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Now that I’ve spent some time experimenting with which shoes I wear while I play indoor soccer, I have developed a theory with several points of reasoning behind it.

My theory is that my shoes played a much bigger role in my ankle sprain than I initially thought and more importantly, that ankle sprains are caused primarily by our shoes.

Indoor soccer shoes, just like most traditional shoes, are bullet-shaped. This is a problem because a human foot doesn’t look like a round bullet, it looks flat on top and wide at the ends of the toes.

I have been switching up which shoes I wear to play in my weekly intramural soccer league, some weeks in my regular indoor soccer shoes made by Nike, and some in my Whitin minimalist shoes (which are not made for soccer at all).

The results are interesting though because I have noticed that I feel safer lunging into tackles and in general, playing harder when I wear my minimalist shoes. In my soccer shoes, I am more cautious to make lateral cuts or jump for headers because they’re noticeably more narrow than my other shoes. 

Here’s why I think I sprained my ankle wearing the soccer shoes:

They Hold the Foot Too Narrow

In the soccer shoes, the toes are smashed together at the end of a very narrow toe box. The rest of the foot is also held pretty tight on the sides by the outer canvas. While this is the goal of the shoe, this is a recipe for a sprained ankle if you think about it.

When the toes are pressed together inside the shoes, they have no chance to spread out when you’re trying to stabilize yourself.

The toes are crucial in maintaining balance and agility. They must be able to splay to do this, especially when making a lateral (sideways) motion.

Think about it, would you rather make a hard, 90 degree turn with crammed toes or wide, spread toes? Which one feels more stable?

Traditional footwear directly hinders our natural ability to change direction quickly and safely, maintain great balance, and have more surface area on the ground for traction. It’s like playing sand volleyball with all your toes taped together. Does that make any sense?

The Sole is Dangerously Rigid

I’ve talked before about the soles of traditional footwear being too rigid. But I was talking about a different context: feeling the ground and building strength from the ground.

In the case of sprained ankles, the soles are dangerous for a different reason. The outer part of the sole making contact with the ground is very hard and it forms an edge. From the bottom of your foot to the outside of the foot has a distinct, hard angle separating the two.

While you may never have cared before, this is a major issue while being active. When your foot starts to supinate (rotate outwards) while you are making a sudden turn lets say, there is a lot of rotation that has to happen before your foot is in the “sprained” position.

However, this hard edge creates a point of no return. What I mean by this is that once your foot rotates over to balancing around that edge, its very easy for that edge to push your foot over its limit and directly into the “sprained” position.

Its so hard and uncompromising that you can’t do much about it. Balancing on that edge is flirting with a sprained ankle because it will very quickly push you that way before your foot is even close to that position. 

In a good pair of minimalist shoes, you will find a major difference. The sole is flexible so therefore there’s no hard edge. When I play in my minimalist shoes, I don’t worry about my foot turning over because the sole and the “edge” of the sole will actually collapse when there’s pressure on it because of its flexibility.

So instead of having a hard, angled edge, there is a round and flexible edge on the shoe because it folds in as more weight presses down on it. This significantly reduces the threat of spraining your ankles. 

Feet are Unnaturally Elevated

The last point is that traditional footwear elevates your foot off the ground to be higher than you may realize. This isn’t just women’s high heels, this is all shoes including men’s. The sole is elevated and then the heel is raised even higher than the sole for even worse effect. *facepalm*

This is a direct threat to your ankles when playing a sport. It’s the same reason that many girls have to “learn” how to walk in high heels. It’s very unnatural and very easy to twist your ankles when you’re artificially elevated.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen a girl walking normally and then suddenly have an ankle give out on her because she’s wearing heels. I just hope that we can start realizing how unnecessary it is to put ourselves through that. 

You wouldn’t knowingly wear heeled-shoes to play a sport and it’s obvious why. Walking in a straight line is hard enough with them and you don’t have the natural width and surface area of your foot to keep you stably grounded. 

Even athletic shoes are produced with elevated soles and heels so this still poses a threat to athletic performance and safety. You want to be flat and level on the ground, just like your bare feet are.

This is why my minimalist shoes offer me the peace of mind that I’m not going to hurt myself. They have a zero drop sole, which means my foot is level from heel to toe and the sole itself is thin so I can feel the ground and my feet can adapt as needed.

Again, just like the rigid sole with the hard edge, the elevated sole gives me no chance to catch myself once I’ve reached a certain amount of rotation in my foot. It’s almost like these features are pushing you towards an ankle sprain.

The minimalist shoes I’ve been wearing to play can be found here and if you’re interested in trying out this type of footwear, I suggest you check out this article.

Related: How to Quickly Heal a Sprained Ankle