Ankle Pain during Squats

[Aljoscha Liebe]

Hey Rip,

I've always had a rather bad left ankle as I had a pretty bady injury about six years ago where I tore two ligaments and also damaged the shin bone quite badly. It healed up okay from there, but I reinjured the ankle slightly about a year ago. Nothing bad, just a pulled ligament on the inside. Since then I am in pain during squats though.

I can comfortably get into an ass to the grass squat, but as soon as I shift my weight form nearly completely on the heels to just a bit more weight on the rest of the foot, I get impinged on top of the left ankle. This obviosly get's really annoying when I squat. Especially when front squatting I will get a sore and painful left ankle.

I tried stretching the shit out of my calves and massaging them, but that's only helping it for a very short time. Also did some Osteopathy and physiotherapy, but pain just comes back again when I start moving more. I was considering to get lifting shoes to at least be able to train around the problem a bit, as I'm using minimalist shoes at the moment. And yes, my knees are out when I squat. By the way, I'm 22.

Any advice would be very appreciated.

Greetings from Hamburg!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Squat in proper footwear.