How to Avoid a Sprained Ankle

The New York Times reports on some new ideas about why we sprain ankles and what we can do to make sure we don’t. The paper of record gives us the results of years of research by Dr. Bruce Beynnon, a biomechanical engineer at the University of Vermont. In a nutshell, Beynnon concludes that men and women tend to have a different set of risk factors that
should perhaps change the ways the two groups train if they want to
avoid sprains. Women, the Times reports, might be best able to help protect
their ankles by doing exercises a few times a week that isolate and
symmetrically strengthen the muscles that roll the foot inward and
outward. In contrast, balance training and
traditional stretching exercises for calves and the Achilles tendon
that increase the ankle’s up and down range of motion may be more
useful for men. Read more in the New York Times.