Hoopers: Show Your Feet Some Love
Don’t forget to take care of your first line of defense!
The foot and ankle are some of the least trained parts of the body, but they are essential to reducing the likelihood of lower limb injury.
With basketball players, the excessive amounts of cushioning in shoes and time spent in tape or ankle braces can inhibit the ability to absorb forces appropriately. This can lead to issues up the chain into the shins, knees, and even hips.
This season alone, high school basketball players will spend somewhere north of 10,000 minutes playing or training in shoes that were likely chosen for how they look and not how they function. This isn’t helpful when it comes to staying healthy.
Good news! There are some pretty simple and effective ways to get out of those shoes, show your feet a little love and maybe feel better each time you lace them back up.
Lacrosse/Tennis Ball Rolling
These are a great way to activate the receptors on the bottom of the foot and enhance the ability of the nervous system to “tune in” to movement. They are easy to incorporate before or after a training session and can even be done in meetings. Just put a ball under your foot and roll it back and forth across your arch.
Barefoot Walks
With no shoe or braces to restrict ankle movement, these can help reduce the likelihood of ankle injury by strengthening the joint in every direction that it can move. Again, these are simple and can be a part of your pre-practice routine. Walk on your tippy toes, walk on your heels, and then walk on the outside of your foot (ankle eversion).
Single-Leg Balance
It’s always crazy the way you can take a high-level athlete out of their shoes, ask them to balance on a single leg, and then watch a struggle ensue. It’s just something that they don’t do very often, but again it’s a simple and effective thing that will enhance the body’s ability to communicate in a way that improves dynamic stability. Just pick one knee up and hold for 30 seconds to a minute. You can close your eyes to make it tougher.
Mini Hops
One last thing that you can toss into the pre-practice routine is a mini-hop series. These improve stability and help the athlete’s ability to flex and bend appropriately to absorb force safely. These can be done in every different direction and plane to vary and progress the movement.
So before you lace up those Luka’s and hit the court for your next training session, take 5–10 minutes and show your feet some love. They’re working hard every day to keep you on the court. It’s the least you can do.
