If a majority of your physical activity is performed in traditional shoes and you do little to train your feet and ankles then you most likely possess faulty foot and ankle mechanics. 

Proper activation and function of the foot and ankle is not only vital for maximizing strength and performance, but it is also critical for tissue health and injury prevention. 

Ankle sprains make up about a 25% of all sports-related injuries and a staggering 85-95% of untreated ankle injuries will reoccur. This is likely due to the fact that proprioception (awareness of where your body is in space), is never quite restored after the initial injury. A great starting point post injury is to spend as much time out of your shoes as possible and let your body relearn the correct movement pattern from the ground up. Once you can move with little to no pain, you can begin adding a host of barefoot training exercises. 

It is important to continue doing preventative exercises and there is no better way to prevent future ankle rolls and sprains than sprinkling in the 3 inversion exercises below:

Check out the video below - Always start with inversion walking before continuing to the other variations. 

1. Inversion Walking

2. Inversion Forward Lunge

3. Inversion Lateral Lunge

 #DITCHYOURSHOES

-Mike