One of the most common ankle sprains that occurs is the lateral ankle sprains. Here, it occurs during a rapid shift of body center of mass over the landing or weight-bearing foot. Usually, what happens is the ankle will roll outward, while the foot will turn inward. This causes the lateral overstretch of the ligament.
My Experience Regarding Ankle Sprain
When I was in college, I actually sprained my ankle while I was out to give something back to a friend. I was wearing flip flops and I was walking down a wet, grassy hill. I was not paying attention and I rolled my ankle, then I heard a pretty loud pop. I had to sit down because I lost my balance and the pop was quite loud. Because I did not feel any pain, I continued to walk. However, when I got to a bunch of stairs, that’s when the pain was blinding. I sat down for a couple of minutes but managed to get back up and then walked towards my friend’s place. After giving back the item, I went back to my dorm and even went out later that evening. My ankle was so swollen that I could not fit my shoe so I wore flip flops again.
The next day, I had to pack all my stuff because I had to leave the dorm. I packed everything together with my mom and went up and down a flight of stairs, and walked to and from the car while transferring all my stuff.
When I got home, I took some Advil and iced my sprained ankle. Two days later, I had to play a tennis match. My Dad did not let me get out of it despite my sprained ankle because he said I committed to it. I taped up my ankle and played the match. While sore during the match, it wasn’t too bad.
A week later, the soreness and the swelling were both gone.
What An Ankle Sprain Really Is
Aside from muscles that support the joints, ligaments support the joints, too. The ligaments are a tough connective tissue that attaches bone to bone. In lateral ankle sprain, the foot rolls to the outside and it can overstretch the ligament. Note that ligaments do not return to their original size once they overstretch. This tends to be the problem when recovering from an ankle sprain.
People’s Misconception About Ankle Sprains
People tend to get nervous about movement when they injure their foot or ankle, or when they get a sprain. However, what you should know is that movement is actually important post the ankle sprain. Movement will make your sprain better in the long run. However, it is not recommended for one who just sprained their ankle to go ahead and play some sports or do quick changes in movement.
My Tips When You Have An Ankle Sprain
- Ice and elevate the affected area – This will help get the swelling out of the area.
- Take an Advil – This will help decrease the swelling. As a note, there are limits in taking an Advil because swelling is not bad at all times. In the fluid that surrounds an injured area are immune cells to aid in the healing process. And keeping control of the swelling in your ankle and foot is important to maintain the range of motion.
- Walk as normally as possible – The tendency when we injure something is that we do not put weight or a lot of load in that area. And really, the best thing to do here is to keep the load.
One reason is that when you walk normally, it naturally helps move the swelling out of your ankle. In your calf, your lymph system is running along with your veins and when your calf muscle activates, that helps to pump swelling out of the area. Because walking helps move that swelling out of the injured area, you really should try your best to walk as normally as possible so you can get your full range of motion back.
Also, if you do not walk as normally as possible, you start to bother other parts of your body like your back and knee.
- Work on your balance – When you stand on one leg, it helps improve your proprioception. Proprioception refers to the body’s ability to perceive its own position in space. For example, proprioception enables a person to close their eyes and touch their nose with their index finger.
When you have swelling in a certain area of your body, your proprioception does not work well. So, when you do balance activities while you have swelling caused by a sprain, it helps with strengthening your proprioceptive system, as well as strengthening the muscles around your ankle.
You need to work on your balance since your ligament already got stretched out. Now, once you strengthen the muscle around your ankle where the stretched out ligament is, the muscle will be the one to take responsibility for the supposed support system that the ligament should be giving to that system or area of your body.
- Get back to your activities as soon as possible – The longer time you are resting, the quicker your muscles atrophy because you are not using them. You do not want this to happen because your muscle will not be as strong as it was before you got injured.
The likelihood of you experiencing another sprain is high due to the ligaments in your ankle being stretched out. This creates more instability in the ankle. This is why it is important to get back to your activities quickly. Those who are in the ICU, for example, take only two weeks for their muscles to atrophy due to being bed bound. So, it is important for you to get moving so that your muscles stay strong.
What If You Really Cannot Walk Normally, Put Weight On Your Injured Foot, Or Get Back To Your Normal Activities?
If the pain is just too much for you to bear and it’s really impossible for you to make any movement or walk normally, I advise that you go seek medical attention immediately. A clear sign that you need to be seen is that you are unable to take four steps on your foot due to pain. So getting someone to have a look at your ankle is important so you can get a clearance on going back to your activities.
If there is nothing broken when the results come back but the pain and the swelling persists, I recommend going to a physical therapist. They can help you get back to your activities quicker than when you try to heal from the sprain on your own.
If you are struggling with a past ankle sprain, please reach out to me (Dr. Jackie Fenton), and I would be more than happy to help.