Sprained Ankle Treatment

When treating ankle sprains, you want to minimize the pain of injury as much as possible. You also want to rehabilitate the sprained ankle sooner rather than later. Strengthening the ligaments in your ankle should also one of the goals of the treatment process. This way, chronic ankle sprains can be avoided.　

Four Important Facts About Ankle Sprain Treatment 

Sprained Ankle Treatment: The Three Phases of Ankle Recovery

Sprains are the most common injury in sports. That's why athletes undergo a three-phase ankle treatment plan for faster recovery from the sprain. This three-phase plan also helps minimize the recurrence of the injury. Whether you're an athlete or not, you can still benefit from the methods below if you want to recover fast from an ankle sprain.

Phase 1

 In the first 48 hours of a sprain, the reduction of pain and swelling is one of the goals of treatment. Most therapist and health professionals recommend the P.R.I.C.E. method which stands for protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation.

Protection- The injured limb must be protected so it won't sustain any additional injuries. Refrain from using the affected joint in the first several hours. Splints and crutches can be used to protect the sprained ankle.

Rest- Rest does not mean that you will refrain from all activity. It is recommended that you use other parts of the injured limb and other parts of your body as well.

Ice- Put ice on the injured ankle ASAP. Icing the a sprained ankle. This will help control swelling. Be careful not to leave the ice on the affected area too long. Fifteen to twenty minutes is long enough. Apply ice 3 to 5 times a day. Be sure to leave at least 1.5 hours interval before reapplying ice.

Compression- Keeping swelling to a minimum helps keep the healing time shorter. Applying compression wraps help control swelling.

Use an elastic bandage to wrap the toes up to the mid-calf of the affected limb. Be sure to apply even pressure. Do not wrap the bandage too tightly to avoid risk of restricting blood flow.

Elavate - To remove excess fluid from the injured ankle. Elevate the injured limb above the heart if possible or at least above hip level.

Phase 2

After 48 hours of applying the treatments discussed above in Phase I, you can proceed with Phase 2. It involves strengthening and stretching exercises that will help your ankle recover quickly and return to pre-injury functions. This phase can last several days to up to a few weeks.

Here's a list of exercise that you can do.

You can find several other exercises in the Ankle Sprain Exercises page.

Phase 3

After successfully completing Phase 2, is the gradual returning to normal activities. The keyword here is "gradual." You will be doing maintenance and strengthening exercises in phase 3. Some of the exercises in Phase 2 are also useful in phase 3.

To compensate for the injured ligaments, you should also strengthen your leg muscles. The injured ligaments in your ankles could use some help from the leg muscles.

Balancing– When you injure your ankle ligaments, your ability to balance on the injured foot decreases. This makes that limb prone to re-injuries. Try to balance on your injured foot for 10 seconds. Do this at least 6 times a day. The goal is to be able to balance on your injure foot for 60 seconds.

There are four levels of balancing exercises. You must be able to balance for at least 60 seconds without wobbling on any level to proceed to the next level.

Level 1 – Arms are stretched out to the side and eyes are open.

Level 2 – Arms are placed across the chest; eyes are open.

Level 3 – Arms are stretched out to the side while the eyes are closed.

Level 4 – Arms placed across the chest while eyes are closed.

Note: Injured ligaments can take several months (16 weeks or more) to heal. The good news is that advances in physical therapy now allows for very rapid recovery. You can read about the HEM System here.