Thoughts on ankle support.

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

Joined
Sep 28, 2005
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I just wanted a discussion about "needing" ankle support on hikes. I have never used anything more than Coleman hiking shoes, and have never rolled my ankles or even thought that any more support was necessary. This is hiking through my local woods, in the mountains and in the arctic (even with 40#+ of soapstone in a backpack circumnavigating a 25 km lake in tundra). After my accident I cannot stand anything touching the scars on my ankles so support is not even possible, although my restricted ankle motion gives a bit of support on its own. I've often wondered where the stiff heavy boot comes in, and where it started to gain momentum- most indiginous peoples I've observed do not have stiff leather boots, nor do most people I see around here, unless they are MEC "hippies".

P.s. I like to have more toe motion possible than I have had in my steel toed workboots (that hopefully I'll never have to put on again) as well, and I get that with my looser footwear, so I find my feet are happier at the end of the day.
 
Hi Kris. I pay a lot of attention to my feet/ankles, especially in the bush.After all , they are your sole means of transportation ! One wrong step , and you could be placed into an immediate survival situation.
Even with mediocre footwear,I place great importance on where I step and position myself when trekking. As far as footwear goes , I wear pretty run-of-the-mill stuff , as long as it's wide enough for my feet and comfortable. Steel toes are totally out for me as they kill the front of my foot , and are absolutely unnecessary in the woods as far as I'm concerned. If I'm going on longer hikes, I like to wear slightly higher topped boots for ankle protection ,like combat boots.
 
It's taken me about 7 years to mentally get where I am, but I think the whole 'support' think is crap. Feet don't need support. Shoes create more problems than solutions.

I wear Vibram Five Fingers, go barefoot or wear no-support sandals as much as possible and i'm better for it.

You don't *need* shoes, you're just used to them.
 
CUTS LIKE A KRIS said:
I just wanted a discussion about "needing" ankle support on hikes. I have never used anything more than Coleman hiking shoes, and have never rolled my ankles or even thought that any more support was necessary. This is hiking through my local woods, in the mountains and in the arctic (even with 40#+ of soapstone in a backpack circumnavigating a 25 km lake in tundra). After my accident I cannot stand anything touching the scars on my ankles so support is not even possible, although my restricted ankle motion gives a bit of support on its own. I've often wondered where the stiff heavy boot comes in, and where it started to gain momentum- most indiginous peoples I've observed do not have stiff leather boots, nor do most people I see around here, unless they are MEC "hippies".

P.s. I like to have more toe motion possible than I have had in my steel toed workboots (that hopefully I'll never have to put on again) as well, and I get that with my looser footwear, so I find my feet are happier at the end of the day.
Click to expand...
For what it's worth, walk on sand to increase the strength of your injured ankle.

If you can't get access to a beach where you are, then walking on the spot in a sand box will work (in a pinch) :thumbup:



Kind regards
Mick
 
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I don't know how to help with the "weirdness" when things touch your scar(s). I've a few largish scars from ~30 years ago and experienced the same thing, but thankfully mine is in a less contacted spot (mid-thigh).

Can you wear socks? Maybe some plush, cushy socks could help you adjust to wearing some over the ankle boots. Honestly, you will want to get fit for hiking boots b/c the stiffness is in the boots mid-sole and the hunting community boots are simply not as supportive. I grew up in that community and they are quick to point you to Cabela's finest, but they just don't have the mid-sole support needed to stabilize your foot/ankle as it needs. The anti-MEC community you mention is probably similar to what i grew up with and i appreciate what you're saying.

Also, i don't know what kind of surgery you've had on your ankle(s), but if it were me whether or not i had real ankle support would be a huge question i'd need to know. Just for the sake of discussion, imagine if you're lulled into a false sense of security and you roll it over - badly - 5 miles from your car and out of cell-phone coverage. The damage you experience could be more than what someone w/o a previous injury would experience and would be in a true survival situation.

I always thought i had good ankle health/strength: i stretched my legs/knees/ankles daily for physical fitness (running/martial arts/hiking/etc), was active in the outdoors, and had never had an injury. However, one day i was getting out of my car and the sole of my sandal caught on a spot in the street. My body weight momentum carried me past the axis of my ankle and it "rolled" - hugely. It swelled instantly and WOW did it hurt.

Since then, i've rolled it several more times including a fracture. I am VERY careful now and always wear over-the-ankle leather mountaineering boots. I always wore boots for backpacking b/c i knew/was taught it helped support my leg joints. At the time, i had never had a problem but took the info good so wore boots anyway. Now i KNOW why that was and IS good information.
 
I've sprained both ankles several times. I wear boots everday at work, although I wear the lightest versions (Desert Jungles), and I'm either bare-foot or in my Chaco sandals as soon as I'm home and on weekends. I run in decent running shoes...my fear is that your ankles won't strengthen if you have constant support. If I'm hiking with a pack, I pretty much put my hiking boots on; they do give me good support on rugged trails...and yes, I've had a major tumble from a twisted ankle a few miles into a hike. What's funny, is I can play just about any field sport, soccer, football; run through the woods at break-neck paces and I'll get a sprain like fmajor007 just walking to the truck and stepping on a small rock:confused: :confused: I take more care now to watch where I step, but whenever I get the chance, the shoes/boots come off to focus on maintaining my ankle strength.

If you're not packing too much weight and it's not too cold, I highly recommend some type of "all terrain" sandals; I'm loving my Chaco sandals for hiking...they'll give your toes plenty of room, excellent support and after you get use to the rough soles, they are very comfortable on the trail.

ROCK6
 
A few months ago I walked about 20 minutes up a well gravelled trail. It was steep but nothing hardly difficult terrain.

I came down and and drove home without incident. The next day I discovered I'd damaged one of my tendons so I couldn't move my foot laterally (picture the motion like you do when stepping on a cigarette) without great pain. It stayed with me for weeks and only recently I realised I was completely pain free.

The worst part is I don't remember slipping or skidding at all that afternoon and to this day I don't know how the hell I did it except maybe walking up that trail.

Don't know if boots would have helped... sometimes I guess you just get injured...
 
The strange sensations on scars will decrease with time and the more you can touch/rub them. It is like nails on a chalk board at times but it does improve with time. Some of mine took a couple of years and some only a few months but all went faster the more I could force myself to touch and rub them, gently at first then increasing pressure as my tollerance increased.
 
ROCK6 said:
........ What's funny, is I can play just about any field sport, soccer, football; run through the woods at break-neck paces and I'll get a sprain like fmajor007 just walking to the truck and stepping on a small rock:confused: :confused: I take more care now to watch where I step, but whenever I get the chance, the shoes/boots come off to focus on maintaining my ankle strength.

If you're not packing too much weight and it's not too cold, I highly recommend some type of "all terrain" sandals; I'm loving my Chaco sandals for hiking...they'll give your toes plenty of room, excellent support and after you get use to the rough soles, they are very comfortable on the trail.

ROCK6
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That's exactly how it is for me!!! Rock, you wearing my ankles?!?!

Yea, i pretty much wear Keene knock-offs (Payless baby!!!!) all the time i'm not in meetings/at "work" (my work is an outdoor adventure type of emphasis so i get alot of trail time). Then it's "meeting specific" i wear everything from full-dress shoes to sandals - it all depends.

For trail walking (hiking in todays vernacular), i'm good in running shoes or "trail" shoes. Honestly, my favorite all-time trail-shoes were "approach" shoes by Garmont called "Sticky Weekend". They were awesome!!! I wore through the sole into the mid-sole. Money well-spent there.

I hope you can get your ankle sorted out. Give it time to strengthen through lots of intentional strengthening movements/exercises and in no time you'll be back on track, but will probably forever need to be more 'intentional' about outdoors travel.
 
I would offer this
Try and strengthen your "ankles"

Balance will greatly improve your strength
in your lower legs,ankles and feet.
I use one of those half deflated balance cushions things
41uacewholl-sl160-aa160-1.jpg


there are many different types of these things available.
Core strengthening also is very helpful for balance.
You dont have to go nuts with exercise,but doing
a 20 30 situps every other day,a few minutes on that
balance thing,maybe try doing kinda like squats on it,
one legged squats etc
this has really really helped me in my trail running and reduced
my ankle injuries to nill (knock wood)
Stepping on a root and your ankle starts to roll
your balance kicks in and the weight shifts somewhere else
to stabilize you.

Anyway,worked for me.
 
I spend most of my tree time in the months from Late April till mid October in sandals... never had a problem..if anything my ankles are much stronger now than they have ever been thruough constantly needing to make micro adjustments to stay coorodinated across unpredictable terrain....also if my feet get wet.. they dry very quicky which is an added bonus
 
bont_vaypor_08.jpg


After spending two seasons cranking out 20 milers on these babies, I prefer softsoled mocs to, well, just about everything.
 
stieg said:
It's taken me about 7 years to mentally get where I am, but I think the whole 'support' think is crap. Feet don't need support. Shoes create more problems than solutions.

I wear Vibram Five Fingers, go barefoot or wear no-support sandals as much as possible and i'm better for it.

You don't *need* shoes, you're just used to them.
Click to expand...

According to my orthopedic surgeon, repeated injuries like ligament damage due to ankle rolls, have a decreasing healing curve in terms of healing to 100%. That is, it becomes easier to re-injure every time you injure the same area.

Artificial turf has taken it's toll on my ankles, so a good supportive boot is what I prefer. The trails here in Rocksylvania have affirmed my decision. :)

Cheers
 
i clean carpets for a living & unlike many of the younger set i wear low cut boots. even tho they are much heavier i've never twisted an ankle in all these years. several of my younger helpers have sustained really painful ankle injuries along with some knee problems.at 71 yrs of age i still go with the boots & find that people wearing heavier footwear will adjust to them & at days end will have less foot soreness. when i hiked the sierras in the 60s no one serious about the boonies went w/o the serious hiking/climbing boots. all my hunting inthe idaho,wash., oregon & colorado area was with serious foot support. regardless of the added weight one will adjust over time & the boots will feel like a feather. you can wear your boots in your daily life & when you hit the high rocks they will certainly be welcome.
 
hiwa said:
Hi Kris. I pay a lot of attention to my feet/ankles, especially in the bush.After all , they are your sole means of transportation ! One wrong step , and you could be placed into an immediate survival situation.
Even with mediocre footwear,I place great importance on where I step and position myself when trekking. As far as footwear goes , I wear pretty run-of-the-mill stuff , as long as it's wide enough for my feet and comfortable. Steel toes are totally out for me as they kill the front of my foot , and are absolutely unnecessary in the woods as far as I'm concerned. If I'm going on longer hikes, I like to wear slightly higher topped boots for ankle protection ,like combat boots.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. Ankle support has helped me - usually on the way down the mountain from rolling the ankle, rock protection, keeping snow and water out of the boot.

I've noticed several times that people do not tie their boots properly to use the ankle support available from the boot.
 
Some time ago, I badly sprained an ankle while jogging. I found a product called a T-Brace that I wore for support while running and hiking for several years. It's a close contact support (It laces up), but I had a lot of confidence while wearing one that I wouldn't re-injure the ankle. It was tender for several years.
 
Thanks for the discussion. I appreciate the thoughts on the scars, I finished my association exam for massage therapy today so I have the scar manipulation down pat (plus 2.5 years of physio- my gait was the best in the class, no wonder, I've been getting personal treatment to be able to walk again). As I have never been keen on ankle support I don't think I'll try again (unless proven wrong)- plus with the scars being along my fibula there isn't much extra tissue there anyways. As far as walking on sand- yah my honeymoon was on my "good" leg in the beach and man did it work me over (I'm sure the crutches helped too).

One thing that brought this to my mind was May long weekend we were camping and with my son on my back(pack), I did one of the steepest inclines/declines that I have done, and did not come close to rolling anything, while wearing Keen sandals that do not tighten much. A bit more tightness in the foot would have been nice, but at no time was ankle support an issue, and as well from personal experience it seems that people are less specific about where they put their feet if wearing heavier hikers, so step placement could be a big factor as well.

Riley- that is kind of how I feel, almost like the difference between machine lifts and free weights (not that I do either)
 
dextersp1 said:
Ankle support has helped me - usually on the way down the mountain from rolling the ankle, rock protection, keeping snow and water out of the boot.
Click to expand...

I agree. I wore hiking shoes for years until about 4 months ago. It was near the end of a hike going down a fairly rocky trail, I was tired, mind wandering a bit, not paying full attention, and I rolled my ankle and hit the ground like a bag of rocks. Ankle was a little sore for a few days, had a few scrapes, but otherwise no physical damage. What bothered me was thinking how much worse it could have been. Picked up some boots a week or two later.
 
I am a fan of ankle support. Those who dismiss it outright are doing the footwear equivalent of the knee-jerk anti-batoning stance, in my opinion. It's one thing to say that you prefer a no-support approach, and to provide reasons why. That I can appreciate.

My current hiking boots are from Columbia, and I purchased them in 2006. They are a four-season hiking boot, which means that they are well-broken-in by now and incredibly comfortable. Having rolled my ankles a few times in the past while hauling packs in shoes, I appreciate the ankle support. It comes in handy for climbing up and down inclines, and the added height to the boots offers a degree of protection against water and mud and allows me to strap on snowshoes in the winter.

Sandals and trail shoes definitely have their place, and I'm really liking the look of the Vibram KSOs. But a good pair of hiking boots is just too versatile to dismiss.

My $0.02.

All the best,

- Mike
 
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