CLINIC
Do you keep twisting your ankle? Add in some important rehab and you may prevent this annoying injury happening again in the future
YOUR EXPERT
Sports Injury Fix member Tamsin Philp is the owner and lead sports therapist at Personal Best Sports Therapy in Devon (personalbesttherapy.co.uk). She regularly treats runners, as well as athletes from a wide range of sports, and is a keen runner herself.
A twisted ankle is among the most frequent injuries a runner can suffer, and many people report a frustratingly long period of recovery afterwards. With different grades of ankle sprain, there is so much conflicting advice available about what you need to do to return to running and which approach you should take.
The majority of sprains occur on the lateral (outer) side of the ankle, with only about five per cent occurring on the medial (inner) ankle. This is because the ankle has much less range of movement when everting the foot (tipping it outwards). When inverting the foot (tipping it inwards) there is a much greater range of movement. Imagine landing awkwardly; your foot rolls inwards, and bingo, you have a sprained ankle.