What is best to put on swollen ankle ice or warm compress?

Answer 1

Swollen ankle from strain or sprain.

Strains are injuries that affect muscles or tendons, thick bands that attach muscles to bones. They occur in response to a quick tear, twist, or pull of the muscle. Strains are an acute type of injury that results from overstretching or over contraction. Pain, weakness, and muscle spasms are common symptoms experienced after a strain occurs.

Sprains are injuries that affect ligaments, thick bands of cartilage that attach bone to bone. They occur in response to a stretch or tear of a ligament. Sprains are an acute type of injury that results from trauma such as a fall or outside force that displaces the surrounding joint from its normal alignment. Sprains can range from a mild ligamentous stretch to a complete tear. Bruising, swelling, instability, and painful movement are common symptoms experienced after a sprain occurs.

RICE is the acronym used for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. It is used as the best initial treatment of soft tissue injuries such as sprains, strains, and contusions. The combination of RICE helps reduce inflammation that occurs after acute injury. It is important to remember that the earlier this treatment is put into place, the more effective it is.

Rest: Rest and protect the injured area. If it hurts to bear weight on the injury, use crutches, or a cane.

Ice: Apply ice to the injury. The cold will reduce swelling and pain at the injured site. This step should be done as soon as possible. Apply the frozen object to the area for 20 minutes three times a day for the first 48 hours.

Compression: Compress the injured site. This will decreases swelling of the injured region. Although the wrap should be snug, make sure it is not too tight as this can cause numbness, tingling, or increased pain.

Elevation: Elevate the injured area above the level of the heart as much as possible. This technique will also assist in reducing the amount of swelling to the injured site.

Once the pain and swelling are eliminated, you should start gradual range of motion exercises but not to the point of pain. Each day your range of motion will increase slightly. Continue until you have complete range of motion. Than start gentle strengthening exercises to re-build the strength in the ankle.

The stiffness will go away over time.

Good Luck

http://www.coldoneinc.com/ankle_wrap

Answer 2

immediately after the injury, pack it in ice...this constricts the blood vessels and limits the amount of swelling...do the ice pack routine for 20-30 minutes every 90-120 minutes for 48 hours, the start alternating ice and heat using the same routine for the next 48 hours...be sure that you ace wrap it as well to help decrease the swelling and support the ankle...use crutches to help rest the injured tissues and do not walk on the ankle. you can wait about 7 days to see if you are ok, and if you still have tenderness, then go see your doc...the chances of a fracture are very slim and mostlikely it is just a tissue tear....you may need to have an MRI if is does not heal soon (few weeks)...read the info link below for more info...good luck

Answer 3

Both. Alternate with 10 minutes of warm compress with 10 minutes of ice. Keep your ankle elevated and take ibuprofen for the pain and to diminish the inflammation.

Answer 4

Ice it for 20 minutes then let it sit for 20. Ice will reduce the swelling by restricting bloodflow, heat causes an increase in bloodflow and can be good later to remove excessive bruising by alternating between heat and cold for 20 minute incements with a rest period between each.

Initially though, go with ice only.

Answer 5

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 6

Put peanut butter and jelly on it. This sounds crazy, but I tried it once, and it went away by the next day. The ions in the peanut butter send out electrical signals that cause the pain to cease. The jelly acts as a lubricant like WD-40 that sinks into the skin and causes the skin to heal faster due to to the looser molecular structure. Try it, you will see, nothing else said...

Answer 7

both-start out with the ice for 15 minutes at a time every hour, then go soak in the tub in hot water until the water cools down , go sit with your foot elevated and ice it again.

Answer 8

ICE, it reduces the swelling. heat can increase it because it causes more blood to flow to the ankle, so it just makes it worse. Elavation does alot of good too.

Answer 9

If it is the first 24 hours, use ice to reduce swelling
and disperse blood clod. After 24 hours, use heat.
That's what I always do and it works wonderfully.

Answer 10

Both.

RICE--rest, ice, compresses, elevate.