I am Mike, 24 years old from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I’m (power)lifting a couple of years now. I had an accident a couple of years ago in which my ankle got seriously injured. After recovery my ankle always stayed weak and a bit instable; when I squat heavy there’s a lot of pressure in this ankle and it feels really instable. I tried to find information on squatshoes but can’t find much. Does any of you have experience with squatshoes that have extra ankle support?
There’s plenty of guys and gals (read: just about all of them) on this site with more experience and know-how than me, so I’m just offering a personal opinion here. Any type of rigid ankle support is likely going to decrease mobility in the ankle, which will likely throw off the mechanics of your squat and may seriously mess you up. I squat in Chuck T high tops, which offer some support without sacrificing much mobility. My thought would be to spend some time strengthening/stabilizing/rehabing your ankle before you start squatting heavy if it’s really a problem. However, as I said above, I’m fairly new, so that’s just my 2 cents.
I’ll second the advice for the Chuck Taylor high tops. They definitely provide stability without decreasing mobility. But depending on the injury you might want to look into an ankle sleeve or something similar that you can wear when you squat heavy.
Like a few of the guys echoed, you need to begin strengthening the weakness rather than looking for a crutch. Barefoot or simulated barefoot (Free’s, Five-Fingers) training is a good start. For now you could try a muay thai ankle support or a loose pro-wrap/athletic tape combo; just make sure you’re doing something to work on the weakness rather than around it.