Ankle Injuries: how to strap them

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Ankle injuries are not only the most common injury that is registered with ACC out of all sporting injuries but they also have one of the highest recurrence rates across all injuries.

An ankle injury usually occurs when you roll outwards, twisting the foot inwards.  A key indicator of severity is the ability to weight-bear soon after it happens.  If you are unable to put any weight on the foot, it is important to get an x-ray to exclude a broken ankle.

Otherwise a handy way to offload the injury in the first few days is strapping, see the instructions below for how to do this at home:

  1. Put some underwrap on to protect the skin

Step1

 

2. Lock the top and bottom of the underwrap with ‘anchors’. 

Step2

 

3. Start the ‘stirrups’ on the inner ankle and go under the heel, pulling upwards towards the outer ankle.  Do 3-4 of these, layering each by half the width of the tape.

Step3

 

4. Do a ‘heel lock’ by starting at the shin,

Step4

 

4a. Angling down towards the Archilles

Step4a

 

4b. Wrap around, under the heel/foot

Step4b

 

4c. Pull back, up to the starting point

Step4c

 

5. Lock off the remainder of the ankle, making sure to cover all exposed skin (to avoid rubbing)

Step5

 

6. This is how it should look when finished!

Step6

 

If you are unfortunate enough to sustain an ankle injury then start with these tips and tricks and then if you are still unsure then visit one of the team at Healthzone Physiotherapy for support!

Written by DAVID COOPER 

Sports & Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist.

BHSc (Physio), PGDip Musculo (Sports & Manipulative Physio), NZPS.

Kinetics Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation, AUT Millennium

[email protected]

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After well over a decade working as a musculoskeletal physiotherapist; David joined the team at Kinetics stepping into the role of Principal and owner. David has worked with the Championship winning NZ Breakers basketball team and continues in a role as a touring physiotherapist with Athletics New Zealand. Previously David has worked as a consultant sports physio to Triathlon USA and Triathlon Canada working alongside multiple Olympians including Rio 2016 Gold Medalist Gwen Jorgenssen. With his own background as a World Championship representative duathlete, David combines his clinical knowledge with a personal understanding of the demands in high performance sport. David has a strong interest in gym based rehabilitation and is passionate about injury prevention for youth athletes. This has led to completing post-graduate studies in spinal manipulation, sports physiotherapy, dry needling, injury prevention and more. In addition to clinical physiotherapy; David works weekly as a post-surgical consultant to orthopaedic surgeon Mr Warren Leigh. This has involved developing post-surgical rehab protocols and an expertise in custom knee bracing for complex injuries.

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