Am I doing it wrong?

July 4, 2008 11:23 AM

Help me trip less. Maybe it's nothing, but I think there might be something weird going on with the way I walk.

Most of the time, I walk normally. However, every now and again, I will take one step in an unremarkable series of steps and land on the outside of my foot (on the ankle). This causes me to look really stupid as I lurch forward, which I don't care about, and sometimes it really hurts, which I do care about. It happened yesterday, and I nearly fell down a flight of stairs. It doesn't seem to be connected to how quickly I'm walking or what shoes I'm wearing.

Is this just something that happens to everyone, or do I need to learn how to walk properly? Or do I just have weak ankles?

posted by prefpara to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)

I used to fall like that a lot (where it seemed like it was weak ankles or walking in a dumb way), because I have balance problems. Once I started getting treatment for the condition that was causing the balance problems, I stopped falling. It might be indicative of some larger issue.
posted by phunniemee at 11:39 AM on July 4, 2008

I have this, it's called supination. You may walk funny, or you may have weak ankles/loose ligaments or you may have bad shoes. Part of the problem with this, if you walk funny, is that your shoes wear down making it even easier for you to do this and so you fall MORE. I did a few things that helped.

1. replaced worn down soles on my shoes.
2. I try not to wear shoes that I can "fall off of" easily, preferring flats to heels and avoiding stuff like clogs. Ankle support is good, wide soled shoes [think Campers] are also good
3. I strengthened my ankles some by swimming a lot. This may just be confirmation bias, but I don't think I've sprained an ankle since I started swimming and I used to get a bad sprain once every year or so.

You can get custom orthotics for your shoes that can also help with this.
posted by jessamyn at 11:41 AM on July 4, 2008

Sounds like what you have may be chronic ankle instability. Google that phrase and you will find lots of info..
posted by gudrun at 11:43 AM on July 4, 2008

Maybe ice skating would help.
posted by stubby phillips at 11:44 AM on July 4, 2008

Me too. Oddly enough I have less trouble barefoot. When I wear shoes (which is actually most of the time, when I'm not in my house), I wear boots that go up above the ankle, rather than shoes. You could try this, but it may potential make your ankles even weaker.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 11:53 AM on July 4, 2008

A sports medicine doc or an orthopedist will be able to analyze your gait (some really pricey high-end running-shoe stores can do this too) and figure out what the heck the deal is. My guess is that you'd get referred for orthotics and told to pick supportive shoes that can accomodate the new inserts.

My current pair of Hi-Tecs have the widest footbed of any shoe I've ever had and they've been great for eliminating that sort of "I'm going to fall off my foot and trip" feeling. I had orthotics in high school for unrelated issues-- they were a sort of brown high-density foam, and fairly thick, so if you end up going that route, you'll need shoes where you can pull out the insoles. (They're also a little sweaty on hot days, in my experience.)
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 12:01 PM on July 4, 2008

My abnormal walk contributed to a good deal of ankle instability. The times I tried to ice skate were hopeless. I found a good physical therapist who specialized in body mechanics and was able to learn proper posture and normal locomotion. It's not at all easy to change something that's so ingrained, but it was worth the effort and expense. My problem was plodding around without moving my hips, causing me to not swing my arms as I walked. Yeah, like that Seinfeld episode.
posted by gngstrMNKY at 12:04 PM on July 4, 2008

My guess is supination also. In other words, you regularly tend to walk on the outside edge and once a while, it is off just a little and you trip. My daughter is a pronator (opposite problem). A quick consultation with a physical therapist (actually at a party) and she learned a simple exercise to strengthen her ankles and we went and bought good quality arch supports from REI and she hasn't twisted her ankle since. (mostly due to the arch supports since she didn't keep up the exercise). It was such an easy solution. My advice is schedule a single appointment with a physical therapist and get some professional advice tailored to your own feet and ankles.
posted by metahawk at 12:05 PM on July 4, 2008

As someone who has once fallen down a set of stairs, banisters are your friend. Keeping a hand on one could make the difference between a bad bruise and a broken bone.
posted by happyturtle at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2008

Thank you, prefpara for your question, and gudrun for your answer. I didn't even know this was a "thing," but I have this problem and it has lead to pain and embarrassment on many occasions.
posted by thebrokedown at 1:09 PM on July 4, 2008

I used to do this on only one ankle after a pretty bad sprain. I must have done it a hundred times, then on 101 I tore the peroneal tendons in my ankle. After all the surgery and PT it's pretty much back to normal, and something I'd rather not repeat. The Physical therapist said it's a fairly common thing (supination) but if you have unstable ankles, or one like I did from a prior sprain, there are simple exercises you can do to strengthen them.

This and this look a lot like the sheets I was given for some pretty standard exercises. I do them 3 times a week now when I work out so I don't have another problem.
posted by sanka at 1:18 PM on July 4, 2008

I do this because of ridiculously high arches - because so little of my foot actually comes into contact with the ground, my right foot turns over very easily and I sprain it badly every few months, which aggravates the problem.

I had a physiotherapist tape my foot in a way that supported the arches and had fewer problems, and was recommended custom orthotic inserts which I have yet to get done. Perhaps a physio could demonstrate a good method of taping, some useful exercises, and recommend a place to get orthotics, which all would help.
posted by tracicle at 1:53 PM on July 4, 2008

This is a no brainer. You have some kind of gait problem (landing on the outside of your foot like that is classic) and you need to see a podiatrist. Fussing about with new shoes or exercises or whatever is a waste of time until you've seen the podiatrist and been properly diagnosed, and there's a good chance you'll make things worse instead of better if you do so. And the podiatrist is the absolute correct person to see about this, anyone else (like a physiotherapist) should just be sending you along there anyway.

I used to fall over all the time for no reason. Saw the podiatrist and now I walk half marathons. The initial consultation isn't very expensive and will be worth it.
posted by shelleycat at 2:38 PM on July 4, 2008

IANAD, but I'm going to suggest that if you see one, you ask about having your lower leg reflexes (and possibly your neurological voluntary impulse propagation for your legs) checked. You might need a neurological consult for this. Much of your ability to balance and to recover smoothly from minor mis-step situations comes from reflex action. If you have structural issues, like pronation or supination, bad ankles, or problems with tendons as discussed above, you can have poor reflex response, but you can also have just poor reflexes, for neurological reasons, which can underlie such additional factors or old injuries.

Next, as a former shoemaker, I'm also going to suggest that you avoid shoes with sharp sole edges and very high traction soles. As a general rule, athletic footwear like running and training shoes, are not a good choice for general wear, as the factors that are engineered into them for running and sports performance produce shoes that are somewhat more likely to promote sole roll injuries in normal wear. In addition, running shoes, in particular, are engineered with lots more shock absorption (to spread running impact) than is needed, or even desireable, in a walking shoe, and this shock absorpion comes from materials that are designed to breakdown in as little as 500 to 800 miles of running training, which is much faster wear than most people will accept in general wear shoe. Wearing running shoes beyond their safe life pre-disposes you to injury. Finally, for many people, a certain amount of strike force feedback to the lower leg is essential for a good walking gait, that encourages them to "pick up" their feet on the forward stride.
posted by paulsc at 3:08 PM on July 4, 2008

I might do something like this occasionally, I´m not sure from your description. Sometimes I take a step and land on the outside of my foot, not on the actual ankle though, more the side of the foot. I´m not sure if you are saying that your foot is so flexible that the ankle itself will touch the ground with the rest of you upright.

It doesn´t hurt though, and I don´t fall over. I have never particularly worried about it looking funny. I have fairly strong ankles. Maybe you have weak ankles?
posted by yohko at 12:47 PM on July 6, 2008

Thanks, friends! I will look further into your excellent suggestions.
posted by prefpara at 8:30 AM on July 7, 2008