I Sprained My Ankle
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In Physical Therapy, we hear this quite often from former patients. Something happened to them over the weekend and they state; “I think I sprained my ankle playing basketball. What should I do?” Most ankle sprains occur to the lateral or outside aspect of the ankle. However, the medial or the inside of your ankle ligaments can be injured as well.
I Think I Sprained My Ankle, Now What Do I Do?
The first thing that you should do is use ice as soon as possible to the area that hurts. The RICE technique is what I recommend.
Rest: If it hurts to walk or put weight through the ankle, use crutches as needed.
Ice: Apply ice to the area for 15 to 20 minutes. If you are sensitive to ice, please use a pillow case in-between the ice and your skin.
Compression: Apply an ace wrap or compression sleeve to the ankle to decrease the swelling to the area.
Elevation: Try to keep the ankle elevated above the level of your heart. This will help decrease the swelling to the ankle.
RICE Method After an Ankle or Foot Sprain
We normally would ask several questions of the patient who hurt their ankle. The first one is did you hear a “pop” when the injury occurred? A pop would indicate a more serious injury to the ligament or even the bone. We also try to find out what happened to cause the injury. Often in sports, the answered to how the injury occurred help determine what is injured. We also ask if the ankle seems to be deformed or we observe this in person. If there is an obvious deformity of the bone, you should seek medical care immediately as this is probably a fractured ankle or bone.
Ligaments of the Ankle
There are several ligaments of the ankle joint. The most commonly injured ankle ligaments are the lateral or outside ligaments. The anterior talofibular ligament is front of the ankle bone, the calcaneofibular ligament is below the bone and the posterior talofibular ligament is behind the bone. The amount of laxity or how loose these ligaments determines the severity of the sprain. The severity is classified as first, second and third degree sprains of the ankle.
The bones that can be damaged with a fracture to the ankle are the fibula, tibia and malleolus. The calcaneus bone is usually broken with a fall directly on your heel.
It is often difficult to tell the difference between a severe ankle sprain and a broken ankle. Usually, both will have a significant amount of swelling and both will be painful to put weight on your foot. A physician should properly evaluate our ankle to determine your injury. Usually, this is determined with a proper evaluation and an x-ray.
Ankle Fractures which are non-displaced and severe ankle sprains are treated with immobilization in a cast or walking boot. Walking boots are certainly more comfortable for the patient while these injuries heal. For mild ankle sprains or when you are returning to sports, an ankle brace can be used to protect the joint from re-injury. At JOI Rehab, we recommend the ASO Ankle Brace. If you want to learn more about ankle sprains vs strains, please read this ARTICLE.
Ankle Sprains vs Ankle Fractures
Physical Therapy for a Sprained Ankle
Physical Therapy is very important in the recovery process from all types of ankle sprains or ankle fractures. The reason why it is so important is to prevent re-injury. Once a ligament is sprained or torn, you are more prone to other ankle sprains. The ligaments heal in time but they don’t tighten back up to how they were before the sprain. The goal is therapy is to strengthen all of the surrounding tendons and muscles of the ankle to prevent re-injury.
Proprioception and Balance
Often I hear patients say to others that the therapists create all of these weird things in therapy and make me do them. They have me stand on a piece of foam or the big blue half ball and they make me balance. We really are working on what is referred to as proprioception. This retraining of your balance and proprioception is another huge factor in preventing other ankle injuries and re-injury to the ankle. Your bodies ability to quickly respond when you are playing sports or during work is really important. The expert therapists and trainers at JOI Rehab have years of experience on how to return you to the sports and activities that you love following an ankle injury.
Related Articles:
- Foot Pain in Athletes
- Choosing the Correct Running Shoes
- 5 Foot and Ankle Symptoms you Should Not Ignore
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