Skateboarding Ankle Injuries
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Is Skateboarding Bad for You?
Skateboarding is a repetitive-impact sport. With any repetitive sports or activities, you are going to have inflammation and stress on joints, ligaments, tendons, etc.
Woman skateboarding on a road.
How Can You Protect Yourself from Skateboarding Ankle Injuries?
There are ways to reduce the chances of injury or prevent injuries outright.
Wearing proper shoes is a must. Skateboarding shoes tend to have flat soles designed to grip the skateboarding deck, although these shoes tend to also have little to no arch support. This could be fixed with the use of custom or over-the-counter orthotics. If ankle sprains or ankle instability are a chronic issue, then the use of an ASO ankle brace would help provide stability when skating.
Regularly checking the skateboard is a must. There could be cracks, tears in the grip, loose wheels, or other irregularities that could be fixed to prevent potential injuries. Hip, knee, and ankle stretching before and after skate sessions will help prevent injuries such as plantar fasciitis and tendonitis.
Maintaining strength and stability in your ankle helps with pushing and taking impact within your foot and ankle. Speaking of falls, it would be wise to look into proper falling techniques as with all board sports, falling is a part of the process.
Most Common Skateboarding Ankle & Foot Injuries
Tendonitis: is when the tissue connecting your muscle to the bone gets inflamed.
This can occur in the back of the heel (Achilles tendonitis), inside of your ankle (posterior tibialis tendonitis), or outside of your foot (peroneal tendonitis). Symptoms of tendonitis lead to pain with movement, swelling, and/or tenderness in the area.
Ankle Sprains: these are due to landing wrong, usually at an inward ankle motion. Sprains are categorized into 3 categories:
- Grade 1 – minimal stretching of the ligament, no tearing.
- Grade 2 – partial tear of a ligament
- Grade 3 – full tear or rupture of ligament
These injuries can be treated using the RICE method: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. If pain, swelling, and/or instability persists then seeing an orthopedic doctor would be advised for further assessment.
Foot/Ankle Fractures: as mentioned skateboarding is an impact sport and with any impact sport, you have a chance of fractures. These could occur with repetitive pushing motions or lands leading to microfractures or worse with falls leading to more traumatic fractures. Seeing a doctor is a must after any fracture.
Plantar Fasciitis: this usually occurs with repetitive stresses on the heel. This can happen with skateboarding due to repetitive pushing yourself forward or with the intense gripping of the foot while skating.
To schedule for physical therapy at any of the 12 JOI Rehab Clinics, please call 904-858-7045.
Foot & Ankle Specialists in Jacksonville
Though many ankle injuries can be managed conservatively by making some of the changes described above, ankle injuries that are persistently painful can be treated by one of the Foot and Ankle specialists at Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute (JOI). We 5 convenient locations in the Northeast Florida region that include San Marco/Downtown, Beaches, Southside, Fleming Island, & Nassau.
To schedule an appointment by Telemedicine or in-person, please call 904-JOI-2000, schedule onlineor click below.