I shattered my ankle when I was about 16 which required surgery. The cartilage in the front of my ankle is damaged, so any time I come down on the ankle in an overly flexed position (toes pointing up), it hurts like hell. It's never been too bad, and I've always just powered through it. Lately it's been acting up, and I've made it worse with a couple under-rotated scarecrows where I come down heavy on the toes, so it just cranks my ankle. <BR> <BR>I've been reading a lot about ankle braces and binding choices, but most of those posts seem to be related to inversion sprains (rolling the ankle to the inside). I haven't found anything specifically about pain in the front of the ankle. <BR> <BR>Do the braces, taping, etc. work for front ankle pain like what I described? Is there a specific brace that can limit flexion? Also, can you recommend any '08 - '09 bindings that I should demo that might help to limit flexion? <BR> <BR>I currently ride an '07 CWB Transcend with '07 Zeus. I don't have a boardshop close by, so demoing might be tough. The CWB rep lives where I live, so it would be easy(er) to demo CWB, but I'm open to anything, just a matter of getting my hands on them! <BR> <BR>Thanks, <BR>Danny

Both of my ankles are rounded from playing football on them while broken (thought they were just sprained for an entire season)...I have the SAME exact problem with pain on the top of them. Some days its just a pinch, others I'll tweak it pretty bad, but tape up and can ride through it. <BR>Find a professional trainer and ask them how to tape up...here's my febel explination: <BR>*Sit down and put your ankle/leg at an 90 degree angle with your toes point straight up (I try to point them back at me while taping) <BR>*Start with 3 stirups, and wrap a single piece of tape around the top of the 3 tight stirups. <BR>*Then I go to town...start with the top of the foot and tape from the inside out around your leg/ankle and start making figure 8's...so, top of foot -around the back of your leg/ankle -across the top of your foot to the outside of your foot -around the bottom of your foot -then cross over the top of your foot back around your leg/ankle. <BR> <BR>In regards to bindings -people go both ways....either really loose -ie. LF Shanes (which I don't know why other than to pop out easier if you grab an edge)...or really stiff bindings ->I ride Ronix Cells and love them, wouldn't ride with anything but a super stiff binding for more support. <BR>Hope this helps... <BR>Good luck!

Getting a loose binding would be a very bad idea, if you come halfway out of the binding on a bad fall your ankle will get seriously hurt. I would stick to the stiffest you could find.

This may sound dumb, but I looked up how to tape an ankle on youtube. They have a great instructional. Provides AMAZING support for an ankle. I tore the 3 ligaments on the outside of my ankle and tape it like this and have had no problems since. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snPo9omB4wA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snPo9omB4wA</a>

Yeah I would agree on not wanting a loose binding, both in general, and for my particular situation. A loose binding would not help my pain because it's not even about coming out easily or not. I get the jarring pain when I land and ride away from a big TS backroll into the trough, or if I'm riding my dirt bike and am setting up far forward on the bike into a turn or landing a jump, etc. Just a bit too much flexion and it sucks!! <BR> <BR>Zach: Not dumb at all, that video is great. Much easier than trying to explain in words. <BR> <BR>I guess I'll try the tape. Can I get that at like Sport Chalet or something? Certain kind I should be looking for?

Doing some reading here: <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/6583/ankle_impingement_problems.html" target="_blank">http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/6583/ankle_impingement_problems.html</a> <BR> <BR>Scary stuff, I hope my little cankle isn't too jacked up. I know I've put it through the ringer from the original dirt bike accident, and now this probably isn't helping. Sounds like maybe I have anterior impingement. I always thought my cartilage was just damaged or missing, but it sounds like this might actually be a ligament damage issue. I'll probably rest it for a few days and see if it goes back to "normal". <BR> <BR>Oh, and I just found out my wife is quite familiar with taping ankles from her basketball days, so I'm good there! I'll tape it up in the hopes or preventing excessive dorsiflexion (I found that big word on the website!! Haha). <BR> <BR>Danny