More than 30,000 ankle sprains take place in the U.S. every day, and for some individuals, it feels like they roll their ankles on a pretty regular basis. This is not uncommon, especially if you have suffered a significant ankle injury in the past. If your foot rolls when you walk or when your step on uneven ground, you’re probably dealing with one specific condition known as ankle instability. We explain what it is an how it’s treated in this blog.
Always Rolling My Ankles
A number of patients who visit my office with an ankle injury say that they seem to roll or sprain their ankle pretty frequently. Oftentimes the movement doesn’t result in a significant injury, but all it takes is one misstep for you to suffer a severe sprain or fracture. Many of these patients want to know why their ankles roll frequently and what they can do about it, and I always tell them that the problem is housed in the ligaments on the outside of their ankle.
These ligaments, oftentimes called the lateral ligaments, help to support your foot and prevent it from rolling with each step you take. However, these ligaments can degenerate over time or due to acute injury. When these ankles become damaged, we refer to them as “loose” ligaments, because they can’t stabilize the ankle joint as well as they could when they were stronger.
We usually use the example of a bent straw to hammer this point home. Imagine you have a straw, and you stand it straight up. You can put a little downward pressure on the straw and it will remain strong and rigid. However, if you create a bend in the middle of the straw and then stand it up, you’ll notice that you won’t be able to put as much downward force on the straw before it bends and crumples. Your lateral ligaments act in a similar manner. When they are damaged and injured, their ability to keep your ankle from rolling is severely compromised.
Treating Ankle Instability
Treating ankle instability is one of Dr. Silverman’s specialties. In fact, he created a 60-second video to talk about your options if you’ve been diagnosed with ankle instability. Check it out below.
Ankle instability can be treated with a minimally invasive operation that re-tightens the ligaments so they can better support your ankles. You don’t need to live with chronically rolling ankles.