Many men’s University basketball teams have players go down with injuries in their most important games. For example a player “…slipped and suffered a left ankle sprain on a fast break shot attempt…”. Another player “…injured his right foot just before falling…” Still other players step on someone else’s foot. How the first player who slipped and got injured is understandable; he had improper technique in his cutting action.
I say this because it is a common occurrence not only in basketball but especially in football. It is also seen to a good extent in soccer and lacrosse. In this situation the player usually slips and falls without injury, due mainly to changing direction on the wrong foot. But with better traction as seen on the basketball court, there are greater forces that the ankle must contend with. If the muscles are not sufficiently strong, stress falls on the tendons and ligaments.
If they are not sufficiently strong, a sprain or strain can easily occur. Understand that most players wear high-top shoes in an effort to prevent injury. But if you look closely at how the shoes are laced you’ll see that they are very loose at the top in order to allow the ankle movements necessary for effective running, cutting and jumping.
As a result, they do not provide the protection thought possible. Because most players also have their ankles taped before each game and practice, the mobility of the ankle is limited even more and as a result, the muscles that cross the ankle joint undergo some atrophy.
Also from what I have been able to determine, most teams do not do exercises specific to strengthening the ankle, especially the abductors and adductors. These are the key muscles that prevent ankle sprains and strains.
Thus we have a situation where not only is there poor technique which leads to the injury but also insufficient physical development of the muscles involved that can help prevent injury when one is imminent. If there was proper technique, the muscles would not be called on to play their role of being the first to help injury prevention.
Spending more time on improving the physical abilities of the ankle in such cases can be of benefit, but not to the same extent as improving running and cutting technique. These two factors are the key to the prevention of injury. For more information on this topic see Explosive Basketball Training and Build a Better Athlete.