I have really bad ankles.

Drunken dancing did in my right ankle when I was 21; and stepping into a hole in a friend's back yard at night did in my left a couple months ago.

 

...... Drunken Dancing... kinda catchy.

 

yeah--- catchy... I'm a klutz sober. Add alcohol and I'm a danger to my own safety.

 

I'm exactly the same way. It's funny...

 

Bad ankles...Great legs...

 

those shoes gave me a panic attack.

 

Ahahaha... there you are stranger!

 

i remember when i sprained my ankle 8 years ago...not fun

 

Have you seen those things that look like huge rubber bands? (They are used in pilates) Anyways I use one of those to keep my ankles strong. The ligaments in my ankles are damaged from all the sprains I've suffered with. But using one of those has kept me from spraining my ankles for over two years. (knock on wood)


*edit* Oh and you can always stand behind a chair for support and raise up on the balls of your feet - hold for a few seconds and then lower back down....and that helps as well.

 

Haha... yeah, hmm, now and then or recently I've actually been going longer without sprains... if I went two years without one I'd be happy.. haha Before this time it mighta been over a year actually.... I know what bands you're talking about and I was actually going to buy one anyways so ... double uses are great

 

Yes they are....

That's why when I remembered the chair exercise I added it in. Gotta love it when the equipment is something so ordinary.

 

Oh okay cool... thanks for letting me know about the edit.

 

well, you gotta think of other areas that may or may not be functioning properly up the kinetic chain if you have a series of ankle sprains. something may not be working and your compensating which causes the increase in likelyhood of another ankle sprain.


check these out - jump stretch band training
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XKMy8hiuGnY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tncvH84G9RA

 

My ankle was so bad this spring - it would strain by stepping on the slightest bump or smallest rocks on the road and this was 3 times a week or so and the ankle was awkwardly swollen all the time.

At some point the choice was to walk without shoes or not at all. Yup so I put off shoes. I walk without since most of the time and my ankle got better and better - and not just the ankle but everything else too.

 

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/anklesprain/anklesprain.html

try and exercise once in a while you pansy.

 

thats a good site

but there is evidence that wearing no shoes is beneficial. because of all the signals the foot sends up to the brain which allows the brain to send signals to different body parts so they can be ready to be in use in some case - this is the reason why i brought up to Lucky that something in her kinetic chain may not be working properly. could be weak muscles, could be imbalanced, could be a tight muscle, could be a muscle that doesn't fire properly ,etc...

its a reason why track shoes have such a thin sole and the foot is close to the ground.

i do a lot of my training barefoot now or with socks on

 

I hike barefoot everywhere. It's made my legs, ankles, and feet stronger. I've gotten used to it over the years. One needs to start out slowly.

It's good to start barefooting by walking on a level soft surface such as grass or harder sand briefly at first. It will work every little muscle. I got cramps in my legs and toes when I first started doing this because all the muscles and ligaments weren't used to being worked from wearing shoes. After that, it became very comfortable and healthy.

.

 

Not to bash flip flops, but they can be clumsy when hiking on uneven surfaces and lead to sprains. They're not good for watersports either. One of my sailing instructors made students with flip flops take them off and go barefoot instead, since flip flops can come loose and cause one to trip.

.

 

yea, i did the hiking in flip flops thing before...actually made a thread about it

and yea, it sucked balls. luckily it wasn't a hard trail. but yea, i was hurting afterwords. but i ddn't plan on hiking, i just went for a drive and ended up at the trail haha