Dealing with Injury

I recently saw a comment on my post, “Training with Injuries & Disabilities”, that I thought should be answered through another blog article. The question was about training on a sprained ankle which is probably something we have all dealt with and should all know more about. When you sprain your ankle or have any muscle/tendon/ligament injury, the most important thing is to decrease inflammation.  To remember the treatment needed, just remember the acronym PRICE: Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Protection:

The first thing you need to do is make sure you are not in danger of exacerbating the injury by putting more stress on the area. If it is an ankle sprain, you should find some help in moving to a place you can sit so that you do not have to put weight on that ankle.

Rest:

The area will need sufficient rest after an injury to allow for the quickest recovery time. If you continue to put stress on the area, the area will get worse and the healing process will only take longer and may not heal as fully as it would otherwise. For minor injuries like an ankle sprain, 48-72 hours is usually enough time to allow for adequate recovery before you begin using it again.

Ice:

Ice should be applied as soon as you can after the injury. Do not use heat on any area of your body that is in pain. This goes for acute or chronic injuries; even if you feel better after using heat, it will only increase the inflammation and make the pain worse in the long run. Whenever there is pain, ice is the way to go. You generally want to have 20 minutes of icing as soon as possible and then repeat every hour for the rest of the day. Depending on the severity you may have to spend the follow 1-5 days continuing the ice cycle to help speed up recovery.

Compression:

Compression of the area should be immediate after the injury occurs and should be kept in place for 72 hours after the injury. For an ankle sprain, this will usually be an elastic wrap. Both compression and Ice are highly important for reducing the swelling that will occur, aiding in recovery time.

Elevation:

For the first 72 hours, elevation will also be important to control the swelling as it will reduce the amount of blood flow that can reach the area. For the ankle sprain, you would try to elevate the foot as high as possible to allow for the greatest reduction in swelling while also helping the area to drain any fluid that has built up.

If you follow these five steps, then you will dramatically decrease the time of recovery for any muscle/tendon/ligament injury. More appropriately, you will remove any factors that would prolong recovery. Any injury will take time to heal, so the best thing you can do is give it the support it needs to heal.

To address the question more specifically, the woman asked what to do in terms of exercise. Well as we can now see, for the first 72 hours, there should be little to no movement or pressure put on the area. Once the swelling has gone down, walking will be the first step, though this will need to be built up slowly. I would walk for a week, increasing the time a little each day, then the second week see how a jog feels. If at any time the ankle hurts or gets worse, stop and go back to walking. You would also want to ice it after any exercise for that first week and then any time that it feels pain again. There is nothing worse the prolonging recovery time so be careful, make sure to get your rest and get back to your normal routine as soon as possible! Thanks for the question on ankle sprains—I hope this helps!

Colin