 My daughter sprained her ankle a couple of times in the past two years playing down in the post. We decided the problem was the low-top shoes that she was wearing. Do you know which basketball shoes are great for playing and also help prevent sprained ankles?
Help
Dear Help:
To answer this question, I turned to a resident expert well known to our Warriors 6th grade team: Rich Bouche', DPM, father of post player Teryn Bouche'. Dr. Bouche' is from The Sports Medicine Clinic at Northwest Outpatient Medical Center in Seattle and has also served as the Team Podiatrist for the Seattle Storm during the last three seasons.
According to Dr. Bouche', the ankle sprain is the most common injury in basketball. It can be either an acute, "first-time" sprain or a chronic problem that usually reoccurs because the first-time sprain didn’t heal properly.
If an acute sprain is inappropriately treated – as most are – there is a significant chance that the lateral ligaments (the two main stabilizing ligaments commonly injured) will heal "loose." The result is discomfort, recurrent sprains with persistent instability and functional weakness.
A young player who sprains an ankle for the first time needs a proper assessment to ensure that there is no growth plate injury and also to determine the specific grade of injury, Dr. Bouche' stressed. Treatment can vary depending on the severity, but there is a definite trend now toward "early mobilization," which basically means allowing early walking and movement.
In the case of a severe injury, a short walking boot or a period of casting is necessary to allow the ligaments to heal for approximately two to three weeks. The next step is a progressive rehabilitation program, which is paramount to the healing process, he added. Less severe injuries may require a shorter period in the walking boot, ranging from usually one to two weeks.
A good rehab program will assess joint flexibility and joint range of motion and may include exercises such as one-legged balancing exercises with eyes open and closed, a wobble board, balance board and mini-trampoline.
Should you put your daughter in high tops following an ankle sprain? Dr. Bouche' said that mid- or high-top shoes are appropriate, as are ankle sleeves or ankle braces, depending on the severity of the sprain.
Many ankle braces that provide adequate mechanical stability can be bulky and cumbersome, limiting some of the normal desired motions of the ankle, he said. "These braces should not take the place of a well-thought-out rehabilitation program and should be used temporarily until the ankle injury is totally rehabbed and healed," he added.
In the case of chronic instability characterized by multiple recurrent ankle sprains, a rehab program may be helpful, but "the damage is already done and rehab may not be effective now. These patients need to wear an ankle brace indefinitely or consider secondary surgical repair of the ligaments," he noted.
Regarding brands of basketball shoes, "there are few true high-top basketball shoe on the market now especially for females," Dr. Bouche' said. "High mid-top shoes are available, which can provide ‘stability’ if the shoe fits well and there is no ankle irritation – a common problem with mid-top shoes these days."
Dr. Bouche' is hesitant to recommend specific shoes, as the models change frequently and availability can be problematic. But he does point to one shoe – the New Balance 880 – as "a standout, in my opinion, that approaches the ideal for a girl's basketball shoe." This mid-top shoe is made on a woman's last (the last is the form on which a shoe is constructed, and women’s and men’s lasts are different). In addition, it comes in three width options and in different colors as well.
"I recommended this shoe to three or four Seattle Storm players last year and they loved it," he said. "Other shoes by Nike, Reebok (Iverson 3), and adidas can be OK depending on the season, but there is no consistent standout that I can recommend," he added.
Hoop Mom
Teresa Wippel is team manager of the Warriors Basketball Club, a 6th Grade
girls' team from the Seattle area, and mom to Warriors post player Amanda
Waldron. In her other life, she is a freelance writer and editor. To ask Teresa a question, email her at teresawippel@earthlink.net
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