Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and it's
product review time again. The folks at
Sleeve Stars sent me their ankle support.
So let's get started.
What I really love
about this ankle support, is as you can
see, when I take it out of the box, it's
really thin and small, so the great part
about that is it's not bulky. So when you
put it on your ankle, you can put it on
and it fits in your shoe really easily.
So a lot of times, the braces or ankle
supports or even sleeves, are really
thick, and it's hard to get your shoe on
and off and then it feels uncomfortable
when you have your shoe on. The also, the
really cool thing about the sleeve here
is that they also have a strap that
gives you extra support and compression,
and I kind of looked at it and I was
like hmm, but it really works well. Like I
don't have plantar fasciitis, which what
really helps with this, but I do have
really weak ankles because playing
soccer, basketball growing up, I've had
super super lots of sprains in my
ankles, so I call my ankles floppy feet
now, but having some extra support like
this is really good because it's not a
solid support where your muscles aren't
even doing the work, but it's just enough
to help give you that support so you're
not rolling your ankle every time you do
something, or it's helping support that arch
if you've got that plantar fasciitis.
Even things like bone spurs or just
tendonitis and the Achilles tendon, this
works super well, and like I said, when
you put it on it's really thin so you
wouldn't think it gives a lot of support
but it does give a lot more support than
you would think. So I'm going to slip it
on and show you and show you how the
strap goes around and works really well
to get that extra support. The one other
thing I want to talk about before I put
it on is the material of the sleeve, and
as you can see, it doesn't really stretch
going up and down, but it stretches going
out width wise, so you can get it on and
then it gives that compression when you
put it on, and if you happen to be like
me who has a little bit of texture
issues, this is not neoprene. It's a nice
soft kind of cloth which is good because
sometimes those neoprene supports
give me a just a weird kind of
feeling because it's a texture thing for
me, so this is really really nice because
it's softer, it's breathable as you can
see here, if you pull really hard you can
see through it, so it helps whisk away
that sweat on your feet and your ankles.
So hopefully when you wear it, then it
makes it so your feet aren't so stinky if
you have stinky feet, not me. So let me
put it on real quick, and you can see
here that you can put it over your sock
if you want to, some people like it just
right on their foot, which you can, but I
want to show you with it over the sock
because then it still shows that it's
not big and bulky. So you can see here,
it's nice and smooth, very thin, but it
definitely gives me that compression,
that hug kind of feeling that's what you
want, you know, it helps increase the
circulation in the area because that
compression moves all that fluid. So if
you have an irritation, if you have an
"-itis" to this like a tendonitis or
something in there, it helps move that
circulation around, get that swelling out,
to help the healing process. So that's
really cool. And you can see I can still
move with it, so it's not stopping my
movement, it's just what I call that nice
little hug to make everything
comfortable, but the really really cool
part about the strap that I like um you
just kind of put your foot down on it,
and standing is probably a little bit
better, but i'm just going to show you
sitting so I can get right to it without
bending over, but what you do is I'm
going to turn it around this way because
let's say I want some support on the
outside here. It has a little leather
piece here, and then it has the velcro
piece over here, so what I like to do, and
it gives you some instructions, is you're
going to make a little figure eight or
an X around your ankle to give that
support right there on those bones which
are the malleoli all right there. So take
the one with the leather side so you can
put it right over where that bone is
because that's going to give you that
support, and then bring the velcro side,
and just make an X the other way on the
bone on the other side and so it gives
you support right there. Now with
anything that has that give to it,
don't go so super tight where you
lose the circulation in your feet, so
make sure you're checking your toes they
still have a nice color to them they're
not turning purple or red and that
they're not getting cold because that
means you have that good circulation in
there, but as you can see, it crosses
right there and it crosses right here, so
that gives me that extra support which
at first I was like I'm not sure how
much support it would give, but you can
see I'm not able to go over quite as
much as I was but it's still comfortable,
and it's still really thin so you can
easily get your shoe on. So that's what I
love so much about this, and that it's
small so you can throw it in your bag
and take it to the gym with you. You can,
you know, just use it for your daily
activities. If you have an acute injury
something that just happened even if you
need to wear this to work or something,
you can wear it and you can barely see
it, so then it's not messing up your work
clothes or anything like that. So I
really really like this ankle support. I
think it's great for giving you just
enough support that you need, but not
giving you so much support that your
muscles aren't doing any of the work.
Sometimes that's why I don't like braces
very much because if the muscles aren't
doing the work, if the brace is doing all
the work, then you're not going to heal
because those muscles aren't getting
stronger, so overall I think this is an
awesome awesome product. If you've got
that ankle sprain, if you got plantar
fasciitis, heel spurs, achilles tendonitis,
anything like that around in the ankle.
If you've got some swelling from an
injury, this is going to be the perfect
support for you. So there you have it. If
you have any questions, leave them in the
comments section. If you'd like to find
out more about their product you can go
to sleevestars.com, and if you'd like to
purchase the product, you can go to our
store at askdoctorjo.com/sleevestars
So remember be safe, have fun, and I hope
you feel better soon.