A case for the low top basketball shoe
Shoes. One of man's worst vices. And yet the shoe that you get and use can actually spell the difference between painful joints and injuries, and comfort and longevity. The foot is a very important part of our anatomy and it does make sense to protect it with proper footwear. However, man, as he almost always does, tried to do too much and started trying to protect the foot and ankle by creating bulky footwear that constrict foot movement and more importantly, ankle mobility.
If you remember from one of my earlier posts, and I try to talk about this as much as I can because it's so important, the ankle needs to stay MOBILE. I don't know how it started but if you can remember, at least in the case of basketball, players used to wear chuck taylors for basketball games. The same high-cut but very much low-support sneakers being used nowadays for lifestyle or sportswear,was being used before for the best basketball league in the world. Then of course, ankle sprains became a regular occurrence and so shoe designers started working on footwear that would provide stability to the ankle joint, thereby lessening the chances of getting an ankle sprain.
But is that the best way to do it? There's a saying in Triggerpoint Therapy, that "you can stick a Ferrari on your foot, but it won't mask that you have the suspension of a Pinto". A saying lost in translation to most of us Pinoys, so let's just change Pinto to box type Lancer.
Get the picture? In other words, you can wear the fanciest shoes but it won't mask the fact that you have weak feet and ankles. But I'm getting ahead of myself, we were talking about shoes right? Well recent research shows that high top shoes do NOT generally reduce sprain frequency. Even if your ankle is locked down with taping, straps, and high top shoes, your feet continue to move inside your shoe. During the process of a sprain, as the foot moves in the shoe, and the shoe itself reaches a tipping point where the edge of the sole contacts the ground and begins to turn over, forces often become too great for the ankle ligaments to resist and a sprain occurs.
But this is true with any shoe, so why go low top? This goes back to my original argument which is being backed up by Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and a lot of other athletes who had the unfortunate meeting with the three magic letters: ACL. The ankle needs to be able to move freely because if it is locked down, the knee will compensate by becoming hypermobile. A hypermobile knee equals unsafe ligaments, that's always a recipe for disaster.
This is exactly the reason why I wear low top sneakers. And I haven't had an ankle or knee problem since I switched to low top shoes four years ago. Of course, I train for ankle mobility and strengthen my knees in the weight room, which you also need to do. Wait for my next post where I'll give you an ankle and knee program that will lessen injuries significantly. For now, take my advice and try out the low cuts.
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