It’s important to work a variety of muscles during athletics and exercise. If you’re only working one group of muscles or one side of your body, some areas may becomes stronger than the other. If this happens in your ankles, you may be at a heightened risk for injury, according to data from a new study.
For the study, researchers took a closer look at the ankle strength of a group of Greek soccer plays. Ankle sprains are the most common type of injury among soccer players, and researchers wanted to learn more about some of the factors that contribute to their onset. Researchers did preseason tests of ankle strength and stability for 100 players from four professional soccer teams in Greece and followed the players over the next 10 months. 17 players ended up suffering one or more non-contact sprains during the season.
After looking closer at the data they collected, researchers came to learn that players with considerable strength differences between their left and right ankles were nine times more likely to suffer sprains as those whose ankles were about the same strength.
Researchers believe that when a player is jumping or landing, it is better for their ankle health if they have symmetrical activation of two sets of ankle muscles to help the joints absorb the impact and prevent strains. They also found that heavier players were more prone to sprains, which stands to reason considering their ankles would absorb a larger force when they land or cut.
Dr. Silverman Comments
Major discrepancies in muscle strength is a common source of injury in other areas of the body, so it’s not all that surprising to see the same issue in the ankles. For example, if an athlete has very strong quadriceps muscles but weaker hamstrings muscles, they may be at an increased risk of injury because of the discrepancy in the muscles that work in opposition of one another. While the ankle ligaments don’t work in opposition of one another, if you’re regularly exposing both feet to the same stress patterns and one ankle is significantly weaker than the other, it stands to reason that those athletes would face an additional injury risk.
Aside from working to maintain a healthy weight, athletes should make sure that they are targeting both sides of their body equally to avoid strength discrepancies. Also, if you’ve had an ankle injury in the past, you can’t just rest your way back to full health. You need to proactively treat the problem and pursue physical therapy so that you can return to a pre-injury level of strength. If you don’t, your weaker ankle will always keep you at an elevated risk for another sprain.