ankle sprain?

Question

I sprained my ankle about 6 six days ago, and is still a little tender. Should i still be icing or should i start warming?

Answer 1

You should have started out with RICE treatment... Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation... when the pain gets tolerable you should have started to exercise it, by moving the foot back and forth, side to side, as it strengthens, you go on to using an elastic band to add resistance doing the same exercises and using your good foot as an anchor to hold the band while you pull against it with the injured one... As you strengthen it you should go on to balance exercises as you need to retrain the ligaments to balance you... try standing on one foot in a pool at first, then try closing your eyes while balancing. Next you can begin strengthening it even more, by mild cycling, gradually adding resistance, calf raises - like standing on your toes on a step and lifting your weight up as high as you can and down as low as you can, and more balancing exercises until finally you can go to jogging or harder impact activities once again.... take it as slow as necessary, but work hard toward rehabilitating the foot... you should not use heat until there is no more swelling... I very badly sprained my ankle about 2 years ago and it took a while and a lot of rehabilitation, but it's now very closely as strong as the other ankle now. It's worth the time and effort. Invest in a foot brace to help support the foot during walking, but take it off to do the exercises. I got a magnetic one.... don't know if the magnets actually help, but they certainly don't hurt.

Answer 2

it depends what happened in the last six days? were u good about icing it and keeping the ankle elevated? has the swelling gone down. it's not uncommon to still have some swelling for bad sprains. sometimes swelling comes back even when you get up and start walking around too early.

if you still see/feel some swelling, continue taking your advil and take it consistently. so that the swelling doesn't go down then come back again. then you can start on the heat.

at the same time you should be exercising the ankle. while holding the leg up, point the big toe of the injured foot and try to spell out all the letters of the alphabet.

as you get stronger, it's important to continue working and repairing that ankle even when it feels 95%. continue doing the alphabet exercise several times a day and slowly graduate to calf raises. also get some time in on a stabilization board.

Answer 3

I know you don't want to hear this...but my friend is such a sports addict as of about 2 years ago, and since she just randomly started cross country running and biking in the forest near her house, riding 3 days a week (horses) track practices 3 days a week, (sundays she goes for extra runs and bike rides) with no previous training before that except for occasional runs outside her once a week riding lessons and school track practices (she is such a fanatic...I don't see how she does it but...) she sprains her ankle(s) at least once a month. SPRAINS NEVER HEAL COMPLETELY. her mom is a nurse and always reminds her of that, she wears a tensor/ace bandage, and an ankle brace, on each ankle whether its sprained or not (heavier ones for when theyre actually sprained) because she was so reckless (and she's right here as I type this lol, but she's busy ranting about how her horseshow was cancelled because of rain lol) she ended up stress fracturing an already sprained ankle playing volleyball, (and she sprained it during baseball). the only thing she can do now is ride. No distance running or sprinting, no biking, just riding, because it's the only thing that doesn't hurt it. She will not be completely healed until the end of September, and has to spend her money that usually goes to horse stuff, on physio. This is holding her back from the 800 m provincials. the end result sucks...it will heal much less if you play...and although she still excercised, still rode, still went to track meets and horseshows, she regrets it, because the permanent pain and discomfort from braces and tensors holds her back. (she also has Osgood-Shlatters Disease and has to wear 2 kneee braces on each knee while running and biking) go ahead and play, just be really careful about whether or not you have previously sprained it. note from friend: "I would like to say that Jamie's being dramatic...which maybe the wording makes it seem like that, but yes I am very injury prone... but no pain as long as I'm wearing the braces...but she's right, sprains never heal. I roll over on my ankle, it hurts for hours or days, if I trip, same thing. BE CAREFUL..."

Answer 4

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 5

Icing your ankle tends to show no further benefit after the first 24-48 hours.

You will now be in the phase where it is repairing, if you are resting it adequately.

Try icing and try a hot pack - see which one works for you. A hot pack may draw more fluid to the area, but if you elevate your leg it shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 6

icing is just to take down the swelling. Considering the fact that it's been 6 days... it's probably not swollen anymore.. Warming will promote healing and ease any pain you might have.

So in short... get ta warmin!

Answer 7

Icing is only for the beginning, to stop swelling. By now, you should be using heat.

Answer 8

You should alternate from cold to hot. I think that was what my teacher said on sprains.

Answer 9

you need to be exercising it. move it around in circles and put some more weight on it. make sure that you elevate the foot to keep down the swelling.

Answer 10

It feels like its broken