Ankle Support Guide

Ankle Support Guide

Ankle support is crucial for athletes and people who regularly take part in physical activity. Whether you are suffering from an ankle injury or looking for preventative support, the right ankle brace will provide stability and help you recover faster.

Your ankle has a complex structure with bones, muscles and a network of ligaments and tendons that keep it stable, flexible and strong. But if the ligaments are torn or strained, your ankle might feel unstable. Fortunately, medical professionals know how to treat the injured tissue and restore normal movement to your ankle. However, they also recognize that it’s best to start moving again as soon as possible to encourage blood flow and promote healing. But moving too soon might re-injure the ankle, so it’s important to find the right balance between supporting your ankle and encouraging movement.

To help you do this, we’ve compiled an ankle support guide to find the right product for you and your lifestyle. We’ll discuss the types of ankle supports available and how to decide when and for how long to wear one. Then we’ll recommend some of our favorite ankle supports for running, sports and everyday life.

A soft ankle sleeve is lightweight, comfortable and fits over your foot or under your sock. It is designed to add extra compression for increased blood flow and helps reduce swelling and pain after an ankle sprain or strain. It can also be worn post-run to decrease inflammation and accelerate recovery.

This ultra-minimal ankle sleeve has an open mesh insole to increase breathability and is machine washable, making it perfect for runners who want to minimize bulk and sweat on the feet. It wraps around the ankle, like a sock, and uses a band across the top to secure it in place and relieve pressure on your Achilles tendon. It’s easy to put on and fits comfortably while running or walking.

More rigid than a soft ankle sleeve, this lace-up style is made to fit into shoes and limit side-to-side and up-and-down movements of the ankle, and most can be used on either the right or left ankle. Lace-ups tend to be a bit more expensive than soft braces, but they can offer the stability you need without restricting your range of motion.

Few studies have directly evaluated the impact of external ankle supports on ground-reaction forces during dynamic tasks. The existing data that does exist suggests that talocrural and talocalcaneal joint moments may be reduced by external support during dynamic inversion shuffling, but further research is needed to evaluate this directly through inverse dynamics or forward solution modeling among different ankle-support conditions.

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