Having lax ligaments could be another cause, said Adj Asst Prof Hong. This means your joints are naturally very flexible and have a wider range of motion than most people – good for yoga perhaps, but not so good for minimising ankle sprains.
Biomechanics aside, certain sports, too, can increase your risk, Dr Yeo added, including basketball, soccer, volleyball and racket sports. “Basically, any sports where you have to jump, land and pivot quickly would predispose you to ankle injuries.”
And once you have an ankle sprain, you have a 12 per cent to 47 per cent risk of re-spraining that same ankle again and again, said Adj Asst Prof Hong, which could, in turn, give rise to a condition known as chronic lateral ankle instability. You’ll feel an instability in your ankle, like it’ll give way or collapse when you’re walking or standing.
In fact, almost 74 per cent of 231 patients treated at NUH over a five-year period for recurrent sprains had chronic lateral ankle instability, said Adj Asst Prof Hong.
HOW DO ANKLE SPRAINS LEAD TO ANKLE ARTHRITIS?
“Ankle sprains contribute to up to 22 per cent of all cases of ankle arthritis,” said Dr Yeo. Adj Asst Prof Hong also acknowledged the link. At Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and NUH, up to 25 per cent of end-stage ankle arthritis patients seen over a 10-year period had histories of multiple ankle sprains, he said.
