Should You Wear Ankle Braces?

This question eventually comes up:

“Am I actually helping the ankle, or just relying on it?”

It is one of the most common questions in sport and rehabilitation, and the answer is more nuanced than most people realise.

Ankle braces can absolutely reduce injury risk in the right context. The evidence for that is relatively strong, particularly in athletes with a history of ankle sprains. But braces are also commonly misunderstood, overused, and sometimes substituted for proper rehabilitation. The goal should never be to depend on a brace forever. The goal is to understand when it helps, when it does not, and what problem it is actually solving.

What Ankle Braces Actually Do

Most ankle braces are designed to reduce excessive inversion, the rolling motion associated with lateral ankle sprains. That matters because the majority of ankle sprains occur when the foot rapidly inverts and plantarflexes under load, especially during landing, cutting, or directional change tasks.

External ankle support works through several mechanisms:

• Mechanical restraint of excessive movement

• Increased sensory feedback around the joint

• Improved perception of ankle position and stability

• Reduced inversion velocity during high risk movements

Research consistently shows that lace up and semi rigid ankle braces reduce the incidence of recurrent ankle sprains in athletes, particularly in sports involving jumping, cutting, and rapid directional change (Dizon and Reyes, 2010; Doherty et al., 2017).

For athletes with a previous ankle sprain history, braces appear to provide the greatest protective effect.

The Biggest Misconception: “Ankle Braces Make Your Ankles Weak”

This idea has existed for years, but the evidence supporting it is surprisingly limited. There is little high quality evidence showing that ankle braces directly cause long term weakness of the ankle musculature. What is more common is dependency without rehabilitation.

If an athlete wears a brace while avoiding the work required to restore:

• Peroneal strength

• Dynamic balance

• Proprioception

• Landing mechanics

• Change of direction control

Then the ankle never fully regains functional capacity. The brace becomes the only thing creating a sense of stability. That is not because the brace weakened the ankle, but due to the underlying deficits which were never properly addressed.

The Important Caveat Most People Miss

While ankle braces may reduce recurrent sprain risk during sport, some research suggests they may also reduce muscle activation during rehabilitation exercises in people with chronic ankle instability.

A study by Feger et al. examined participants with chronic ankle instability performing common rehabilitation exercises while wearing lace up ankle braces. Researchers found reduced activation in muscles including the peroneus longus, gluteus medius, lateral gastrocnemius and rectus femoris during several functional tasks when braces were worn.

• The authors concluded that clinicians should be aware of the decreased muscle activity that may occur when rehabilitation exercises are performed in ankle braces.

That matters because one of the primary goals of rehabilitation after repeated ankle sprains is restoring neuromuscular control and reactive muscle function. If external support reduces muscular demand during rehabilitation exercises, there is a reasonable argument that wearing a brace constantly during rehab may reduce part of the training stimulus.

Importantly, this does not mean ankle braces are harmful. But, context does matter.

There is a major difference between:

• Wearing a brace during high risk sport participation

  VS

• Wearing a brace during controlled rehabilitation designed to rebuild ankle capacity

Those are not the same thing.

For many athletes, the most evidence based approach is likely:

• Strategic bracing during return to sport and high risk activity

• Progressive unbraced rehabilitation to restore strength, proprioception, balance, and reactive ankle control

The brace should support rehabilitation. It should not replace the neuromuscular work itself.

When Ankle Braces Make Sense

There are situations where ankle braces are strongly supported by both evidence and clinical reasoning.

After a Previous Ankle Sprain

This is the clearest indication. A previous ankle sprain is one of the strongest predictors of future ankle sprains. Once the lateral ligament complex has been injured, recurrence risk increases significantly.

Athletes returning to basketball, netball, football, volleyball, or court sports after a sprain often benefit from external support during the return to sport phase. Multiple systematic reviews have shown reduced recurrence rates with prophylactic bracing in previously injured athletes (Dizon and Reyes, 2010).

During Return to Sport

The return to sport window is where many reinjuries occur.

• Pain may be gone.

• Swelling may have settled.

• Strength may appear normal in isolated testing.

But high speed sporting movements expose deficits that standard rehabilitation often misses. An ankle brace can provide additional stability during this phase while higher level neuromuscular capacity is rebuilt.

In Athletes With Chronic Ankle Instability

People with chronic ankle instability often describe:

• Repeated ankle sprains

• Feelings of giving way

• Reduced confidence on uneven ground

• Hesitation during cutting or landing

• Persistent instability despite “healing”

In these cases, bracing may reduce episodes of instability during sport participation, especially when combined with structured rehabilitation. Importantly, chronic ankle instability is rarely just a ligament problem. It is usually a neuromuscular and sensorimotor problem as well.

When Braces Are Probably Being Overused

Not every ankle needs external support forever. In some cases, braces become a long term default rather than a targeted intervention.

That can become problematic when:

• The athlete never progresses beyond passive support

• Fear avoidance develops without the brace

• Rehabilitation is neglected

• The brace masks unresolved deficits

• The athlete loses confidence moving without external support

For some athletes, especially outside high risk sports, long term bracing may simply be unnecessary once strength, proprioception, and sport specific control are restored. A well rehabilitated ankle should eventually tolerate most sporting demands without depending entirely on external support.

What the Research Says About Performance

Athletes often worry that ankle braces reduce speed, agility, jumping ability, or explosiveness. The evidence here is mixed but generally reassuring.

Some studies show small reductions in ankle range of motion or vertical jump performance with more restrictive braces. However, these changes are often minimal and may not meaningfully affect overall performance in real sporting environments.

For athletes with instability, the increase in confidence and reduction in reinjury risk may outweigh any minor movement restriction. In practice, athletes usually perform worse with an unstable ankle than they do with a brace.

The Bigger Problem: Most Ankles Are Under Rehabilitated

This is the part most people miss. The real issue is usually not whether someone wears a brace.

It is whether the ankle was ever properly rehabilitated in the first place. Many rehabilitation programs stop once pain settles and basic strength returns.

But recurrent ankle sprains are strongly associated with persistent deficits in:

• Dynamic postural control

• Joint position sense

• Peroneal reaction timing

• Force absorption

• Landing strategy

• Change of direction mechanics

These deficits can persist for months or years after the original injury if rehabilitation is incomplete (Gribble et al., 2016). That is why some athletes continue rolling the ankle despite “normal scans” or being told the ligament has healed.

The tissue may heal. The system often does not.

So, Should You Wear An Ankle Brace?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

An ankle brace is not inherently good or bad. It depends entirely on why you are using it.

For athletes with previous ankle sprains, chronic instability, or during return to sport phases, ankle braces can reduce re-injury risk and improve confidence under load. But braces should support rehabilitation, not replace it. If your ankle only feels stable when it is taped or braced, that is usually a sign that something underneath still needs addressing.

Ready to stop second-guessing your ankle every time you train, run, or change direction?

Start building a stronger, more trustworthy ankle with the DynamicStep Ankle Performance Program

References

1. Dizon JMR, Reyes JJB. A systematic review on the effectiveness of external ankle supports in the prevention of inversion ankle sprains among elite and recreational players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2010;13(3):309 to 317.

2. Doherty C, Delahunt E, Caulfield B, Hertel J, Ryan J, Bleakley C. The incidence and prevalence of ankle sprain injury. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2014;48(7):560.

3. Feger MA, Donovan L, Hart JM, Hertel J. Effect of ankle braces on lower extremity muscle activation during functional exercises in participants with chronic ankle instability. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 2014;23(3):195 to 203.

4. Gribble PA, Bleakley CM, Caulfield BM, Docherty CL, Fourchet F, Fong DTP, Hertel J, Hiller CE, Kaminski TW, McKeon PO, Refshauge KM, Verhagen EA, Vicenzino BT, Wikstrom EA, Delahunt E. Evidence review for the 2016 International Ankle Consortium consensus statement on the prevalence, impact and long term consequences of lateral ankle sprains. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;50(24):1493 to 1495.

info@dynamicstep.com.au

© 2026. All rights reserved.