Ankle injuries in volleyball

While working a volleyball tournament this weekend I am reminded of how common ankle injuries are in these athletes. The most common mechanism for suffering a sprain is when an athlete lands on an opponents foot coming down from a jump. This mainly happens around net play.
There have been a couple of studies looking at ways to decrease ankle injuries and they fall into a couple of strategies: ankle strengthening, preventative bracing and coaching to change the approach and stop landing across the net. The good news is that all 3 effectively decrease rates of injuries.
The take home message is that there are plenty of ways to decrease ankle injuries in volleyball. Work on balancing daily to strengthen the muscles that stabilize the ankle and wear a brace of you feel you need the extra support.