Does Shoe Type Impact Ankle Injury Risk or Outcomes in Professional Basketball Players?

Abstract

Category: Sports; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Ankle injuries are common in professional basketball. Despite their significance to the sport, little is known about the impact of basketball shoe type on ankle injury risk and severity. The purpose of this study is to describe the frequency and impact of ankle injuries in National Basketball Association players wearing low, mid, or high-top shoes. Methods: Players appearing in ≥1 NBA game during the 2020-2021 season were included. Shoewear data per-player per-game was collected. Low, mid, or high-top shoes were defined as ending below the ankle, at, or above the ankle. Significant injuries were defined as those occurring in-game that required ≥1 missed games. Shoewear, performance statistics and injury data were obtained from open access databases. The risk of ankle injury per group was calculated using chi-squared tests. Baseline anthropometric demographics and in-game performance statistics including points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, field goal shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage and net scoring per game were compared between groups with analysis of variance (ANOVA) testing. Two-sided t-tests were performed to analyze performance within individual shoe groups before and after injury. Subgroup analysis was performed for primary vs repeatedly injured players Results: There were 25,009 player appearances during the 2020-2021 NBA season. The overall prevalence of low, mid, and high top wear was 61%, 33% and 6%, respectively. 77 significant ankle injuries among 66 players caused a total of 713 days missed during the 2020-2021 NBA season. 48% of injured players had a reported ankle injury prior to the 2020-2021 season. The average injured player was 1.1 years older than uninjured players. Shoe choice did not have a significant impact on baseline player production. There was no difference in first time or repeat injury rate between shoe groups. There was no difference in days missed or individual productivity statistics between groups. There was no difference in performance amongst players with primary vs repeat injury. Conclusion: Ankle injuries are a common cause of missed playing time. There was no difference in injury rate, post-injury performance, or recovery time by shoe type. As shoe category appears to have negligible impact on healthy performance, injury risk or injury outcomes, team physicians and trainers should advocate for athletes to use shoes they feel most comfortable in.