Knock on wood, I’m not someone who has a lot of aches and pains, a lucky thing considering my non-spring-chickenness.  But if I was to pinpoint one part of my body that is my weak spot, I’d say my ankles.  In 2008, I had an ankle injury that was diagnosed as heel bursitis with possibly some peroneal tendon involvement that lasted for weeks.  In the interim, I bought a couple different ankle braces, one neoprene and one more “official” lace-up brace that eventually did the trick of stabilizing my ankle till the injury finally abated.

I haven’t had an ankle injury since then, but there is the occasional morning when I get out of bed and the first few steps to the bathroom remind me that I do indeed have a pair of ankles.  It’s not really painful per se, just that I notice them.  So when I was offered a couple of compression sleeves from Tommie Copper, I was all over the ankle ones like white on rice.

While checking out their wares, I read about the proprietary fabric they use and that it’s got copper in it.  Now, I’m a cynical broad so any mention of metal, magnets, crystals or other mysterious healing catalysts will always get an eyeroll from me.  I can’t help it, it’s an involuntary reaction.  That said, you don’t have to believe in the healing powers of copper to know compression is a valuable healing method unto itself and the fact that these were said to be really light and all-day comfortable, seemed like it might just be the thing for occasional ankle stiffness.

There were some email back-and-forths to determine what size to order because the sizing chart has you measure around your heel and ankle and I was exactly on the cusp of both Small and Medium.  I left it up to the representative to choose, citing my shoe size as another measurement to judge by.

I received two Medium ankle sleeves.  The timing was good because I’d been having a couple days of ankle wake-up stiffness.

As far as the fabric goes, I love it, very silky and thin. I put them on and had to agree, they are extremely comfortable, enough so that you can wear them all day.  So I did.  I didn’t run with them but as soon as I got back, I put them on, wore them all day and even slept in them.  They’re comfortable enough to do that.  Actually, they feel like dress socks with an elastic band at the top.

However, they seemed only slightly more effective than wearing tight dress socks.  I woke up with the same ankle stiffness that I had the previous morning which was disappointing – I really wanted them to make a difference.  I wore them the next day/night but again…no love.

Now, part of the problem may be that the Medium wasn’t tight enough, I’m not sure how they’re supposed to fit, though from the photo on the site, it seems to look right with no sausage squish going on where the elastic hits the leg. But if they’re too large, it would stand to reason that my result wasn’t that great.

Nevertheless, I’ll wear them from time to time anyway – I think they’ll be good directly after a run when I’m sitting here on the computer.  After all, compression is our friend (remember my do-it-yourself compression sleeve) and while I’d never bother wearing any of my sturdier ankle braces unless I was injured, these are so transparent with their light compression that they’re worth donning.

I went around the web and found tons of great reviews for these, so take my experience with a grain of salt, it’s just one cynical woman’s opinion.

Last word on my ankles… I’ve taken to massaging them along with my feet before bed and it’s been really effective, the morning ankle stiffness is gone.  The more I go the self-massage route, the more I believe in the magical healing powers of fingers, hands and that ole standby, a tennis ball.  Not to say the hands-on approach replaces compression, it certainly doesn’t, but it might help you avoid getting to the point of needing any in the first place.

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