To avoid ankle strain and injury, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These comfortable fins give you extra power without hurting your ankles. They also tend not to aggravate an existing ankle problem, if you use them sensibly. You may also find that they help with your ankle rehabilitation after ankle injuries and ankle operations. Check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first of course, and read these tips.
Regular foot fins give many people sore ankles. This is because foot fins force your ankles to point your feet too much when you kick. Also, they make you hold your ankles at an unnatural angle, just to point the fins in the right direction for your kick. This strains your ankle joints and ligaments, and twists your knees. After a while, the ankle pain builds up. Your ankles can even stay sore long after you leave the water.
You can test this for yourself by swimming without foot fins. You will probably find it doesn’t hurt your ankles so much. Most likely, this is because you are kicking with less of the damaging, twisting power going through your ankle joints.
Here are three key reasons why choosing fins that fit on your legs avoids ankle strain, pain and injury.
Firstly, fins on your legs give you extra power without these problems because they strap just above your ankles. So their extra fin power is connected directly to your legs. Fin power does not transfer through your ankles like with regular foot fins. So they do not hurt your feet or add ankle strain.
Secondly, these fins don’t force your ankles to point your feet harshly. Your ankles do not hurt like they do when holding foot fins rigid. This also reduces Achilles tendon pain and calf muscle cramps. Instead, your ankles and feet are free to move the same way as when good swimmers kick without fins. So your ankles are relaxed and supple, without pain.
Thirdly, fins on your legs don’t twist your ankles unnaturally. Your ankles aren’t twisted like they are when holding foot fins at a particular angle. Instead, these fins can be adjusted around your leg to be perpendicular to your kick direction. You simply line up the fin centreline with your toe that matches your kick direction. This avoids ankle twisting pain and injury.
Your ankles will feel much more comfortable with fins on your legs.
Fins that care for your ankles
Your ankles are highly complex and crucial parts of your body. You can take care of them by reducing ankle strain, pain, injury and other ankle problems. Instead of using foot fins, you can now exercise and relax your ankles by swimming with fins on your legs.
Fins that do much more than reduce ankle strain
Related FAQ explain why fins on your legs avoid hurting your Achilles tendons and why they avoid causing calf strain and cramps. Please also see the overall fin comfort FAQ, the main article for fin comfort and the fin comfort reviews.
These groups of reviews demonstrate less ankle strain, best swim style and overall fin comfort. These specific reviews illustrate no ankle strain for pool lap training and swim training.