Ankle Injury Prevention for Hikers

Ankle injury prevention for hikers should not be a matter of luck. There are things you should be doing to protect your ankle joints as they endure the pounding of walking while load bearing (carrying a pack up a trail, for instance).

The first thing to do: understand the marvelous talocrural joint, affectionately known as the ankle joint. It's built around one bone doing double duty: the talus joins the bones of the calf area (tibia and fibula) with the other foot bones. It's the talus bone which distributes the weight of your body and whatever you're carrying to the bones beneath it in your foot. I find it particularly cool that "talus" is also a geology word to indicate the jumbled rock pile found at the bottom of a steep slope. Some of my favorite hikes involve crossing talus slopes, because that's where pica and marmots live!

Why do hikers need ankles? So mosquitoes have something to bite. No, seriously, it's your ankle joint which allows you to navigate uneven surfaces, recover from stepping into a hole, and generally have mobility along the hiking trail. Ever notice how your elbow and knee joints only bend, not swivel around like the ankle? The least you can do it prevent injuries to this important and highly mobile joint.

A common ankle injury is a "twisted" or "sprained" ankle. You're not twisting the bones, but rather the soft tissue which is associated with this area joining the leg and the foot. Ligaments hold bone to bone, and they can be "maxed out" by sudden or extreme movements (such as stepping into a hole while crossing a talus slope). When ligaments "tear", your ankle becomes inflamed to deal with the injury: pain tells you to stay off it, swelling and heat and redness indicate that the body is flooding the area with chemicals and cells in response to the ankle injury. Time to get off the ankle and apply RICE: rest, ice, compression, elevation.

Keep yourself off crutches by warming up before each hike: stretch your calf muscles, do some ankle rolls before lacing up your boots, make sure your entire body is loose and limber before tackling a steep section of the trail. It's a good idea to walk every day, on uneven terrain if possible, to keep your ankles up for the job of dealing with trail conditions.

You may also hear about ankles strains. These are different than sprains because it's the tendons of the muscles joined to the bone, not the ligaments, which are torn.

Which brings us to another good reason for warming up before you hit the trail: keep your muscles stretched and less prone to pulling off the bone.

Ankle injury prevention shouldn't be confined to a few minutes at the trail head, however. Make it a practice to rotate each ankle in both directions while you're in the shower (just not simultaneously!). As you sit on the bus or endure a long meeting, wiggle your ankles and let some blood get down to your ankle joint by uncrossing your legs. And a bit of self care, including massage, never hurt the soft tissue of this joint!

One last thing: stay hydrated. Soft tissues get brittle and prone to injury if they don't have access to regular infusions of water. Make it a point to give your body plenty of water throughout every day, not just on hiking days.

Ankle injury prevention is only one part of being a savvy hiker. Return home for more ideas.