Stephen Curry changed how basketball is played. He built his entire game around shooting from distances defenders once considered a bad shot. At 37 years old, he is still doing it for the Golden State Warriors heading into the 2026-27 season.
What gets less attention is the joint that almost got in the way. Curry’s ankles, especially his right one, caused so much trouble early in his career that some questioned whether he would have a long career at all.
He did not just get lucky. He built a daily routine around protecting that joint, and it became one of the quieter reasons his career has lasted this long.
Explosive lower body training carries its own injury tradeoffs too, the same way box jumps can build muscle while also demanding real joint control.
What Actually Happened to Curry’s Ankle
Curry’s ankle problems started early. He sprained his right ankle repeatedly during his first three NBA seasons.
In his third season alone, he sprained that ankle five times. That kind of repetition is a red flag in sports medicine.
Doctors eventually performed surgery in 2012 to address the underlying instability. It was not a single fix.
Curry has described the mechanism behind many of these sprains as unusual. He was not always rolling his ankle while landing on another player’s foot.
Sometimes it happened simply while pushing off in transition, with no contact at all.
That detail matters. It pointed to a deeper stability problem in the joint, not just bad luck on a given play.
After the surgery, protecting that ankle became a permanent part of Curry’s routine rather than a one time fix.
Bracing, targeted strengthening, and full body conditioning all became part of his year round training.
Specialists who have studied his case point to that ongoing maintenance work as the reason he came back stronger instead of more fragile.
Why an Explosive Athlete’s Ankle Is Especially at Risk
Curry’s game depends on quick, repeated changes of direction. He stops on a dime behind the three point line, then explodes into a shot or a drive within a fraction of a second.
That style puts enormous, repeated stress on the ankle joint. Every hard stop and cut asks the ankle to absorb force and stabilize the whole body almost instantly.
Athletes who rely on that kind of quickness are often at higher risk for ankle sprains than athletes in straight line sports like distance running.
A single unstable ankle can also change how a player moves without them realizing it.
Some athletes unconsciously shift weight away from a weak ankle, which can create new strain patterns in the knee or hip over time.
That is part of why Curry’s team has treated his ankle care as a whole body issue, not an isolated joint problem.
Full body conditioning, hip strength, and core stability all support how well a repaired ankle holds up under repeated game speed stress.
Curry in His Own Words
Curry has spoken candidly about how difficult that early period was, describing real uncertainty about his own future in the league.
“There were definitely some dark days,” Curry said.
He has also described the actual mechanism of injury in detail.
“I wasn’t even rolling my ankle landing on somebody. I was doing it when I would catch it in transition, I’m pushing off, and that thing would flip,” Curry said.
The rehab process itself, he has said, was far less exciting than fans might imagine.
“The most boring, monotonous work you’ve ever done in your life,” Curry said, describing the repetitive nature of ankle rehab.
He has also spoken about the doubt that came with it.
“How could I even know, am I good enough? Can I get to that level?” Curry said, recalling his own uncertainty during that stretch.
Now, well into his late thirties, he has said that period left a lasting mark on how he treats his body.
“There’s an understanding of not taking anything for granted, even at this stage,” Curry said.
The Science Behind Ankle Stability Training
Curry’s daily maintenance work centers on proprioception. That is the body’s sense of where a joint is in space, without having to look at it.
After a bad ankle sprain, that sense often gets damaged along with the ligaments. The ankle can heal structurally while still sending the brain unreliable signals about balance and position.
This is not just a theory. It has real research behind it.
A widely cited randomized controlled trial, led by researcher Maarten Hupperets and published in the BMJ in 2009, tested this directly.
Researchers followed 522 people who had sprained an ankle within the previous two months during sports activity.
Half were given a home based proprioceptive training program using a balance board, an instructional DVD, and a simple exercise sheet.
They did three short sessions a week for eight weeks, each one under 30 minutes.
The other half received no special training and served as the comparison group.
One year later, the training group had a 22 percent rate of another ankle sprain.
The comparison group had a 33 percent rate.
That works out to roughly a one third reduction in relative risk. For more severe sprains, the training group also saw meaningfully lower rates of missed sports time and related health care costs.
The researchers calculated that for every nine people who completed the program, one recurrent sprain was prevented.
That is a strong result for a simple, low cost, largely unsupervised program.
What This Means for Everyday Athletes
Ankle sprains are one of the most common sports injuries at every level, from weekend pickup basketball to youth soccer.
Most people who sprain an ankle rest it, wait for the swelling to go down, and go back to normal activity once it stops hurting.
That approach treats the ligament damage but often skips the balance and coordination piece entirely.
Research like the Hupperets trial suggests that gap matters. Skipping proprioceptive work may be part of why ankle sprains recur so often.
Studies outside the Hupperets trial have found similar patterns. Reviews of proprioceptive and balance training programs across different sports have consistently linked this kind of work to lower rates of repeat ankle injury, even though the exact size of the benefit varies by study and population.
That consistency across different research groups and different sports is part of why sports medicine professionals take proprioceptive training seriously, rather than treating it as a fad.
The good news is that fixing that gap does not require a professional training staff.
A basic wobble board or balance pad, used consistently for a few weeks, can meaningfully lower the odds of a repeat injury.
Who Should Talk to a Doctor First
A single mild ankle sprain that improves steadily over a week or two is usually fine to manage with rest, ice, and gradual return to activity.
Repeated sprains in the same ankle are a different story, closer to what Curry experienced early in his career.
Anyone who sprains the same ankle more than once or twice in a year should see a doctor or physical therapist for a real evaluation, not just another round of rest.
A doctor can check for ligament laxity, cartilage damage, or a bone injury that a simple sprain can sometimes hide.
People with an ankle that gives way during normal walking, not just sports, should also be evaluated, since that can signal chronic instability that needs more than home exercises.
Anyone recovering from ankle surgery should follow their surgeon’s specific rehab timeline rather than a generic online program, since surgical repairs vary widely in what structures were fixed.
Anyone with numbness, a visible deformity, or an inability to bear any weight right after an ankle injury should be seen the same day, since those signs can point to a fracture rather than a simple sprain.
A Practical Ankle Stability Routine
Building ankle stability does not require expensive equipment. Here is a simple, evidence informed way to start.
Anyone rebuilding after a major joint procedure can also look at how ballerina Misty Copeland approached her own hip replacement recovery for another real world example of structured rehab.
Begin with single leg standing balance on a firm floor, holding for 30 seconds per side.
Progress to the same exercise with your eyes closed once the first version feels easy.
Removing vision forces the ankle and brain to rely more on internal position sense.
Add a soft or unstable surface, like a folded towel or a foam pad, once eyes closed balance feels stable.
Introduce a wobble board or balance board for controlled tilting movements in every direction, not just side to side.
Layer in small hops and quick direction changes once static balance feels solid, since sports injuries usually happen during movement, not while standing still.
Do this work three times a week for at least six to eight weeks before expecting to see the benefit, based on the timeline used in the research.
Keep doing a shorter maintenance version even after the ankle feels fully recovered, the same way Curry has kept ankle work in his routine for over a decade.
Consistency matters more than intensity here. A few focused minutes several times a week, done for months and years rather than a single eight week block, is what turns a rehab exercise into lasting protection.
References
Hupperets, M. D. W., Verhagen, E. A. L. M., & van Mechelen, W. (2009). Effect of unsupervised home based proprioceptive training on recurrences of ankle sprain: randomised controlled trial. BMJ.
Bleacher Report, “Stephen Curry Talks ‘Dark Days’ of Trying to Overcome Ankle Injuries Early in Career.”
ESPN, “TrueHoop Presents: How Stephen Curry got the best worst ankles in sports.”
This article is for general information only. It is not personal medical advice. Anyone dealing with a current or recurring ankle injury should see a doctor or physical therapist before starting a new exercise program, especially if pain, swelling, or instability persists.
