bad ankle sprain?

Question

Is it true that it is better to alternate between icing and keeping warm to help a bad ankle sprain heal better/faster?

Answer 1

You are quoting my chiropractor almost verbatim. Yes, yes, and yes. Probably still hurts a lot, huh. Go sit down with an ice pack and put your foot up. Relax. Have you got Ibuprofen or something to take the top off the pain if you need it? How bad is it right now like on a scale from one to ten? The pattern is like this: ice pack on for twenty minutes, then off. Do this three or four times in a 6 hour stretch. Take a hot shower to heat things up. Then ice pack it again. You will actually feel that ice drawing out the inflammation which is what is causing the pressure and therefore the pain. When you strain your ankle like that everything "splints." This is a fancy word to say your body tightens up around the hurt area so you won't be able to hurt yourself even more. The way to get that "splinting" thing to relax is to use ice. The ice cools everything down inside your ankle, and when it cools down it shrinks quite a bit and because everything can move around easier, the pain goes down, also. Of course, favor that foot for another day or so. Go easy on it. The one thing you can do for it right now is ice it. If I had what you have right now, I'd have that ice pack on my ankle for twenty minutes, and then back in the fridge for about 50 minutes. Then out it would come again for another twenty or thirty minutes, and then back into the fridge again. I have gone this route and believe me, it is a very good way to get yourself back in one piece again. Sent to you with good energies and maybe even the voice of experience from Chris in South Portland, Maine, U.S.A. (I am 63 years old.)

Answer 2

Well I am just getting over a bad sprain myself and I didn't do any ot that. I held cold to it for the first day and I had some vicodin from the doctor which helped alot for the first few days, and my Doctor told me to take Aleve, 1 every couple hours as directed on the box to help the swelling go down and the Aleve really did bring the swelling down...I was off my Ankle for about a week and it will still be tender for a while so just don't push yourself for a while. Good Luck

Answer 3

I badly sprained my ankle about 3 weeks ago. I was in a hurry going down the stairs, lost my balance and landed on a bad side of my left foot, causing my left ankle to be stretched going on the inside. The first 48 hours were excruciating and the pain was un-believable. I've never had a serious ankle injury before.

So I immediately treated it using the RICE method. The following day, the bruising and swelling were so horrible. I found out that I got a second degree sprain and immediately panicked after that. I had a football game on that week and it been looking forward to it because I've been training for rt. I had teammates that had similar injuries and it took them months to fully recover, some of them stopped playing altogether. So I kinda had a short-term depression because I can't imagine myself not being able to run and play sports anymore.

Because I was so desperate to recover again, I contacted a lot of people that I know who do sports and asked them if they had similar injuries. One friend of mine, from the boy's football team in my university, told me about H.E.M. Ankle Rehab. I got a copy 4 days after I got injured. I immediately read and followed what was instructed and felt improvement on the first day. I was able to walk a bit, but I was in pain.

A couple of days after that, the swelling and bruising were subsid-ing significantly and on the fourth day, I was walking comfortably again. Although I've had felt a bit of stiffness, I continued doing what was instructed. My sister was surprised that I have recovered this fast. I told her about this book and was shocked on how effective the procedures were. I'm just so happy that this book was shared to me and how effective it is.

Heal your ankle fully & fast?

Answer 4

As long as what you mean by warm is not heating it with a pad or warm water but letting the ankle get back to room temp. Trust me on this one, i have had some major ankle problems and heating it will make it permanently damaged for life

Answer 5

fresh injury = ice
old injury = heat

Also...forcing yourself to walk on the sprain for several hours will help tremendously. Walk 10 minutes, ice 10, walk 10, ice 10. Keep it up for 3 or 4 hours and you'll be amazed at how much better you will feel.

Answer 6

that is what i have heard but do not ignore if symptoms continue . i have chips out of both ankles ( breaks ) that i ignored when younger they are becoming very arthtitic as i grow older it is not fun .
i was treated with ultra-sound ( heat ) and ice alternating betweeen the 2 arter surgery on elbow

Answer 7

i was told to use the R.I.C.E. method

R=relax and relief of pressure
I= ice it down
C= compression
and finally
E=elevate it.
try this by going thru the steps in order for 10-15 minutes at a time--if one feels better that the others you can stretch its time a little...but maintain the steps in order!!

Answer 8

cold helps the swelling warm feels better 2 weeks should do it time

Answer 9

For the best care remember R.I.C.E. rest,Ice,Compression(ace bandage) Elevation (Prop up above heart while lying down)

Answer 10

it helps the swelling and waht not.