SPORTS-MINDED folk who spend five days a week in the office get a real kick out of turning into weekend warriors. And that's the problem. They hit the courts or field as if they are super heroes - and end up sidelined with ankle injuries.

Ankle injuries were in the spotlight recently after gruesome images showed Arsenal forward Eduardo, 25, dislocating his ankle and snapping his lower leg almost in two in a tackle.

While Eduardo is a professional sportsman and injuries go with the territory, his shudder-inducing anguish may serve as a wake-up call to office workers who plunge into two days of sports without regular practice during the week.

Doctors say that the sedentary working lifestyle, combined with the ageing process, makes bodies less conditioned to vigorous activities and more prone to injury.

Dr Patrick Goh, a sports physician at Gleneagles Hospital, says ankles are particularly vulnerable: 'The ankle has a lot of work to do. It is a very mobile joint, so the higher the chances of it getting injured.'

The main form of ankle injury is a sprain, classified into three degrees of severity ranging from microscopic tears in ligaments to a complete tear that renders loss of function.

Dr Kelvin Chew, sports physician at Changi General Hospital, says that ankle sprains account for about 30 to 50 per cent of all injuries in soccer, basketball and volleyball.

And worse, an ankle can become weaker and more susceptible to injury the more a person sprains it, warns Dr Goh, saying: 'It's a downward spiral.

'One of the most frequent mistakes people who have sprained an ankle make is they equate the loss of pain with having a normal ankle.' He recommends that people strengthen their ankles after recovering from a sprain.

Telecommunications executive Lew Wei Qing, 25, who has sprained both her ankles many times before, went on to break her right ankle in a game of badminton.

'I was trying to return a shot and landed wrongly. My ankle folded inwards,' she recalls. She was out of action for five months. Ms Lew puts down her experience to 'bad luck coupled with an already weak ankle'.

Still, there are various exercises to strengthen the muscles, and ankle guards or tape can be worn for protection.

Dr Goh says taping is the most effective, and can reduce injury rates by over 50 per cent.

tanyihui@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in thesundaytimes on Mar 2, 2008.

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