Client Sports Fitness Question Of The Week, 6

One major goal of sports fitness training is injury prevention. Ankle sprains are common to sports competitors. Really bad ankle sprains can give a player trouble for the rest of her or his career (i.e., ankle sleeves are needed to reinforce the ankle).

Client Q: Is there anything I can do to prevent ankle sprains during practice or games?

Mark's A: You can take steps to reduce the risk of spraining an ankle.



1) You can improve the ankle's joint proprioception (position sense) and dynamic stability with balance training. Doing one-legged balance exercises will accomplish this goal. One-leg balancing on foam pads or disks for 4-5 minutes (each leg) is a great exercise. Other great exercises are lunges, single-leg squats, step ups and medicine ball rotations on one leg.

2) Proper footwork during practice and games will also reduce ankle sprain risks. "Rolled ankles" are very common. An example would be failing to properly plant your foot (with the knee inside the ankle) when accelerating quickly out of a cut. Faulty landing technique from jumps also cause many ankle sprains and knee ligament injuries.

Download your FREE 10-Minute Strength and Power Workouts now!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs