Volleyball Forums

265.22 Points

The trainer at my school doesn't want the kids to wear ankle braces unless they do basic ankle rehab for 15 minutes/day. She maintains that it teaches the ankle stablizing muscles to not stabilize b/c they learn to rely on the brace.

What are some good arguments that would refute this? Anatomy or volleyball-wise?

Thanks.

25251.10 Points

I think you'll find a lot of people who agree with your trainer on this site. Unless you have a history of weakness (and are willing to do the work in to strengthen you ankles after practice) it might not be the best idea to be using them (unless, of course, your school's insurance requires it).

3304.44 Points

I think your trainer is spot on.

265.22 Points

Good to hear. It makes me sketchy when she tells me this - and i look at several teams whose entire front row seems to be wearing them.

Wasn't sure if ankle braces were pro-active or reactive equipment.

4362.95 Points

I agree with your trainer 100%.

8547.25 Points

http://volleyball-base.com/blog/2008/01/14/to-brace-or-not-to-brace-that-is-the-question/

8547.25 Points

I agree with your trainer, as long as you have healthy ankkles, and are playing with and against players who can control themselves at the net. Otherwise, I would say ankle braces are a low cost way of avoiding long term damage. There are many styles of braces out there that do not affect the ankle strength or proprioception, and therefore are valid choices. It is not like wearing braces is something to do 24 hours a day...

1629.19 Points

Well, I agree with strengthening your ankles. I would never recommend an ankle brace over strengthening. But to say that you should not wear one means you have never rolled an ankle badly, at least in my opinion. I never wore an ankle brace until I tore ligaments and had to wear a boot for 4 weeks and could not take business trips for 3 months. It took 5 months time plus physical therapy to get back on the court. I now wear one on both ankles and it keeps ankle rolls from becoming bad. In my uneducated opinion, I don't think there is a level of strengthening to prevent an injury from landing on the side of a foot. I have seen it happen in the NBA, NCAA men's vball and international vball. I would guess that they have strong ankles. I think it depends on what you are willing to lose. At almost 39, I can't take 6 months off from playing ball and I cannot expect my job to understand a second time. Just my opinion.

25251.10 Points

I've found that being really sensitive to what's under my feet and just collapsing when I feel anything other than floor under there has cut my ankle rolls down to almost nothing, but that can't work 100% of the time. I wonder if the decision is impacted by what stage of life you are in. If your musculature is still developing, if it's more important to let it do that naturally than when you're fully grown. Or I could just be talking out of my butt again...

4362.95 Points

Braces don't solve all the problems. I've seen guys blow their knees out because the force was transferred to their knees. I've seen braces break and the ankle roll anyways. If you strengthen your ankles and wear a brace, I buy it. If you don't strengthen your ankles and rely on a brace, I'm not sure you're that much safer.

1629.19 Points

I completely agree. I wear mine for prevention. I have played without them but I just cannot take the risk. In my opinion, if you roll your ankle and break your brace, either it was old or you REALLY rolled that sucker over. In any case, I would hope that breaking my brace would take some of the force out of the roll and leave me with less of an injury than with no brace at all.

4362.95 Points

Another thing to consider is the psychological affect of wearing braces. A lot of people (especially young athletes) believe that braces solve all problems, so they think they're invincible. Sometimes this causes recklessness which not only endangers themselves (since braces are not 100%) but also other players who may not be as prepared to repel the forces of an ankle injury.

25251.10 Points

Good point. I've heard that argument made a lot in football...

1054.72 Points

As many times I've rolled my ankle, you think i would be all about it.

However, i realized strengthing it (via sand ball and plyos) and strechting it to be super flexible is the best strategy.

When I do get a rolled ankle, i heal in no time, and since i strech them a lot, they have plenty of give in terms of roll haha

1940.27 Points

I've never done mine, and never even felt like it was going to go.

One of my players approached me about whether she should buy them. I told her I don't agree wear them or want to wear them, and gave her alternatives that might help (some light strapping techniques, long, stiff socks). After about 3 weeks we spoke again, she felt she needed/wanted the ankle braces and has gone with that option.

She's doing great on them and appreciates the stability.

I'm not convinced that people have an 'invincible' attitude with their ankles, I find the people who use them are OVER cautious with their ankles, rather than under (no basis other than a hunch though).

25251.10 Points

I wonder if there are some of each type of player based on their aggressiveness of personality/playing style in general.

3304.44 Points

I'm sure there are some people that wear ankle braces because they are generally very cautious, and so they will also be more careful while playing. There are lots of people who wear ankle braces, because they know their style of play lands them on other people's feet frequently.

I just don't do the dangerous plays anymore, myself. No floating blocks, never jump forward for a joust. Just leave a hole, and lose more jousts, but play the next week for me. Not an option for the serious competitor though, I suppose.

25251.10 Points

For me, learning to collapse when I sensed anything not flat under my foot made a ton of difference and cut down the rolled ankles to almost nil. Before that I'd been seriously considering getting some braces, but after that, it stopped being an issue.

201.53 Points

This came up for me this week when a couple of my club kids showed up with braces. I was worried they were hurt, but it was a just in case or prophylactic brace.

I'm also on the fence as to their value, but this topic is starting to sound a lot like the seat belt arguments of old. I'm starting to slide towards wearing them, but I believe good technique, training, and caution is an equally good preventative measure. From what I've read, they haven't been shown to increase ACL injuries statistically. I now wear a brace occasionally since I rolled mine, and it gets weak (and I don't rehab it enough). A brace may have reduced my injury, but I made a really stupid move--making a good hit from a horrid set with a suicidal jump (had I not collapsed, it would have been very bad).

There are several studies out there on this. A couple of them caught my attention. The first being in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 36, No. 2, pg 324-327. They had 43 U-Penn players wear Active Ankles for all games/practices across 7 years, and there was only 1 ankle injury. Correlation is not causation, but after I read that, I bought my daughter a pair of active ankles. I'm not pushing her to wear them yet due to the age and play level, but I will toward the end of this club season, as she starts playing with/against older aggressive kids with less control at the net.

Another interesting study was in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2004, vol. 38, pg 182-185. In that study they compared technical training, proprioceptive training, and prophylactic bracing. They found technical training was the best, and the other 2 worked nearly equally. They also noted that bracing didn't help those with a history of multiple (>3) ankle sprains.