3 fairly severe sprains on the left in the past few months that have resulted in grapefruit sized swelling plus plenty of bruising and associated hobbling about. Best was a month back where I went flying and had a lump the size and shape of a golf ball on the front of my ankle within seconds, I redid that one yesterday 1 minute into a run :angry: with the same result. Starting to get pretty fed up with it now though

Thanks for the links Ian but my budget doesn't stretch to £50 for an ankle brace just yet :w00t: The £30 one might get a look in....

[Derby Tup]

I'm a big believer in wobble-board or simply standing on one leg for twisted ankle recovery / conditioning. Standing in the queue at the supermarket, washing up, brushing your teeth, stood in the pub (added value if you've had a few ales)

[Rob Furness]

Got a wobble board, and I do plenty of one legged balancing, even with my eyes closed now for about 1 min per leg. The problem Is more to do with allowing the ligament to heal up before re-injuring it. I'm told it takes 6 weeks but I keep redoing it inside 4 each time, not usually running either (although the most recent one was).

[IanDarkpeak]

Already do a fair bit of road running as well as fell but it's not great for the soul :thunbdown:


Thanks for the links Ian but my budget doesn't stretch to £50 for an ankle brace just yet :w00t: The £30 one might get a look in....

They are also quite thin and fit in your fell shoes very easily and unlike neoprene do not suffer from getting smelly(or as Smelly)

[Rob Furness]

Ended up getting a Mcdavid support from JJB (just because they were closest and after slipping on the ice and re-spraining it yet again I needed one pronto). Seems to do the job nicely although it feels a bit odd to be strapped tightly up. Hopefully it won't be for too long anyway.

[Vitamin K]

A quick look on youtube should yield some useful results. Just search on 'ankle strapping

I had the same problem, i.e. recurring ankle injuries and solved them by taping for races and some training runs. Luckily, the physio I was being treated by showed my a good taping technique using strappal tape (if you can't find it anywhere try a climbing shop). It's too complicated to describe here but it did involve a combination of vertical strips and binding tape around the ankle.

The taping gave me a good level of confidence and lasted the course in races such as Langdale and the like. I'd recommend it alongside all the wobble board stuff and other rehab exercises.

I did notice that you ended up getting something from JJB but the taping meant I could still wear regular walshes with no problem.

[Rob Furness]

I was out last night in the snow wearing the Walshes for a bit over 5.5 miles (or about 9k for the metrication posse) for some cross country. The brace worked really well if I'm honest and was much easier than pissing about with tape. I felt the ankle stretch at a few points and felt the injury but without aggravating it so pretty pleased with that.

[RichardAThackeray]

I was out last night in the snow

I've been running to work (road/pavements there) & back ('XC') every day since last Saturday, & turned my ankles a few times on the broken (trodden) snow, & it's felt almost painful at times.

So, I'm not doing any running at all over the weekend, just to give them a rest.
See how they go on Monday