Sports have always served as a unifying entity in this country, and some hope arrived when the NBA announced that they will be returning to action on July 31st in Orlando, FL. Unfortunately, my New York Knicks did not make the cut as only 22 teams will be participating in this abridged version of the remainder season, but it will be interesting to observe the injury rates when play does resume.
I’d like to highlight one of those common basketball injuries — ankle sprains — and break down how to decrease the risk of injury when returning to the court.
Let’s start with defining what we’re discussing. An ankle sprain is a sliding scale from microscopic tear to full rupture of a ligament surrounding the ankle joint. The most common ligament sprains are on the lateral (outside) portion of the ankle.
There are three grades of ankle sprains that correlate with degree of injury and recovery time. Grade I is considered mild and is characterized by some local tenderness and swelling without a large impact on function. An athlete may not have to miss time for a Grade I ankle sprain, but the usual timeline for recovery is 1-3 weeks. A Grade II ankle sprain will have more notable tenderness and swelling, and will also impact function by decreasing joint range of motion and stability. Recovery time is on the order of 3-6 weeks. A Grade III sprain is a full rupture of an ankle ligament which requires months of healing time, but usually does not require surgery. Inability to walk can be a key dissociating factor between a Grade II and Grade III ankle sprain.
Ankle sprains are the most common basketball injury and lead to missed playing time. At the professional level, they occur at an alarmingly high rate. Approximately 25% of pro ball players sustain an ankle sprain over the course of a season.* It doesn’t matter how good you are if you can’t be on the court! So it’s incredibly important to prioritize reducing injury risk in the first place, especially since the major prognostic indicator for an ankle sprain is a history of ankle sprains. This study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that over 70% of athletes who sustained an ankle sprain experienced recurrent ankle sprains. This further highlights the importance of ankle sprain injury risk reduction.
Do the work to prevent the first one from ever happening.
Based on my own personal anecdotal evidence, here are several physical capabilities that, if optimized, will decrease the risk of ankle sprain injury:
Ankle Range of Motion
Glute Strength
Landing Ability
Ankle Range of Motion
When self-assessing ankle range of motion, stand facing a wall with your big toe 5 inches from the wall. While keeping your heel planted into the ground, drive your knee forward in a straight line as far as you can. If you can touch the wall with your knee, awesome. If you can’t, that’s absolutely something to work on. Range of motion can be limited due to limitations in flexibility or in the ankle joint itself, so if you fail this test, reach out to me for a consultation. We’ll get to the root cause and customize drills to your needs.
Glute Strength
Glute strength is critical for ankle stability. Ever heard of a guy named Steph Curry? After struggles with chronic ankle sprains, he worked diligently to strengthen his glutes, and the rest is history! Weakness in your hips can create suboptimal biomechanical patterns that can place excessive torque on the ankles. Check out my glute activation series on IGTV here, where I cover:
Side plank clamshells
Isometric squats
Isometric fire hydrants
Lateral band walks
The hip hinge “Skills and Drills”series is a great watch, too. I demonstrate a progression of drills to work on the hip hinge pattern:
Kneeling hip hinge
Deadlift
Staggered stance deadlift
Single leg deadlift
Single leg deadlift to knee drive
Landing Ability
The majority of ankle sprains occur while landing from a jump, so optimizing landing technique is critical. Landing should be practiced in different types of environments with varying parameters in order for maximal carryover to game play. Simply practicing your landing with squat jumps alone does not simulate the chaotic nature of a basketball game, so practice landing from hurdle jumps, box jumps, single leg jumps, lunge jumps, etc. and in multiple planes (vertical, horizontal, linear, lateral, rotational). Watch me discuss and demo landing mechanics and drop squat drills here.
I strongly encourage you to take the time to self-evaluate your mobility, strength, and landing technique to fully optimize your play on the court and decrease your risk of injury. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for guidance!
Team Clutch PT
For a limited time, we’re offering an introductory special for young athletes that includes a virtual consult to review athlete history, screen movement patterns, identify goals, and map out a training program. It also includes 4 weeks of at-home personalized, sport-specific programming. Find out more here.