3 Tips to Avoid Ankle Injuries
The volleyball season is underway and athletes have been preparing all summer for the chance to play. And already, some are starting to experience the heartache that comes with injury. Most common in girl’s high school volleyball are ankle…
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Continue ReadingThe volleyball season is underway and athletes have been preparing all summer for the chance to play. And already, some are starting to experience the heartache that comes with injury. Most common in girl’s high school volleyball are ankle injuries. From fractures and sprains to torn ligaments, these injuries are deflating to the player, teams and families. While they are never 100% preventable, here are three tips to help keep ankle injuries to a minimum.
1 – Strengthen
So many teams have added essential exercises and stretches aimed at strengthening the ankle and muscles around it. Pre-game warm ups consist of balance movements to the nets and slow dynamic stretching. Coaches need to make sure players are putting forth effort to increase ankle stability. Practicing balance, proper jumping technique and flexibility all can decrease likelihood of rolling an ankle.
2 -Prevention
Growing up as the daughter of two physical therapists, I was the athlete who always wore ankle braces. My father, Phil Orte, was the supervisor for Mayo Clinic – Sports Medicine for 35+ years. He was a huge advocate for the prevention of ankle injuries through flexible bracing (specifically Active Ankle.) He recommended it for me as well as all my teammates. Yes, I still sprained my ankle a few times through my college career, but I remember him saying, “think how bad it would be if you didn’t have that brace on!” Today, most players opt out of wearing braces for preventive reasons. Unfortunately they may end up needing one later.
3 – Officials
Of course we know the job of the officials is important, but they must also make calls to help ensure everyone’s safety. Most critical are calls involving net violations and the center-line. Players have become so aggressive at the net; this is due partly to the variation in rules in club and school ball. When players are over-eager to block or make plays tight to the net, it puts them and their opponents in harm’s way. The down official must keep a close eye on the center-line specifically. It is easy for them to fixate on the where the ball is and player’s hands, but we rely on them to help keep players on their own side.
Take for example the Lake City Tigers. Last year their were very competitive in the HVL and nearly made it to the state tournament. This same team has most of their key players back; at their second match of the year, their tallest player (6’3” junior) Grace Bany went down with a twisted ankle. It was horrible to watch her limp off the court. Her team went on to beat St Charles easily in 4 sets and did well in their weekend tournament at Century High school but it will hard for them to match up against Kasson-Mantorville on September 6th without Bany.
No one wants to see this happen to her or any player and hopefully these three tips will help prevent a few players from such misfortune.
Dr. PHILLIP A. ORTE Practice and experience
Dr. ORTE graduated in 1978 since then is practicing in medical field for about 37 years. Dr. PHILLIP ORTE is practicing in MAYO CLINIC. Doctor and his group mates are now practicing in , ROCHESTER – MN and other hospitals.
For more information on ankle sprains and how to avoid them refer to Mayo Clinic’s articles and podcasts found
More tips and PRe-hab ideas can be found here on Active Kids website.