Ankle injuries can be one of the most uncomfortable experiences on can suffer. Besides the pain and discomfort resulting from such injuries, there is also the issue of movement limitations which can adversely affect your ability to perform daily activities such as walking. There are also expenses incurred in the course of treatment of ankle injuries as well as the time lost during recovery. Most of your usual practices and goals will also be interrupted should you suffer an ankle injury. It is therefore quite important to know the common causes of ankle injuries in order to be able to protect yourself from the debilitating loses in terms of time, expenses, and your overall well being.

Like other joints in your body, the ankle is a complex joint consisting of several unique bones and ligaments. This is one of the factors that make injuries to this part of the body quite distinctive. Some common examples of ankle injuries include sprained ankles of varying degrees of seriousness, fractured ankle bones such as stress fractures, torn or damaged ankle ligaments, ankle strains, and ankle tendon problems. Each of these injuries can adversely affect your ankle creating limitations in movement, pain, swelling, or in severe cases even cause long term immobility.

Immobility can seriously affect your career, performance of sporting activities, and your social life as well. Ankle injuries can result from a variety of factors including slips and falls, tripping on an object, extreme and repetitive sports activities, automobile accidents, and, very commonly, sprains. Accidents are at times unavoidable but you can reduce chances of suffering from ankle injuries by keeping your feet and ankle joints in fit conditions. You can improve dexterity and strength of your ankles through simple exercise such as stretching your calf muscles when you are relaxed to keep them limber. Avoid wearing high heels as much as you can as they tend to shorten calf muscles. Most importantly, consult a medical expert such as an orthopedic or physiotherapist whenever you experience continuous discomforts in the ankle.