Why Is Tumbling Hurting My Ankles?

[Cheer3256]

I recently got my round off tuck about 5 months ago and ever since my ankles have been hurting any time I do round offs or tucks. It's a sharp pain in the front of my ankles that's really bad for like 30 seconds after I land and then not as bad but I can't walk right for the next day or so. Now it is starting to hurt near my Achilles' tendon and has started swelling. I've been to physical therapy and a podiatrist and been xrayed. But they say there isn't a problem that they can see. Has anyone had this or know what it is?

 

[dawgshow]

What kind of shoes are you wearing?


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[Cheer3256]

What kind of shoes are you wearing?


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Do you mean like during practice or like during every day life?

 

[dawgshow]

During practice. CP has found that some cheer shoes give her ankles problems.


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[Cheer3256]

During practice. CP has found that some cheer shoes give her ankles problems.


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I wear the nfinity evolution shoes which are required for competition at my gym. At practice however, I can wear any cheer shoes. Any recommendation would be really helpful

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Mine use to hurt in the front whenever I would just do like a round off rebound, rbhs rebound or land a tuck short. It would hurt when I landed and then maybe for like a minute later. I COULD walk the next day though. I never got it checked out though. Pretty much went away by itself and occasionally would hurt ever one in a hundred times.

I don't recommend not getting injuries looked at though. I'm just not a fan of doctors and hate sitting out---I was dumb, I know.


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[cheer25mom]

Sounds to me like you may be landing short, or landing too flat footed. CP had problems with this both at cheer and dance the effected her ankles. If this is the case for you, you need to work on achieving full rotation and landing in the balls of your feet and absorbing the landing. Anecdotally, I see it more in kids that have RO tuck, but not RO hand tuck. Something about the tuck coming straight of the roundoff seems to make the landing more jarring??

 

[Michael White]

You're definitely landing short. You're probably landing with your chest down and your toes flexed up. This causes a compression of the tissue on the top of your foot/ankle.

 

[omgitssydthekid]

This used to happen to me when I was working doubles (clearly unsuccessfully) because I was landing short. My doctor told me to take two weeks off from tumbling, so I did and it still hurt when doing tumbling, but it was fine in everyday life. I ended up quitting cheer for a few months because it was so frustrating and when I came back, it was a lot better but I still had issues from time to time even though I stopped working on that skill.


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[Parkerk99]

I have problems with my ankles too (I've been cheering and tumbling for a while) you could possibly be landing short, or you may not be bending your knees when you land (like me) if you land straight legged like I do it puts a lot of pressure on your ankles when you land! I would recommend an ankle brace or wrapping your foot/ankle with athletic tape!

 

[CheerBank]

Have you looked into sports orthotics? Just over the counter ones, nothing custom made. They change the positioning of your feet in your shoes and keeps them in the correct alignment, which might help alleviate the ankle pain you're experiencing.