Ankle Sprain - Twisted Ankle - Ankle injuries - Inversion Ankle Sprain

Ankle sprain, twisted ankles and ankle injuries are one of th more common ligament injuries that occur in soccer.

The most common type of ankle injury is the "Anterior Talo-Fibular Ligament sprain or ATFL sprain for short.

It is named after the structures involved. "Talo refers to the talus bone which is dome shaped and lies directly underneath both shin bones (tibia and fibula).

Fibular refers to the fibulawhich is th smaller of th 2 shin bones. located on th outside or lateral aspect of th shin.

Anterior refers to the location as there is a posterior talo-fibular ligament.

This is known as an inversion ankle sprain.

There may be several predisposing factors leading or contributing to a twited ankle:

- shortened or tight calf muscle

-shortened or tight lateral hamstring muscle

-muscle imbalances at the hip

-poor training and conditioning

-poor skill or technique

-poor warm up


Here are a few things you can do to prevent ankle injuries:

- participate in a preseason training program - do agility drill (ladders)as part of your practice

- increase flexibility of the hamstrings and calf muscles

-balance the muscles around the hip -check the field surface that you are going to play on before training and games.

-wear the proper equipment

These are just a few things you may do to avoid ankle injuries.