The Best Ankle Braces for Soccer

Wearing an ankle brace for soccer can protect you from injury or reinjury by supporting your joints and limiting certain harmful motions. Ankle braces also improve proprioception, or the awareness of your ankles, enabling you to better control your footwork on the field. Take a look at our list of the best ankle braces for soccer, and make the most out of each game without jeopardizing your well-being

Ways to Promote Ankle Health

Whether you are an athlete or simply lead an active life, wearing an ankle brace can prevent an injury or reinjury. Here are a few other ways of promoting ankle health.

• Strengthening Exercises

  Strengthening your ankle joints, tendons, and ligaments is a great way of gradually getting your body ready for high-impact activities such as soccer. Strengthening exercises can also improve your performance on the field. One of the easiest strengthening exercises for ankle health is the heel walk. Simply lift the front of your foot off the ground and walk on your heels across the room.

• Flexibility Exercises

  Flexibility exercises stretch the ankle ligaments and tendons, increasing your range of motion and making you less prone to injury. One of the most common ankle flexibility exercises is the towel stretch. Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you, place a towel around your feet, and hold onto its ends. Slowly pull back on the towel until you feel a stretch at the bottom of your feet.

• Balance Exercises

  Balance exercises improve proprioception or the sense of your body position in space. This, in turn, helps you move in a safe way. To improve your proprioception, stand upright and lift one foot off the ground. Look forward as you do this and count to five before repeating the same process as you look over your right and left shoulder. Repeat on the other side.

How to Make the Most Out of Your Ankle Brace for Soccer

• Will an Ankle Brace for Soccer Affect my Game?

  While wearing an ankle brace will restrict your range of motion to some extent—after all, the purpose of a brace is to stop you from making harmful moves—most are designed to allow natural movement and have full ball control. Remember that injuring your ankle during soccer will hurt your game more than losing excessive movement.

• How Tight Should Ankle Braces for Soccer Players be?

  Ankle support should be tight enough to restrict excessive motion without cutting off blood circulation to your feet. If your toes feel numb or are turning purple or blue, your brace is too tight and needs to be loosened. Alternatively, you can check whether your ankle brace is too tight by pinching your toenail. If no color returns to the nail, your brace is too tight.

• Should I Wear an Ankle Brace All Day?

  Unless advised otherwise by your doctor, an ankle brace should be worn only during activity. Your ankles rely on micromotions to gradually improve their strength, so wearing an ankle brace all day might actually weaken your ankles. If you require ankle support at night, a compression sleeve is generally a better option than an ankle brace.

• What Helps Sore Ankles from Soccer?

  The RICE protocol can alleviate ankle discomfort after a game of soccer. Rest your ankles and limit your soccer training if necessary. Ice the affected area for ten to twenty minutes every two hours to numb pain and reduce inflammation. Compress your ankles with a compression sleeve to increase blood circulation and reduce muscle fatigue. Elevate your ankles above the level of your heart to accelerate recovery.

Weighing All the Factors

As soccer is a high-impact sport that requires a great deal of running, high-quality protection for your ankles is a must. Consisting of compression wraps and ankle support straps, Gonicc’s professional foot sleeves utilize 3D weaving technology to deliver both compression and support on the field. McDavid’s ankle brace and Med Spec’s ASO ankle stabilizer are also two great options to check out before making your final purchase.