24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
bxroads Offline OP
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
I've always worked in an environment that requires dress shoes. Seven months ago I switched jobs and began wearing my favorite boot of all time, Kenetrek Hardscrabbles, on a daily basis from sun up till sundown. I've never in my life wore boots on a daily basis. The Hardscrabbles give tremendous ankle support. About three weeks ago I started wearing more casual shoes again. Every since my ankles have been incredibly sore, I can't walk without limping. I attributed the pain to running but I've been running for several years and only since I pulled the boots off did I start to have the ankle pains. Did six months in the boots with such support weaken the ankles? Anyone experienced this?

BP-B2

Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 8,759
M
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
M
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 8,759
I wear these in all my shoes except my cross trainer Nikes:
[Linked Image]

Don't know if they would help the ankles but are worth a try, and are sold almost everywhere.

MtnHtr




Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
Originally Posted by bxroads
Did six months in the boots with such support weaken the ankles? Anyone experienced this?


You bet it did. Get yourself some "minimalist" shoes like Vibram 5-fingers, New Balance MX20 or MT20's and start working out in them, you'll get your strength back. Doing barbell squats, burpees, box jumps etc wearing minimalist shoes prevents this.

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
bxroads Offline OP
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
I wore the boots last night and I could walk normal in them with little pain. Took them off and limped around again. Obviously they are supporting the weak area. I hope recovery / rebuilding strength doesnt take forever. I guess there are some benfits to wearing low cut dress shoes for 15+ years.

Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 137
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 137
ive had 3 surgeries on my ankle to rebuild it,the best by far for building up ankles for me is the sketcher shapeup walking shoe.i wear either boots or them

IC B2

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,316
C
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
C
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,316
You may want to talk to a physical therapist that deals with sports injuries. I sprained my ankle a couple years ago, and the PT guy got me back on my feet for moose season. He also taught me a bunch of exercises to strengthen the ankle, which I still do occasionally when it acts up.

Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
cwh2- What exercises did the PT suggest?

Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,014
A
Campfire Regular
Online Content
Campfire Regular
A
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,014
Originally Posted by Take_a_knee
Originally Posted by bxroads
Did six months in the boots with such support weaken the ankles? Anyone experienced this?


You bet it did. Get yourself some "minimalist" shoes like Vibram 5-fingers, New Balance MX20 or MT20's and start working out in them, you'll get your strength back. Doing barbell squats, burpees, box jumps etc wearing minimalist shoes prevents this.


+1. I had bad plantar faciitis for years and since I started running in barefeet or in 5 fingers about a year and half ago I haven't had any problems and my feet are much stronger. I think my foot problems were largely due to wearing combat boots for many years.

Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,246
T
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
T
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,246
Coonass, not CWH2, but like him I've had injuries. I've had over a dozen breaks, bends, or bad sprains from the knees down. Physical therapist showed me some basic exercises that if you do on a regular basis it helps to prevent some injuries. One exercise was sitting on the side of the bed, with your shoes off, writing the alphabet with your toes. (In the air, not with ink.) The second thing was he gave me 3 different colored rubber bands that I would put on 1 foot and wrap around the other for tension and I would do 4 sets of these exercises. Next was taking one of the kids foam water noodles, slicing it in half and laying it end to end on the floor. Then had to walk the length of it to build up balance and strengthen the side to side movement of the ankle. The last exercise was taking a common 4 x 4, stand on it with your toes, drop down with your heels as far as comfortable, hold for 10 seconds, go back up and repeat for 10 repetitions. After doing these for 4 weeks, I returned back to work. I still do these exercises on a semi-regular basis. That's been 5 years ago and I haven't had a sprained ankle since. Try it, it may help you.


Molɔ̀ːn Labé
Grandpa:the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Dad:son you have 2 choices for supper eat or don't eat.
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
Thanks Tex. I will give those a try. I ve been told about the alphabet exercise and tried it on a few occasions. Never tried w/o shoes��assume it gives you more mobility/flexibility?

IC B3

Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,246
T
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
T
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,246
Doing it without shoes does increase the mobility. It's a lot harder than it sounds. Check with your local physical therapist, they carry 3 different colored bands, a gray, a blue and a red. If you can get them local, they've got a pamphlet that shows the exercises to use with the bands. The 3 different colors just have increasing tension. If you can't get it local, I work at a hospital and can get the bands and the pamphlet and send it to you if you'd like. It really does make a difference.


Molɔ̀ːn Labé
Grandpa:the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Dad:son you have 2 choices for supper eat or don't eat.
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,316
C
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
C
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,316
Originally Posted by coonass
cwh2- What exercises did the PT suggest?


Never did the alphabet ones, but moving the foot with resistance and without did help to get ROM and strength back.

After that, standing barefoot on one foot, improves everything that the ankle does in real life. That was surprisingly difficult to do after the injury. Once that gets easy enough that you can balance on one foot for 1-2 minutes, try doing the same on your toes, or flat-footed while doing something that distracts your mind out of "balance" mode. Lots of variations on that one, one of which was to toss a ball up in the air with one hand and catch it in the other, another was partial squats on the injured leg. After that gets easy, start closing your eyes. Just something to make balance more difficult, and increase the activity at that joint.

Anything you can do to actually use the ankle as it is designed (side-hill in xtra-tuffs) will make it stronger.

The more important thing that I guess I got out of PT was to abandon the "take it easy on your injury" mindset. He basically told me that the damage was done, and that after a certain amount of PT, just let her rip. You need to use it to make it stronger. Essentially, that it was just pain, and to not be a pussy.

Every situation is different, and I'm not a doctor, nor did I stay in a holiday inn last night. Hence, if you have chronic ankle pain, I'll repeat my recommendation to go see a physical therapist.

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,228
E
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
E
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,228
Originally Posted by Take_a_knee
Originally Posted by bxroads
Did six months in the boots with such support weaken the ankles? Anyone experienced this?


You bet it did. Get yourself some "minimalist" shoes like Vibram 5-fingers, New Balance MX20 or MT20's and start working out in them, you'll get your strength back. Doing barbell squats, burpees, box jumps etc wearing minimalist shoes prevents this.


The minimalist shoe approach has worked well for me. Just start slowly.


Ed T

Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,201
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,201
I like the minimalist approach myself. Used some Inov-8 shoes for training prior to my sheep hunt which really helped strengthen the ankles, calves and lower legs for all the climbing and side-hilling. Lots of good choices on the market right now.
Lee

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
Originally Posted by Ed_T
Originally Posted by Take_a_knee
Originally Posted by bxroads
Did six months in the boots with such support weaken the ankles? Anyone experienced this?


You bet it did. Get yourself some "minimalist" shoes like Vibram 5-fingers, New Balance MX20 or MT20's and start working out in them, you'll get your strength back. Doing barbell squats, burpees, box jumps etc wearing minimalist shoes prevents this.


The minimalist shoe approach has worked well for me. Just start slowly.


I can now run 1-2 miles wearing MX20's, I'm still getting chronic achilles tendonitis that flares up. My feet feel like I ran 10miles the next day. It is amazing how weak traditional running shoes and the "traditional" heel-strike stride has allowed my lower leg to become. Learning the POSE/ball of the foot running stride has been like rubbing your head and patting you stomach, takes a bit of concentration. I'm going to buy a pair of New Balance MT20's for daily wear to get my body used to the low heel.

Last edited by Take_a_knee; 10/15/11. Reason: spellin'
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 3,101
R
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
R
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 3,101
bxroads,

Being an orthopedic nightmare, pain, not to be confused with ache, indicates there's something wrong. I have been TOLD by the numerous orthopedists I have seen and have cut me that when one senses pain the correct response is to immediately stop what one's doing that causes pain and assess. Never work through pain. You might cause a bad injury to become worse. My advice is to have an orthopedist examine you. And just like guns, not all orthopedists are equal. Research until you find the best available. And a good source is to ask other physicians who they have used to repair their injuries.

I am fortunate to live close to Loma Linda. I have had Dr. Chris Jobe perform four of my surgeries. He's chief of orthopedics at Loma Linda. He is a surgeon other physicians use. And he's an ourdoorsman. Better yet, he's Dr. Frank Jobe's son.

bxroads, I can't emphasize this enough. If you have ankle pain, see an orthopedist posthaste. A correct diagnosis might just keep you afield.



Buena Suerte,

R

Last edited by Raisuli; 10/15/11.
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 167
There was a write up in the August issue of Backpacker called "how to walk". It discussed the correct way your stride should develop and end. Along w/ torso posture and uphill/downhill strides. Its an informative group of articles. They also discussed the advantages of the whole barefoot revolution. I truly never realized how aware I need to be of heel strike, toe off, over-stride etc. Walking has now become a mental game to correct my years of just putting one foot in front of the other. Something so easy as rotating your pelvis in your stride can help you become more efficient for longer heavy hikes.

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
bxroads Offline OP
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 4,378
I appreciate all of the input. Here is a link to the article coonass referred to. http://www.backpacker.com/august-2011-how-to-walk/skills/15843

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
T
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
T
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 13,860
That was a great article BX. I would add that the simplest way to achieve that muscular balance and strenghening advocated by the author would be to simply do 3-4 Crossfit workouts every week and do Kelly Starret's Mobility WOD (workout of the day).


Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
623 members (09wingates, 2003and2013, 007FJ, 160user, 10gaugeman, 17CalFan, 58 invisible), 2,521 guests, and 1,152 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,599
Posts18,398,261
Members73,817
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.153s Queries: 14 (0.004s) Memory: 0.8802 MB (Peak: 1.0157 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 13:11:32 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS