Everything you need to know about a Sprained Ankle and boosting long term recovery
Imagine this, you’re running or walking along the beach listening to the beautiful sea breeze and then in the next moment, your foot lands on an unexpected uneven surface, your body weight shifts and unfortunately, your foot and ankle stay firmly planted to the ground. There is immediate pain and swelling, ouch! You may have just sustained an ankle sprain.
What is an ankle sprain?
An ankle sprain is an injury to the ligaments, joint capsule and tendons that help support your ankle joint. The ligaments on the outside (lateral) aspect of your ankle are the most commonly injured structures.
What causes an ankle sprain?
An ankle sprain will usually occur when the ankle is rolled, twisted or turned with enough force to push the ankle outside of its normal range of motion and cause injury to the ligaments. Ankle sprains commonly occur during sporting games such as football or netball. However, ankle sprains can occur during normal day activities.
How is an ankle sprain diagnosed?
An ankle sprain can be diagnosed using medical imaging such as x-rays, ultrasounds and MRI and are occasionally used to rule out nastier injuries such as a broken bone. While imaging can be helpful, a good clinician with experience working with ankle injuries can assess and diagnose an ankle sprain and begin treatment during the first session, without the need for further imaging.
What are the symptoms
Symptoms of an ankle sprain include pain, swelling and bruising around the ankle.The amount of swelling and pain will vary from person to person and will depend on the amount of force applied to the ankle. It is normal to feel less balance, less range of motion and less strength to the ankle after the injury, however, with advice and treatment the strength, balance and flexibility of your ankle can improve!
What are the treatment options?
The most typical advice given to people who have sustained an ankle injury is to just rest and use ice. This is great advice for the initial phases of healing an ankle sprain, however, this advice doesn’t help the person return back to their favorite activities and does not help reduce the risk of the ankle sprain from reoccurring. A good practitioner will tailor treatment to the individual to achieve their goals, most management plans will involve both short and long term advice.
Short – term advice:
The initial stages of a management plan will focus on reducing pain and swelling. The clinician will likely recommend that you start to apply compression and icing to the affected area,as well as some simple exercises to help reduce pain. Your ankle will likely need some time to rest from vigorous activities involving running and jumping.
Long-term advice:
After sustaining an ankle sprain (depending on the severity), the ankle may have a reduction in flexibility, balance and the surrounding muscles may be weakened. This can leave the ankle vulnerable to re-injury and increase the risk of the ankle joint developing long-term instability. Therefore it is often recommended to complete a strengthening and conditioning program after an injury to restore function to the ankle joint. Orthotics and footwear advice may also be recommended to help increase the stability of the ankle.
You can learn more about orthotics and how they can help, HERE Link:https://www.proactivehm.com.au/how-do-orthotics-work/
You can book an appointment with a member of our practitioner team HERE LINK: https://www.proactivehm.com.au/book-online/
Written By:
Josh McGill
