Man I haven't been posting in a while. Anyway, I just had a recent accident where I almost sprained my ankle. Luckily it was only a minor strain ( and it recovered in days).

Anyway it's made me circumspect (I'm somewhat infamous for being accident prone).

Is there any thing I can do in the future to prevent injury? I'm already an excellent faller. If I find my self admiring the wonderful rink lighting at less than 5 times, I know I'm doing something wrong. But are there any stretches or excercises that can make ankles more resilient.

Also do a good par of boots help prevent injury? I skate in glacier 222's (a really really really really low quality jackson recreational skate (it's not even a true bloody figure skate!) that costs 75$, boot and blade), so I need to make an upgrade soon.

As usual thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm afraid we all get injured from time to time, but yes, a better boot would help protect your ankles. I know when my daughter sprained her ankle (not on the ice), for a long time, the only footwear she was really comfortable in was her ice skates!

If you're sure you're going to want to go on skating, now's the time to upgrade to a good beginner-standard pair of boots (the exact brand depends on your own feet, of course) and perhaps Coronation Ace blades. Ask at your rink where the best place to go to be fitted is - don't just grab the first pair available at the shop! Your instructor will know - and may be able to give you better advice than we can, from a distance.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I've used something called "Resistabands" for off ice exercises for my feet and ankles. There are other names for these, such as "Therabands" but essentially they are long strips of rubber bandy type material (physical therapists often use similar strips with varying degrees of elasticity). You can find these things online at sites such as this: http://www.timeforfitness.com/exerci...esistaband.htm or basically any dancewear store online (Discount Dance Supply is great). Your pro shop might even have them. I think they are wonderful for warmup and strengthening and they might help you a lot for your ankle woes. Hope it feels better soon!

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~AF

I know I found the same thing. I managed hurt my ankle during competition one day this year. Unfortunatly that happened during my first of 4 events that day. While not wearing my skates I could barely walk, but when I put my skates on and forced myself to compete I actually managed to pull off a lutz loop combination for elements and the foot I injured was takeoff foot. So yes better skates are going to help you inur yourself less.

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Hurrah for Desert Skaters! YAY for Jeff Buttle and Virtue and Moire!

You can get on a set of stairs put only the balls of your feet on the edge and then lift/rise up and down. Also balancing on one foot and rising slowly up to your toe and back down. I do this while I am in any line or just standing around. Luckily, I live in a very athletic town so I am only one of several people doing this.

Also pilates using a reformer, a knotted theraband and walking sideways works as stated above. I have really small ankles but I am also really limber so I have been very lucky and not strained or sprained my ankle. But I have hurt just about every other part of my body.