Most of us know this hiker. On a smooth dirt path, the pace is strong. Once the trail turns rocky, the pace slows to a crawl, every step is carefully watched, and the group is held up at the top. The hiker is not new to this, and the legs are strong and just fine. This person just doesn't trust his footing anymore.
On rocky trails, the ankle calls the shots and the knee mostly follows. It all happens in a split second: step on a rock, the rock rolls, and the foot (and other body parts) reacts. That reaction slows with age. But, no worries, it can be trained. And a good place to start is a 10-minute routine, three times a week.
When a Rock Rolls
In a 2023 review that covered seven hiking studies, ankle sprains was one of the most common injuries among hikers. We’ve all experienced this: step on a loose rock, the rock tips, and the foot follows, most often rolling inward. Then the muscles along the outside of the lower leg (the peroneals) almost instantly fire, attempting to pull your foot back under you. If it fires in time, we wobble a bit and move on. If it fires late, we stand a good chance of spraining an ankle.
There are two things at play here: the speed of the peroneals reacting and the strength and conditioning of all the associated muscle groups.
A 2014 review that pooled 23 studies found that people who have a history of sprained ankles have a delayed peroneal reaction time compared to those who do not have this history, most clearly in those whose ankle has stayed unstable since their most recent injury.
A 2026 study found that both reaction time and muscle strength predicted the strain on the outer ankle ligament, and that reaction time mattered at least as much as strength.
Why it gets harder after 50 - what the research says
What, if anything, changes after 50? There are four things I’ll mention here that we should know about our ankles as we age. All four can be worked on.
Position sense in the ankle. Our joints report their position to the brain all day long. A 2019 study in Human Factors found that ankle proprioception (our body sensing its own position and movements in space, mostly automatic) contributes the most to keeping balance. Also, as we age, our hips begin to play a more prominent role.
Reaction speed. One study in Gait & Posture back in 2006 tested women ages 66 to 90 against women ages 19 to 36. The older group reacted 27% slower, but their ankle strength was only 7.7% lower. And the angle of lean they could still catch themselves from was 36% smaller. With age, reaction time was more degraded than strength.
The small muscles in the foot. In a 2020 review of nine studies, all in people over 60, toe flexor strength was found to be a significant contributing factor with balance.
The hips. A small 2026 study compared older people with and without a recent fall. The ones who had no notable history of falling, compared to those with a notable history of falling, had stronger hip abductors, more range when pulling the foot up, and stronger shin muscles that pull your toes up. “Falling” here is classified as actually hitting the ground, not just slipping a little
A 2024 study tested physically active people ages 50 to 80 and found that most of them, 71% to 74% depending on the age group, still had ankle position sense in the range of young adults. Where the older groups fell behind was in sensing very small ankle movements; at the larger movement the study tested, most of them matched the young adults. The authors' conclusion is that a physically active lifestyle may protect ankle position sense from the decline that usually comes with age.
Boots and poles
When our ankles start feeling wobbly, the first thing many of us do is reach for taller boots. Sure, a stiff boot can help a heavier hiker who's new to rough trails. But it's worth mentioning that ankles become stronger when unsupported because proper conditioning is inhibited when the ankles are supported by taller footwear.
The research on ankle braces points the same way. A 2023 review of 17 studies found that balance and position-sense training cut the risk of a rolled-ankle sprain by about 40%, and even greater in people who had a history of sprained ankles. Ankle bracing, compared with no bracing, was not significantly better, and the authors call its effect ambiguous. Training and bracing came out about the same. That is, you can build better support through proper training and conditioning compared to wearing it.
Trekking poles are a different story. In a 2021 survey of 1,295 long-distance hikers on the Appalachian Trail found that those who used trekking poles had fewer muscle and joint complaints. Of course, this is a self-reported survey; it’s not a controlled scientific study. There are many peer reviewed studies that confirm the positive advantages of using trekking poles. Although trekking poles do nothing to help reaction time, they do give two more points of contact which aids in stability and they allow for scanning further ahead instead of constantly staring directly down at the feet, which helps with anticipation and reaction times.
Other Research
A Cochrane review from 2019 pooled 108 trials with 23,407 people over 60. Balance and functional exercises reduced the rate of falls by 24%. Researchers would term this as “high-certainty evidence”. Programs that combined balance with strength reduced falls by 34%. For programs that were mainly strength, or mainly walking, the evidence was uncertain. More miles on flat ground will very likely not help improve balance.
For the ankle specifically, a trial in the BMJ took 522 athletes ages 12 to 70 who had just sprained an ankle and gave half of them an unsupervised eight-week home balance program in addition to usual care. Over the next year, 22% of them sprained again, versus 33% in the group without the program, a 35% lower risk.
Start With This 10-Minute Routine
The following 10-minute routine is a great place to start. Do each of these five routines for two minutes each, 3 to 5 times per week, for at least 12 weeks. It’s best to do these barefoot or with socks on a hard surface (like a hardwood floor without carpeting or very low pile carpeting). And, of course, if your balance is off for a medical reason, your feet are numb, or you have any other diagnosed issue with your knees or hips, run all this by your doctor or a local trainer first.
And then get out on some rocky trail, because time on trail, in an actual environment, needs to be part of the training.
Additionally, Legs and Hips, of Course.
Your ankle can't hold you and a 30-pound pack steady on one leg if your hips and thighs aren't doing their share. The squats and step-ups recommended in Staying Strong: Fitness Tips for Hikers Over 50 will help condition legs and hips.
Keeping it going
Start by doing this 10-minute routine three times a week for 12 weeks, then we keep it going. On your off days, stand on one leg while you brush your teeth. When 30 seconds gets easy, you are ready for the next step, which is best determined by a local certified trainer or you can use an app like huuman that tells you what to train and how hard.
Bottom Line
In that same Appalachian Trail survey mentioned earlier, 61% of hikers had some kind of muscle or joint complaint. The ones who hadn't trained beforehand had nearly three times the odds of getting hurt, and strength training resulted in fewer injuries. For the strength and recovery side, the huuman blog on strength, recovery, and longevity has more information.
Most of us never train our ankles at all. We buy stiffer boots and work on our legs. But as we’ve covered here, that’s not really the answer. It takes 10 minutes, three times a week, to start changing that. With a little help from a certified trainer or an app like huuman, you’ll be far for confident on those rocky trails!
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