Knowing if you have ankle instability can be easy to diagnose for some and challenging for others.
You may have ankle instability if:
- you have had several ankle sprains in the past
- your ankle give way on uneven ground
- you find yourself avoiding things that aggravate your loose ankle or ankles (high heels, cutting sports, etc)
Ankle instability is not normal. It’s not something you just have to deal with. It’s something to get fixed.
Some people have ankle pain or lateral foot pain and don’t remember having a sprain. They don’t give way or they don’t realize it because they have developed so many accommodative measures. Eventually, the structures making up for the ankle instability (usually the peroneal tendons) give out and start to tear.
Ankle sprains are common. Roughly 30,000 occur each day in the U.S. Thankfully, not every ankle sprain leads to ankle instability. Treating ankle instability is different from treating an ankle sprain.
Most physicians begin with non-surgical measures. While these have a lower likelihood of success than surgery, you don’t run the risks associated with surgery.
Non-surgical measures include:
- Ankle Support Braces for sports or athletic training. My favorite brace is the Trilok Ankle brace. In my experience, it is extremely effective and versatile.
- Physical therapy exercises for ankle stability that are simple to perform and can be done at home include the one leg stance for 2-5 minutes per day. Progress this exercise to more challenging surfaces from flat floor to pillow to bed, trampoline or bosu ball. For more exercises, I recommend a formal course of directed physical therapy.
- Shoewear modification. Wearing high top boots and avoiding shoes that aggravate the symptoms can help.
None of these treatments fix the condition, they just help you accommodate and cope. Long term problems of recurrent ankle instability include ankle arthritis and peroneal tendon tearing. Thankfully, these problems develop very slowly and management is successful except in advanced cases.
The best way to fix ankle instability is ankle stabilization surgery. My preference is for anatomic repairs that rebuild the normal condition.