I
apologize for my recent absence.
I’m in the process of relocating and have been spending way too much
time on the road. Fortunately the
process is moving along swimmingly and it’s time to get back to the routine as
much as possible.
I
had a discussion with a colleague the other day and we discussed our mutual
love for trail running. He’s much
more of an endurance animal than I ever was (note the past tense) but our paths
have crossed a number of times over the years and now we get to work together
and swap stories about how great we once were.
Now
about ankles. Soccer players have
notoriously strong ankles. Why you
may ask? Well, think about it,
which joint takes the most punishment in a game of soccer? Of course the knees get a lot of work
but ankles really are very vulnerable to injury due primarily to the fact that
they are where the action is in “football”.
Over
20+ years of coaching soccer I’ve noticed that my players don’t have many ankle
injuries, at least not as often as basketball, volleyball, American football
and other sports. Why is
that? Maybe I’m wrong but from my
experience they just don’t have ankle issues as often as other sports. There
must be something inherent in the way soccer players move and run that helps strengthen
their ankles thereby reducing ankle injuries.
I
remember seeing an interview with NBA player Tom Chambers of the Phoenix Suns,
Utah Jazz and I forget whom else.
Tom used to get teased for playing in low-top basketball shoes. The reporter asked him about that and
he also mentioned that he never taped his ankles. Tom never had ankle injuries. Now
Tom might have had extraordinary ankle genetics but I think there is a trend
here. I believe that high top
shoes and “over-taping” makes ankles weaker and more susceptible to injury.
Now
of course when an injury does occur we should take precautions and support the
joint until it heals but it makes sense to wean the ankle away from too much
support in order for it to grow stronger eventually going au naturel with just
a sock and boot for support.
Soccer
players run on uneven ground for the most part and have built up the
musculature around the foot and ankle and therefore are less likely to get ankle
injuries. I would love to see a
study comparing players who play on artificial fields versus playing on natural
grass and what the respective ankle injury rates are. Just an aside.
My
trail running friend and I both agree that running on dirt trails is a great
way to build up ankle strength. I
would suggest that any soccer player that is in the pre-season conditioning
phase should spend a couple of their long-run days by running on hilly uneven
ground. Just take it a little
slower and watch where your feet are falling to avoid any ankle breaking gopher
holes. Your thoughts are always
welcome!
