ACE Ankle Supports Review 2024

If ankle injuries and problems are not a stranger to you, ankle braces are probably something you deal with on a regular basis. They keep your ankles in place, giving the tissues and muscles that usually support your ankles a chance to heal and grow strong once again. But braces and ankle supports can also be helpful when you do not have a pre-existing condition because they can prevent the injuries from happening in the first place - you only have to choose the correct style for your preferred sport choice!

Ankle support and ankle braces started to gain popularity back in the 1990s. Their popularity soared because they had a new and improved design, and were much better than the pricier and less convenient option, which was kinesiology tape.

Ankle braces today come in many different varieties, all offering us different levels of support and compression, needed to hold our ankles in place and to help them heal faster and better. The different styles also help us be better at volleyball or basketball, or any other sport you might be enthusiastic about, so try to find the right ankle support that will allow you to be even better at what you do.

An ankle brace will make injuries something that you shouldn’t worry about when you play your sport, but if an injury does happen, it will be just as severe as it would be if you didn’t even have the brace on in the first place, so this is something you should keep in mind. When you already have an injury, playing will be the last thing on your mind, and wearing the brace at all times is the best thing you can do to help your ankle heal faster. Your ankles are made out of the bones that keep it going, of course, the ligaments, tendons, and muscles which all work in unison to let you function properly. All of these parts also have a deep connection to your knees and hips and help your legs work the way they are supposed to.

So what do you need an ankle brace for then? An ankle brace is just a special tool that supports your ankles and makes it easier for them to keep you going. But when you already sprain your ankle, ankle support is the very first thing you will need, since your body won’t be able to do it by itself.

When you roll your ankle, you actually tilt your sole either inwards or outwards, in motions called inversion and eversion. When you roll your ankle inwards, your lateral ligaments can get too stretched, resulting in strong pain and the inability to walk without proper support. Most ankle injuries are inversions, but when an eversion happens your muscles are actually involved, not the ligaments, which make the injury different from when an inversion happens, and you will need a different kind of support, which is again why you need to make sure that you bought the right kind of brace for your needs.

Also, an ankle brace prevents your ankles from rolling outwards, so you can prevent the injury before it even happens simply by sliding the brace around your ankles!

As we already mentioned, ankle braces can help you avoid an injury in the first place, which makes them quite effective, to begin with. When your foot suffers from an injury, it usually happens because the foot suffered from sudden motion that threw it off balance, and that is exactly what an ankle brace can prevent from happening, thanks to the extra support it offers.

If you have ankle support on because you already have an injury, then be prepared to keep wearing it anywhere from ten days to six weeks, depending on how bad you hurt yourself. You must wear it until all signs of the injury disappear, so until all the swelling, pain, and instability goes away.

Ankle support is extremely helpful to athletes because they keep their ankles safe throughout the most strenuous of activities. Ankle support can also reduce swelling and pain. As we mentioned before, ankle sprains are the most common ankle injuries, where you roll it either outwards or inwards, and that motions result in tenderness, pain, and swelling.

Depending on how you injured your ankle, the type of ankle support you need will differ. You will either need support on only one side or support on both sides, helped by a metal or plastic frame. This way, the frame acts like the tendons and ligaments you injured, giving them enough time to heal, and heal they will!

What happens when you want to use the brace as a preventive measure, are they effective there too? Wearing a brace will significantly lower the risk of experiencing an injury, and you can successfully avoid them in the future, even if you are particularly prone to these types of injuries. You must make sure that you are wearing the right kind of brace for the sport you are into, because otherwise you might not feel the benefits, and the ACE ankle brace will actually hurt your performance, which is the last thing you need!

What your ankle support is made out of will definitely affect the way your braces work. First things first, the amount of air that goes through the brace will change, which is something you really don’t need when you are sweating and working out. A brace that does not breathe will make sweating an even bigger problem than usual, promoting bad odors and irritation. The material can also affect the fit and the amount of support you will get, so make sure that you consider the type of material used to create them. Also, a flimsy brace will not last long, and you need it to stay strong and sturdy when you exercise or when you heal!

Usually, ankle supports are made out of neoprene, elastane or nylon, combined in different ratios that help the support work its magic. Both nylon and neoprene were invented, by accident, by the same scientists in the same lab, back in the 1920s.

Nylon was the first one to appear, and was first used in WWII, and so was neoprene. Then it gained popularity as pantyhose, and then people started to use it wisely. Nylon is usually strong, flexible and breathable, but it does not offer that much support by itself, so it needs help from either neoprene or spandex. Neoprene was also used in WWII first and then started to be used everywhere else.

Neoprene is great because it acts just like regular rubber does, all the while being more comfortable and cheaper. It can also withstand a greater range of temperature. It also keeps its shape, and resists wear and tear like a champ. But neoprene is not so breathable, which is where nylon comes in, and it also won’t support you as much as spandex would, so it’s best when these three materials are combined together, to work in harmony. Spandex, or elastane, is the elastic material we are all familiar with, which offers the support we need thanks to its compression abilities.

But if you need serious support, then your braces need to have plastic or metal frames. These constructions will keep your ankles immobilized and will give them the chance to heal. But these frames will make the braces a bit on the heavy side, so make sure to keep that in mind when you buy your next ankle support!

Support is definitely what you need to look out for when you buy your next ankle brace. This support is one determining the factor that will mean the difference between healing faster or slower, or between being safe from injuries and actually experiencing one. Your brace can either so supportive that it doesn't let your feet move around at all, or it can simply be a sock that is tighter than usual. The amount of support you need will be determined by your pre-existing conditions, the sport you are into, and how bad your existing injury is.

The support the ankle brace can offer you will be determined by many things, and firstly, it will be affected by the material your brace is made out of. If you need a brace that will still let you use your feet as you would normally, and only need that little extra bit of support, then a blend of nylon and elastane will be the best for you. This type of brace works great when you are into running, as an example, since you need the flexibility.

Sometimes, the braces have plastic or metal frames, as we mentioned before, which increase the amount of support given by the brace by tenfold. This is what you need if you are already injured. The support a brace gives you can also be affected by how the brace is closed up or tightened. The very simple, sock-like braces will only have to be pulled over the foot, and the amount of support you feel then is the amount of support you will get, no adjusting possible. Lace-up braces and wrap-around braces are a completely different story since you can amp up the support a lot and enjoy all the healing properties they give. Hinged braces support you while allowing you to move, and they are the best when used for volleyball or basketball, or anything that requires you to move a lot!

When we say style, we don’t mean how good your ankle brace looks while you wear it around your ankles. We actually mean the several different styles ankle braces come in, where each one has a specific purpose and function that will help you in different ways. Every style of the ankle brace has its own level of support, comfort, effectiveness and so on and so forth.

First, we have ankle braces that were created for specific sports in mind. It seems like running and ankle aching are seen commonly together. Your joints are constantly working to push you forward, and that constant strain can do a number on your joints, causing shin splints, Achilles tendon injuries, ligament tears if you sprain your ankle, and much more. There are ways runners can prevent this from happening. You can run on softer surfaces, like grass, you can wear special kinds of shoes designed for your gait, Making sure the shoes are still working properly and replacing them when the time comes, and of course properly warming up. But the most effective way to keep ankle injuries away is to wear a brace. The ankle brace protects you from all sorts of sprains and strains, but it’s difficult to find the right kind of brace for running. Usually, your best bet is either the simple, sock-like brace, or hinged braces, but depending on your level of fitness and health, the style of the brace you need will change.

Basketball is also a very popular sport, and as such injuries resulting from playing basketball are often seen, with ankle injuries taking the cake. There are specialized training aids such as wobble boards that can help strengthen your ankles, but wearing an ankle brace is the best possible way to keep your ankles safe. The brace absorbs the impact force when you land, and it will keep your ankles safe from rolling. And if your ankle is sore already, the ankle support will minimize the pain so you’ll be able to take on your opponents with more confidence. When you look for a proper brace for basketball, you need to look at how the brace fits, how comfy it is, and how long it will last. The multitude of different styles will make choosing the brace a difficult task, but your best bet is the ones that offer enough support to keep you stable, but not so much that your feet remain immobilized, maybe an ACE ankle brace.

Volleyball is also one sport that certainly demands you work with your ankles. Volleyball will make you jump, pivot and land on your feet more than enough, putting a lot of expectations on your ankles. If you go to the court without any braces, you are inviting injuries in. You can wear a lot of different kinds of braces for volleyball. You can wear sock model braces, mechanical model braces that wrap around your ankles, and braces that have many features that help you perform better, like air-cells that aid in the healing process and don’t let the swelling be so severe. No matter which style of brace you choose, it’s vital that you choose the right one!