

Which depends on your individual injury, goals, and needs. Instead, it’s about what’s best for protecting your ankle. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for choosing ankle sprain braces and supports. But, as your injury heals and you enter the later stages of rehabilitation, you might need to switch to one that offers less compression and allows more range of motion.

For example, you might need to start with a brace that firmly compresses your ankle and limits your range of motion. It’s important to understand that the type of brace you use will likely change throughout your rehabilitation.

Conversely, when you are getting back to football, your brace should give you enough support and stability to safely stop, turn, and change direction. In that case, your brace must provide enough support for the high-impact nature of running without restricting your range of motion too much. And, it should give you the right level of support for those activities.įor example, when you want to return to running. Your ankle brace should allow you to keep doing the sports and activities you need and want to do while recovering from your injury. The activities you want to do while you're recovering (and after) This allows you to walk and run without straining your injured ligaments.ģ. But stops it from turning inward or outward. They become injured when your foot is turned inward (inverted) excessively and are overstretched.Īn ankle brace allows your foot to move up and down into dorsiflexion (toes pointing up) and plantarflexion (toes pointing down). The most common ligaments that are injured in an ankle sprain are on the outer side of your ankle. Which prevents it from moving into positions where it’s vulnerable to re-injury. Restricting ankle range of motionĪnkle braces restrict your ankle’s range of motion. Which helps your brain connect, sense, and control your ankle movement better. When these sensors are compressed, they send more signals to your brain about what is happening at your ankle.
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It does this by adding slight compression to the skin around your ankle, which has tiny sensors in it.

Wearing ankle supports while you recover can enhance your proprioception. When you sprain your ankle, these proprioceptors are often injured and need time to heal. It’s controlled by sensors in your joints, muscles, and ligaments. Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense where it is in space. Increase ankle proprioception (joint position sense) An ankle brace can be a brilliant tool to help you achieve this goal. This means moving your ankle within safe ranges of motion that don’t strain your injured ligaments or the other injured tissues. The key to striking this balance is protected movement. So, how do you strike the right balance between doing too much and too little movement? Between protecting your ankle and encouraging it to heal? Protected movement is key So you can prevent your injury from worsening or re-injuring it before it’s fully healed. But it also means you need to protect it while you’re healing. So, it’s usually best to start moving your ankle as soon as possible after you sprain your ankle. And these effects can speed up your recovery and reduce your risk of re-injury. Movement brings fresh blood to the area, feeds your joints, and stimulates your body to rebuild and repair injured tissues. The research shows that early movement is better than complete rest or immobilization. Why a brace can help your ankle sprain To heal, you need to move This article explains how different ankle braces and supports can be used as a tool to speed up your recovery, and helps you decide which type is right for you. Ankle braces are often recommended by sports doctors and rehab professionals, but do you know why and how they really work? Or if they will help you? When you have an ankle sprain it’s only natural to try and find the quickest way to heal your injury so you can get back to the things you love.
