my ankles usually hurt slightly in the morning right when i wake up and start walking and i'm pretty sure that it can attributed to the way that i'm running.

should my heels hit the ground with each step or should i stay on the balls of my feet?

any ideas on what i'm doing wrong?

thanks guys!

Run how it feels natural. People often get pretty hung up on running technique. The best runners in the world actually footstrike with the weight distributed across the middle portion of their foot. So they are actually running flat footed pushing off their toes.

The reason for this is that the more area the contact force is distributed over the less is transfered onto the other joints. When people start trying to run heel toe they often over stride and cause a braking force when they make foot contact. This leads to knee pain and hip pain.

It also depends if you are sprinting. If your sprinting definately the balls of your feet.

Dont get too hung up. Run how it feels natural, also make sure you have some good shoes.

hey thanks for your response. you're right...i'd totally get hung up on this. and, my shoes are crap, so...

thanks, i'll just do what feels right (and get some better kicks!)

Yeah, where is the pain? I used to work in a shoe clinic.

oh awesome!

well, my ankles don't hurt now so i can't exactly pinpoint where the pain is so, in the interest of being accurate i'll let you know tomorrow morning when i get out of bed with my gansta limp! haha...

thanks!

the pain in basically in my heel (not just my ankle) and the muscles that stretch out to the bones on the both sides of my foot. what the heck is it called???

(i looked it up and i think the bones are the "medial maleolus" and the "lateral maleolus")

so, the pain stretches from my heel to those bones.

it's not a horrible pain but it's there. i run in asics but they have a almost no sole and they are pretty old.

Sounds like you could do with some new shoes. Pain in the malleolus is pretty rare but alot of people find that they need to stetch their ankles directly after running. What I do just for general ankle health because I have had ankle fractures is to stand side on to some stairs and ballance with half of your foot on the stair then slowly lower the side of your foot over the stair. You can do this both laterally and medially.

It sounds to me that it is more likely to be shoe selection. Do you have wide feet because your heels may be wedging on foot impact and then thats going to lead to pain in that area.

I would go to a shoe clinic myself or try some shoes like Nike Free trainers that will allow your feet to work naturally. They are real good if you have a neutral foot.

Which just gave me another idea for why you have ankle pain. Asics make alot of anti pronation shoes. You might be a neutral or a supinator and not even know it!

Let me know what happens I would be interested to know.

Oh and one last thing. Kneel on a chair or your bed with your ankles hanging off the edge. Which way do your toes point? Away from the midline of your body or towards it?

What worked for me was buying a nice pair of running shoes. I guess I was was Over-pronating? (help me out with the terms guys) That put pressure on my ankle...
Anyhoo best 95 dollars spent!

I have chronic ankle problems. I have an old ski injury that always bothers me. My doctor recommend that I wear an ankle compression sleeve. I have tired a few and I really like the therafirm moderate open toe anklet. It works really well. It reduces the swelling and relieves the pain. You might want to try one if you're having ankle problems. I get mine online at Therawear.com and it is great. If anyone is intersted in trying it you can get it at Therawear. I hope this helps!

My ankles generally hurt during and after I run -- I put it down to just not being very good at it. I built up slowly and it is helping.

But this thread does remind me that I need to buy some new running shoes!