This research showed that high-top basketball shoes do reduce the amount of ankle inversion (roll) when performing the basketball-specific movement. However, it did not make a link between the wearing of this footwear and the prevention of ankle sprains.

The research only uses 6 athletes as participants and therefore we have to be careful in drawing too large a conclusion from their findings. However, the study did find that the high-top basketball shoes did reduce the amount of ankle inversion when compared to the low-cut equivalent shoe. This should make sense to anyone who has ever worn any type of high-top boot as it makes your ankle feel more supported and stable. What we do know is that this particular measure of ankle movement in a shoe is not related to the incidence of ankle inversion sprain injuries when playing basketball.

So why do we feel more supported in these shoes?

Our body is able to ‘sense’ where it is using a mechanism called proprioception. This generalized system involves a combination of factors that allows the body to know how it is working in relation to its surroundings. A system more specific to the ankle works via mechanoreceptors. These specialized sensory receptors are located in skin and hair and give extremely detailed information about forces and location back to the brain. Due to their location in the skin, they are directly affected by external stimuli such as shoes. High-top boots act on the mechanoreceptors around the ankle to allow extra information about the foot, especially abnormal movement such as excessive ankle inversion, to be reported and then acted upon by the brain via muscle coordination.

See our Basketball Custom Orthotics.