Rolling your ankle is not fun! It is painful and life disabling. As a soccer player (and a pretty good one!), rolling my ankle while playing soccer is one of my biggest fears, but there is much more you should know about this condition.
One potential problem which could be associated with an ankle sprain (rolled ankle) is a chance of fracture. Even though it is uncommon, if your symptoms and pain are not getting better or staying the same after couple of days of injury (especially the inability to do any weight bearing), you need to take an X-ray (for more info, refer to my previous posts on Time to Take an X-ray).
Icing? YES! The latest studies show that icing is most effective within the first 10-15 minutes of injury. Ice will narrow your blood vessels (vasoconstriction) which will prevent the excess flow of inflammatory chemicals, lowering the chance of inflammation, and swollen ankle.
Each ankle sprain is different from one another; therefore, there are different treatments for each type. The most common form of treatment for ankle sprain is RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate). The main point I would like to emphasize is on prevention. If you roll your ankle once, your chance of second incident is really high if you don’t strengthen your ankle.
There are lots of exercises for strengthening, but make sure proprioceptive exercises are part your rehabilitation regime. These are the use of “wobble boards” shown below.
Another solution to prevent such injury is to use a brace while exercising (especially with chronic rollers). A brace will support your ankle while you stress these joints and ligaments during an exercise.
Ankle sprain may seem to be a very simple and an “everyday” injury. Patients usually underestimate the damage caused to their foot and use the “give it time and it will feel better” technique. To prevent further ankle sprains and other complications which can follow an improper gait (gait = the biomechanics of walking), please see your doctor.
Dr. Ali Masoumi
www.facebook.com/drmasoumi
