I am so upset and very unlucky, I decided to go and play some indoor football and for those who have been following my training you may have notice a shift in some of my training. To make a long story short today I was playing some basketball and someone fell on my ankle it didn’t look good at all. After during some research I think I have a lateral ankle sprain the injury feel very similar to what happen to me last summer and it took 6-8 weeks to heal. Do any of you guys have experiences with lateral ankle sprains and the rehab process??
Had a high ankle sprain before, essentially the worse thing you can do to your ankle short of dislocation. Even breaking your ankle is better than a serious sprain, as reiterated to me by my orthopedist as well as ER doctor.
Best thing for swelling for me was an aircast along with tightly wrapping it in an ace bandage. Sometimes I would wrap the bandage tight enough where I knew I’d have to take it off after a few minutes but this helped to relieve the swelling. The aircast was gold as well. Ice/ibuprofen never really did crap for me, you want to get rid of the swelling you need to force it out.
Eventually, you get to a point where you realize you aren’t going to injure the ankle any further and you need to just start walking, hopping, jogging and running on it. For me, this point was after about a week of being on crutches. I know some people aren’t going to agree with this, but the best way to get your ankle back to normal is to do as much as you can without setting yourself backwards. You can’t baby it or else you are going to risk your achilles getting tight/weak as fuck (my friend and I who had similar sprains, both complained about tightness in the achilles, something to possibly look for) as well as all your other foot/calf muscles which delays the rehab.
I was back practicing after about 9 days and playing in a game (football) after two weeks. And I guarantee you my sprain was just as bad if not much worse than yours.
No, my ankle was not normal for a while but I could play on it and such. The thing that actually took the longest to feel normal with was jogging. Sprinting and cutting were much easier to cope with, but jogging blew ass.
I’m also extremely prone to ankle sprains being a supinator, and just fyi wearing thin/flat shoes and doing things barefoot have helped strengthen my ankles and feet tremendously even though I’ve endured a shitload of ankle sprains. Just something to consider.
Sorry, lot of random notes for you, just some things that might be helpful.
I have major swelling today, the outside ankle bone (lateral malleolus) and the sides of my achilles tendon are swollen big time (not sure what you call this area). i have to walk on my heals otherwise its very painful. if im back in three weeks its gonna be a true blessing.
DMSO along with ultrasound and stim to draw the swelling away works very well. Also a good specialized tape job on that ankle could have you playing again much sooner than you may think.
I think i have some dmso somewhere around my house. the area around my achilles tendon is really swollen, that whats scary. With your ankle injuries how soon were you back running around?
perhaps even a corto jab or two?
use massive amounts of ice for the next couple days too
Yeah, use the sports tap when your mobile again
what is corto jab and sports tap?
The swelling was so bad in my ankle, 2 hours after injuring it, that I could not put my foot below the level of my heart while in the hospital without feeling as if the skin around my ankle was literally going to burst. I couldn’t sit in a wheel chair without being in a wheelie position, that way my foot was elevated. There was just too much blood going into my ankle. I also had to sleep with my ankle elevated or else the pain was too much to bear. My toes, yes my toes, where HUGE and black and blue.
Like I said though, I played in a game, at receiver and DB (most cutting/stop n go activity) in two weeks practicing even before that. I am definitely not trying to brag here I’m just letting you know that you can undoubtedly come back before three weeks.
As far as the achilles, I don’t know why it happens but like I said it seems to be the place where a lot of swelling goes along with pain. It does go away though and definitely does not have to take three weeks.
Good luck.
Do you think you could have played rb with that injury bc wr/db is much diff? what kind of ankle braces do you wear?
If you’ve had a similar injury in the past year it might have gone ‘easier’ than otherwise and heal quicker. This is just my personal experience, I had a bad sprain with loads of swelling about a year ago, took a couple months before I could sprint on it and some swelling has never disappeared. Anyway, I turned it again about 5 months ago and thought ‘damn I’m out for a month’… I stayed home, iced and elevated, wore a compression sock, took ibuprofen (gel and pills), and elevated it at night for 48hours. Then I started contrast bathing, mobility and as much walking as possible (it hurt) for 48 hours. Next day was contrast, mobility and jogging - and on the 7th day I could sprint 80%.
After some good ice and elevation I think using the ankle as much as possible is the best recovery, mobility really starts to shift the swelling. STOP if you feel sharp pain though obv.
Last yr it was my right ankle this yr its my left ankle.
Could have played any position. Back then, after the sprain I wore McDavid braces, nothing special. Braces became a hindrance though, there is no doubt they weaken your ankles and dampen your proprioception abilities which increases your chances for sprains. They also put your knees at a greater risk for injury as well. Remember, the ankles are a mobile joint, they aren’t meant to be casted up with a limited range of motion.
I also experienced sprains with braces on. Think about it, if you didn’t have any shoes on how much harder is it for your ankle to laterally sprain. There’s no lip for your ankle to turn or sprain over if that makes sense. I’m not saying it’s impossible but it’s much easier to have a sprain with those two inch cushion soles. You are basically increasing the eversion ROM of your ankle thus making a sprain easier and more likely. That’s why, as someone with way too many sprains in the past, I highly recommend shoes that are low to the ground and flat. Run/walk like humans were meant to.
By the way, I don’t wear braces or tape anymore and things are much better off.
Most important thing here is when you have a sprain, if you don’t handle it properly (you start wearing braces and taping excessively) you only make your ankles/feet weaker. First, they become weak from the sprain in the first place, second they get even weaker by having tape and braces do their jobs for them.
Also important how you got that ankle moving immediately even though it hurt. Longer you use RICE the more scar tissue that is going to sit in there, more atrophy takes places, etc. Even just move the ankle while laying down, draw ABC’s or something. But get it moving.
playing rb is much diff from db/wr bc people are falling on your legs etc. i dont tape either and i use to wear low tops but switch over to mid.
Coaches/Trainers any exp dealing with a sprain Calcaneofibular Ligament?
I agree regarding rb and thus would not play. You might be okay cutting yourself or on a field against cones but as an rb, it’s guaranteed that people are going to be landing on your ankle area. The chances of reinjury in that situation just seems to high even if you yourself don’t do anything that injures it. Having a 250 pound lineman falling on your ankle will do no good in the rehabilitation process.
Otherwise, I agree with des.
Definitely do a lot of barefooted drills and as stated, the key is to go as far as you can without reinjuring it.
Tough balance to find and it’s hard to not get ambitious and try something that sets you back a bit (for me at least)
On another note, why are there so few football and soccer injuries compared to baseball. I guess most ankle injuries come from landing on someone’s foot and rolling it which cannot really occur as often in those sports as in basketball.
However, is there truth to the notion that bulky footwear actually does your ankle more harm than good. Or is it just a case of correlation and not causation that soccer and football players wear low cutted shoes while basketball players often where high cuts with the actual causation being the nature of the sport and not the footwear.
I can certainly see how in the long term, big shoes will lead to weakened ankles but in the short run, is one more likely to injure an ankle with a bulky or low cut shoe?
i totally agree, those WR’s get hit by smaller guys.
It’s not necessarily the bulkness of the shoe. It’s how high off the ground your foot is. Just think about it or use yourself as a demonstration. Stand barefoot on the ground evert your foot. Now put on some highly cushioned shoes (like bball shoes) and now evert your foot. Second example your foot can now roll over the extra inch or two the sole of the shoe is providing giving a greater ROM for your ankle to evertly, or invertly for that matter, sprain. Just realize how much harder it is to sprain your ankle if you were running on a court barefoot. Unless you jump and roll on someone’s foot, what is your ankle going to evert over to cause a sprain?
Where bulkness of the shoe comes into place more, such as having a lot of cushion and say a high top with supposed ankle protection is this: All the extra “support” your foot is being given takes away the need for the foot to do its own supporting and own proprioception. Thus, weakness of the foot takes places as well as the loss of the body to realize when your ankle is about to sprain, for the opposing muscles to fire to bring the ankle back to neutral ala loss of proprioception. Also, if you constrict your ankle then when your supposed to have your ankle roll or possibly sprain, since it can’t roll (due to all the constriction) something has to give. This is where the phenomenon of high ankle sprains come into play and there is definitely an effect on the knee here as well. By forcing a mobile joint (ankle) to be more of stabile joint, you need to make up that mobility somwhere else. Next place up on the chain? The knee.
I’d rather have a little ankle sprain than possible knee surgery.
By the way, many football players wear cleats that weigh up to a pound per foot. This is about as bulky and supportive as it gets considering many cleats come with built in ankle braces and all that crap now. As for soccer players, remember they are still playing on grass. Think about it again, is it easier to roll your ankle in somewhat soft grass than a hard floor (given footwear is similar)? Yes. Your body is not meant to be able to stop on a dime but this what cleats give. Unfortunately, cleats also let your foot dig into the ground making it more possible for your body’s weight to cause your ankle to roll, especially when you factor in bodily collisions and such. In all, the surface plays a critical roll as well.
Hope this helps.