Extremely painful ankles while riding

[amnich123]

I’ve made a post about this before, but I literally don’t know what to do anymore. I’m avoiding going to the doctors (pediatrist) because I’m sure I’ll be told the same things which didn’t help me before:

1. I’m pigeon toed
2. Wear better shoes (I wear decent shoes)
3. Wear gel heel cups with your shoes

I tried the two things above years ago when I went to a doctor for feet and that’s about all that he could tell me. Nothing got better, and I still have the problem where 5-10 minutes into my flat work my ankles and outer calf become in pain.

This pain is constant unless I take my feet out of my stirrups or walk, and take pressure off of my heels.

I rode in a pair of jointed stirrups the other day to see if they helped, which they did a tiny bit, but ultimately the pain was still evident.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

Can’t remember the last time I was able to ride without this pain. And I know for sure it’s greatly holding me back from improving my eq and moving up.

[In_The_Gate]

This happens to me too. I wish I had an answer also :(. All I can say is you’re not alone.

[Hawks_Nest]

Make sure you aren’t dropping your heels down too far. Try putting a bit more weight in your toe.

One of my ankles bows out and can be very painful if I let me heel drop too far (frequently a problem when I’m doing conditioning sets or if I start to brace). The other thing that has helped to some degree is doing ankle strengthening exercises. Work on your ankle stability (even just going up onto your tiptoes while standing repeatedly can help).

[Manahmanah]

I think this is often the result of “hunter heels”. Are you gracefully allowing the weight of your leg to flow into your heels as a spring or trying to forcefully jam them down as low as possible for sake of “being down”? Is your inside ankle bone resting softly on the horse with your knee slightly open or are you trying to cling to the horse with your lower leg to emulate a picture? More often than not pain is causes be engaging the wrong muscles for the wrong reasons.

It may just be that you are bracing against your stirrups which is bad anyway. To stop yourself from doing this, get rid of them for a while.

[DancingArabian]

Try lowering the stirrups. They might just be too high and forcing too much of an angle out of your foot. Do you have pictures you could post of your ankles while riding?

[Bristol_Bay]

If it’s your outer calf that hurts, maybe you should be seeing an orthopedic surgeon, not just a podiatrist.

[lockedoutalter]

I’m sorry to say that you are conformationally unsound. By being pigeon-toed your automatically putting the weight and balancing on the outer part of your leg. The only way to really fix it is by rebalancing some weight to the inner part of your foot, almost like you’re putting all of your weight into your big toe- and point your toes out. You may want to talk to your Dr. about some strengthening exercises you could do?

[PonyPenny]

Wide tread stirrups really help with my ankle pain, though I am not pigeon toed. I like the Equi-wing stirrups.

[amnich123]

[QUOTE=Manahmanah;7499700]
I think this is often the result of “hunter heels”. Are you gracefully allowing the weight of your leg to flow into your heels as a spring or trying to forcefully jam them down as low as possible for sake of “being down”? Is your inside ankle bone resting softly on the horse with your knee slightly open or are you trying to cling to the horse with your lower leg to emulate a picture? More often than not pain is causes be engaging the wrong muscles for the wrong reasons.

It may just be that you are bracing against your stirrups which is bad anyway. To stop yourself from doing this, get rid of them for a while.[/QUOTE]

This sounds a lot like what I’m doing. In fact, this sounds a lot like what my trainer told me I was doing. I’m definitely bracing, and my leg muscles get very tense, but I don’t know how to relax them, I’ve tried but it just causes my ankle to buckle under me, where I have zero control and won’t be able to put my leg on.

I definitely have trouble balancing my weight from the hip down. Often times I find myself jamming my heels down, pinching with my knee when I’m tired, I’m not quite sure why I do it, I just do. It’s not natural for me when I ride to really have my heels down unless I’m actively jamming them down. And when I relax, they go WAY down or if I’ve been riding for long enough and the pain gets so bad, they start to go numb where I have no control over what they do, more often it’s one ankle that’s worse than the other., but I think that might just be because I’m putting to much weight into one side.

[yellowbritches]

I have a handful of screws in my ankle and the accompanying weakness and lack of range of motion (although, considering I’m 7 months post surgery, and 4 months into weight bearing, I’m really doing pretty darn well). I definitely have discomfort in my jump saddle, even with wide tread stirrups. I am mostly pain free in my dressage saddle. Maybe play with your stirrup length to see if there is a better length for you (that doesn’t compromise your position over fences).

[eclipse]

Does it help if you wear an ankle brace to help stabilize your ankle while you ride? You can get ones that stop the outside stretching/rolling that is causing you pain and if that does help maybe you could get one custom made to fit better under your boots!

[Come_Shine]

You could also try diabetic compression socks. You can get them at the drugstore. They will help with some stability and also keep the blood flowing, which may help with the pain.

[arlosmine]

Bracing/jamming into your heels is definitely going to make whatever issues you have in your lower leg alignment worse.

I read a wonderful piece by Jimmy Wofford in which he advised NEVER riding “bottomed-out” in your ankle flexion, since you then have no shock absorbers left. Go for 1/2 to 2/3 of your end-point flexion. This leaves you enough room to absorb shock after a fence. It may not be the book Eq, but it could be more functionally sound for you. Which is more important?

You could also consider transitioning to dressage, because the use of the leg is quite different. You would most likely be more comfortable in a longer stirrup with less pressure into your iron.

[amnich123]

[QUOTE=arlosmine;7500085]
Bracing/jamming into your heels is definitely going to make whatever issues you have in your lower leg alignment worse.

I read a wonderful piece by Jimmy Wofford in which he advised NEVER riding “bottomed-out” in your ankle flexion, since you then have no shock absorbers left. Go for 1/2 to 2/3 of your end-point flexion. This leaves you enough room to absorb shock after a fence. It may not be the book Eq, but it could be more functionally sound for you. Which is more important?

You could also consider transitioning to dressage, because the use of the leg is quite different. You would most likely be more comfortable in a longer stirrup with less pressure into your iron.[/QUOTE]

Alright, I’ll try only going 2/3 1/2 way with my heel down in my lesson, but even that hurts. Basically, any weight in my heel hurts.

I’ve been riding English (Equitation, Hunters & Jumpers) since I was 6 years old, so I’m sticking with it. Not that I’m not open to trying other disciplines, this is just the one I wish to further in.

[amnich123]

[QUOTE=eclipse;7500018]
Does it help if you wear an ankle brace to help stabilize your ankle while you ride? You can get ones that stop the outside stretching/rolling that is causing you pain and if that does help maybe you could get one custom made to fit better under your boots![/QUOTE]

I have not tried an ankle brace, but I’m considering ordering one from SmartPak if they carry something.

[kris578]

I have this too, found that I had tons of deep knots in my calf that were pulling my Achilles tendon … . which was causing pain/swelling in ankle and up along outer band of shin/calf while riding. Lots of stretching and rolling calf out on a Pilates roller has done wonders, a tens unit also helped to soften them up if that’s a possibility.

[Kadenz]

I have a similar problem when I ride with short stirrups. I’m normally a dressage rider, and have no problems with that leg position. I have torn up both ankles, which is what causes my problem. Whenever I ride with short stirrups or do much 2-point at all, really, it puts way too much strain on my weak ankles (and then they cave outward, which is what causes that pain on the outside of the calf).

When I ride dressage, no problems whatsoever. So that would be my suggestion.

[IPEsq]

It sounds like you should consult an orthopedist and physical therapist to work on fixing the imbalances caused by being pigeon toed with prescribed exercises and stretches.

[WillowB]

Have you riders with ankle pain tried the Bow Balance stirrups?

[Cavalo]

I’d recommend physio. They can give you specific exercises that will work for you to strengthen your surrounding muscles.

As for braces, Back on Track makes a nice compression brace that does fit well under riding boots.