The benefit of a brace

Every year, many athletes injure themselves. Ankle injuries are a common occurrence. Indoor athletes run a higher risk. Stumbling, an incorrect push-off or an over-rotation can often lead to ligament damage. In order to prevent an ankle injury, a brace can be extremely beneficial.

Explosive and sudden movements where the foot is perpendicular to the direction of movement can quickly lead to a ligament injury. If your foot tilts too far inwards or outwards, you run a higher risk of rupturing ankle ligaments. These risks are even greater if you are only in moderate condition, haven't done a warm-up and aren't wearing the right shoes. Depending on the severity, the ankle ligaments (mostly the relatively weak outer ligaments) are stretched or torn. Pain and swelling around the ankle are the symptoms, followed by a bluish-purple discolouration.

> Exercises

Unfortunately after an injury, there is often (slight) instability to the ankle, as well as the likelihood of recurrence (repetition) being relatively large. The ankle can be strengthened with muscle strengthening, mobilising and coordinating exercises. Check out www.veiligheid.nl. On this site, you'll find lots of exercises, which have been developed by the Consumer Safety Institute for mobile phone applications.

> Tape or brace

Other ways to prevent recurrence are taping and bracing, which are applied prior to exercising in order to improve the stability of the ankle joint. Taping and/or bracing help to accelerate healing and reduce the risk of re-injury. It also helps to prevent unwanted movement and allow normal movements wherever possible. Tape has the advantage that you can adapt it to your specific circumstances. It also requires very little space, for example in the shoe. Disadvantages include: allergic reactions to the skin, expertise (generally you can't apply it yourself) is required and the relatively rapid loss of stability.

A brace is easy to fit, can be worn frequently (washable), can easily be pulled tighter and is skin-friendly. There is a myth that a brace makes the joint stiffer and your muscles weak. A brace merely prevents unusual movements. According to the guideline 'Acute ankle sprain' from the Dutch GP Association (NHG - Standard Ankle distortion (Goudswaard AN, Thomas S., Van den Bosch WJHM, Van Weert HCPM, Geijer RMM. GP Act 2000; 43(1)), it is even advised to wear an ankle brace after a primary injury: 'After taping, engage in sports with a high risk of inversion injury (such as football, basketball, field hockey) only whilst wearing an ankle brace to prevent a second injury."