Can wearing ankle braces or wrapping, taping your ankle actually cause knee pain or lead to a serious knee injury like an ACL tear? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Most of us are told that these things protect your ankles. And the answer is that they do help protect against ankle sprains while you are wearing them. But, in the long run, they are making your ankles weaker, slowing you down and worst of all, setting you up for a serious knee injury.

Take a second and wiggle your ankles around. Notice how mobile they are? The ankle is one of your most mobile joints. Your feet and ankles have to be mobile because they are meant to come in contact with an ever changing and uneven landscape. Guess what, we were not designed to walk on carpet and cement. And an uneven surface requires mobility in the ankles, so you can mold yourself to the land as you walk and run.

Okay, so you can see and feel how mobile your ankles are, right? Now, the next joint as you move up the body is the knee. Try to move your knees all around like you did with your ankles... pretty hard right? There is a very good reason for that too. Your knees are meant to be a stable joint. So, as you walk and run, your ankles are mobile and your knees are stable. That is how the body is designed to move. Now, if you mess around with that, pain and injury are sure to follow.

This is where ankle braces, wraps and tape enter the scene. What is the primary function of these things? To immobilize and protect the ankles. You want to avoid a sprained ankle, because your ankles are weak. But, instead of properly rehabilitating your weak and stiff ankles with exercises, stretches, etc... you rely on the crutch of an ankle brace. That's bad news for your knees. Why? Well, you are making your ankles immobile. But, when you walk and run, especially on an uneven surface or laterally (to the side), something has to move. If your body cannot get the range of motion from your ankles, because of the ankle brace, it will move up to the next joint and try to get it there.

So, the knee, which is supposed to be stable, becomes mobile. And since it has very little range of motion, it just tears. So, we see over 100,000 ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tears every year. And not surprisingly, over 70% of those injuries are non-contact. That means that no one hit you. It means your ankle couldn't move, so your knee did. And your knee can't move. So, it tears. And that's a much more serious injury than an ankle sprain. We are talking about 70,000 people a year.

So, what are we saying? Don't tape, brace or wrap your ankles. Instead. use proper rehab on a sprained or weak ankle. In fact, if you have strong, flexible ankles, you will be much faster and jump higher. Plus, your ankles will feel much more solid and safe than wearing a brace. It's win, win. You get a stronger ankle that lets you move much better and you save your knees.