Rolled ankle injury ;)

[_Simon_]

Hey guys, I rolled my ankle in a tournament recently (a week and a half ago), I can walk on it fine with no pain at all, but it still hurts quite bad at certain angles (if I turn my toes/foot inwards and do plantar flexion, it HURTS!).

Anyone have any tips from experience to assist recovery? I don't think it's serious, but potentially strained tendons. I figured just avoid putting it through the range of motion where there's pain, and doing things to increase blood flow to area? Bodyweight calf raises?

Have also learned that stretching is not necessarily very beneficial for strains/sprains (just pulls at the damaged fibers/tendons more)

Cheers

 

[JR 137]

Range of motion work. Stay pain-free, but out of your comfort zone if that makes sense. In other words, work through tightness, stiffness and soreness. If it’s painful, such as a stabbing or tearing feeling, back off and stay in a comfortable range.

Balance work is the key to preventing reinjury, according to several studies. Try standing on one foot for as long as you can. If you’re clocking in at several minutes, change it up. Stuff like standing on pillows, couch cushions, etc.

Stand on one foot and throw a ball against a wall. One handed, two handed, etc. Closer to the wall works better, like a few feet.

My favorite exercise to do was using elastic tubing/theraband. Put the band around the uninsured ankle. Weight on your injured foot, and step forward with the noninjured foot while keeping the injured foot planted. I’d typically have people start in a staggered stance; toes of the uninjured near the heel of the opposite foot, and step forward to the opposite of that. Feet are fairly close. Turn around and repeat, so you’re stepping backwards. Turn sideways and step outside. Turn the other way and step inside.

My other favorite- single leg squats of sorts. Stand sideways on stairs, holding the railing. The injured foot on the step. Opposite foot toes pointed up and heel down. Keeping your back straight, bend your knee and go down until your opposite heel touches the next step down.

As far as heat and cold go, I like contrast bath. Freeze a bunch of small paper cups filled with water. Fill a bucket with very warm water. Stick your foot into the warm water for 3 minutes. Take your foot out of the bucket. Take the ice cup, peel away a layer at the top, and rub the area with the exposed ice for a minute. Repeat for 15 minutes - 3 minutes warm, 1 minute cold, 3 minutes warm, 1 minute cold. Done right, you start and end with warm.

 

[_Simon_]

Range of motion work. Stay pain-free, but out of your comfort zone if that makes sense. In other words, work through tightness, stiffness and soreness. If it’s painful, such as a stabbing or tearing feeling, back off and stay in a comfortable range.

Balance work is the key to preventing reinjury, according to several studies. Try standing on one foot for as long as you can. If you’re clocking in at several minutes, change it up. Stuff like standing on pillows, couch cushions, etc.

Stand on one foot and throw a ball against a wall. One handed, two handed, etc. Closer to the wall works better, like a few feet.

My favorite exercise to do was using elastic tubing/theraband. Put the band around the uninsured ankle. Weight on your injured foot, and step forward with the noninjured foot while keeping the injured foot planted. I’d typically have people start in a staggered stance; toes of the uninjured near the heel of the opposite foot, and step forward to the opposite of that. Feet are fairly close. Turn around and repeat, so you’re stepping backwards. Turn sideways and step outside. Turn the other way and step inside.

My other favorite- single leg squats of sorts. Stand sideways on stairs, holding the railing. The injured foot on the step. Opposite foot toes pointed up and heel down. Keeping your back straight, bend your knee and go down until your opposite heel touches the next step down.

As far as heat and cold go, I like contrast bath. Freeze a bunch of small paper cups filled with water. Fill a bucket with very warm water. Stick your foot into the warm water for 3 minutes. Take your foot out of the bucket. Take the ice cup, peel away a layer at the top, and rub the area with the exposed ice for a minute. Repeat for 15 minutes - 3 minutes warm, 1 minute cold, 3 minutes warm, 1 minute cold. Done right, you start and end with warm.

Awesome, some great ideas, thanks mate. Yeah I believe in a more proactive approach in these sorts of cases, getting bloodflow in the area and safe pain free range of motion (years ago I was the opposite and wouldn't move the injured part at all!). Cheers

 

[_Simon_]

Ugh... ankle still isn't better, probably about the same, if not very mild improvement.. been just doing general mobility work, foot circles, and also gentle calf raises.. has been just about 5 weeks. It's not debilitating but it definitely still hurts alot at certain angles, or even if I hit the ground slightly with the ball of my foot it hurts a great deal.. Anytime I fully flex my foot and have it impact anything to push it further it's painful.

Will give it a bit more time and then may have to get it looked at.. although sprains generally take a fair few weeks to heal up from what I've read..

 

[Yokozuna514]

Ugh... ankle still isn't better, probably about the same, if not very mild improvement.. been just doing general mobility work, foot circles, and also gentle calf raises.. has been just about 5 weeks. It's not debilitating but it definitely still hurts alot at certain angles, or even if I hit the ground slightly with the ball of my foot it hurts a great deal.. Anytime I fully flex my foot and have it impact anything to push it further it's painful.

Will give it a bit more time and then may have to get it looked at.. although sprains generally take a fair few weeks to heal up from what I've read..

The best thing to do for sprains is really to give them time to heal. I also use the RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) method for sprains but time to heal is the best way to get back on the floor. Once you can use the foot without the pain the exercises that JR137 suggested are a good way to get the range of motion back.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Ugh... ankle still isn't better, probably about the same, if not very mild improvement.. been just doing general mobility work, foot circles, and also gentle calf raises.. has been just about 5 weeks. It's not debilitating but it definitely still hurts alot at certain angles, or even if I hit the ground slightly with the ball of my foot it hurts a great deal.. Anytime I fully flex my foot and have it impact anything to push it further it's painful.

Will give it a bit more time and then may have to get it looked at.. although sprains generally take a fair few weeks to heal up from what I've read..

With significant pain at 5 weeks, I'd go get it looked at now, rather than waiting longer. Last time I had pain after several weeks without significant improvement, it was a torn muscle that wasn't healing. A few weeks of PT guidance brought substantial relief and improvement.

 

[_Simon_]

Thanks heaps guys... yeah it's just at certain angles and pulls that it really hurts, but I can walk and train mostly normal. Must have sprained it... don't know whether the doc or a physio would be better to see... the doc just tends to get x-rays, tells me to rest, whereas the PT have been more helpful.. but without knowing exactly what it is, perhaps both.. funds are low so may have to hold off anyways.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Hey guys, I rolled my ankle in a tournament recently (a week and a half ago), I can walk on it fine with no pain at all, but it still hurts quite bad at certain angles (if I turn my toes/foot inwards and do plantar flexion, it HURTS!).

Anyone have any tips from experience to assist recovery? I don't think it's serious, but potentially strained tendons. I figured just avoid putting it through the range of motion where there's pain, and doing things to increase blood flow to area? Bodyweight calf raises?

Have also learned that stretching is not necessarily very beneficial for strains/sprains (just pulls at the damaged fibers/tendons more)

Cheers

Easy

Rest - AKA don't do a lot of stuff on that ankle let it heal. Be patient
Rebhab - After you ankle has healed then to your stretching and massage exercises so you won't have bad scar tissue left where the injury was.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Ugh... ankle still isn't better, probably about the same, if not very mild improvement.. been just doing general mobility work, foot circles, and also gentle calf raises.. has been just about 5 weeks.

That's because you didn't let your ankle rest. I bet you walked around on it a lot and moved it a lot. Think it like this. Imagine how difficult it is to sew a tear in your clothes when someone keeps moving the area that you have to sew around. Now imagine how much easier and faster it is to sew that same tear in your clothing if that cloth is still.

That's what your ankle is trying to do when when you move around on it. It's trying to reconnect torn tissue that keeps moving around. Which is why it's good to limit that mobility and let it rest.

 

[_Simon_]

Easy

Rest - AKA don't do a lot of stuff on that ankle let it heal. Be patient
Rebhab - After you ankle has healed then to your stretching and massage exercises so you won't have bad scar tissue left where the injury was.

That's because you didn't let your ankle rest. I bet you walked around on it a lot and moved it a lot. Think it like this. Imagine how difficult it is to sew a tear in your clothes when someone keeps moving the area that you have to sew around. Now imagine how much easier and faster it is to sew that same tear in your clothing if that cloth is still.

That's what your ankle is trying to do when when you move around on it. It's trying to reconnect torn tissue that keeps moving around. Which is why it's good to limit that mobility and let it rest.

Cheers mate thanks for that. Yeah you make a good point! I honestly haven't been doing much stuff with the ankle, but I guess it's hard for it to heal when I have to walk around places. And the odd training session would probably not be the best for it, although I have been using an ankle brace/wrap and strapping it tight which helps limit mobility.

I've currently finished up with trialling a style so I'm having a proper break in between now, so hopefully get a chance to heal. Appreciate your thoughts [emoji106]

 

[Dirty Dog]

Suck it up, Princess.
Or, more seriously, give it another week. If it's not significantly improved, you may need an MRI to see what damage has been done to the connective tissue. You may have torn something, rather than stretch it, or you may have an avulsion fracture.

 

[_Simon_]

Suck it up, Princess.

Haha, I cannot stand that phrase ;D

Or, more seriously, give it another week. If it's not significantly improved, you may need an MRI to see what damage has been done to the connective tissue. You may have torn something, rather than stretch it, or you may have an avulsion fracture.

Thanks mate, yeah feels like it is very very slowly getting better (possibly? Hard to tell...), but it's still pretty painful. Will play it by the proverbial ear

 

[jobo]

Hey guys, I rolled my ankle in a tournament recently (a week and a half ago), I can walk on it fine with no pain at all, but it still hurts quite bad at certain angles (if I turn my toes/foot inwards and do plantar flexion, it HURTS!).

Anyone have any tips from experience to assist recovery? I don't think it's serious, but potentially strained tendons. I figured just avoid putting it through the range of motion where there's pain, and doing things to increase blood flow to area? Bodyweight calf raises?

Have also learned that stretching is not necessarily very beneficial for strains/sprains (just pulls at the damaged fibers/tendons more)

Cheers

You need to toughen up a bit, if that was a soccer injury youd be doused with a cold wet sponge and exspected to play on, not sit around for two weeks contemplating yoyr range of motion. the concept of running an injury off, seems to work extremley well or the more you restrict use, the longer it will take to heal

 

[_Simon_]

You need to toughen up a bit, if that was a soccer injury youd be doused with a cold wet sponge and exspected to play on, not sit around for two weeks contemplating yoyr range of motion. the concept of running an injury off, seems to work extremley well or the more you restrict use, the longer it will take to heal

XD

Does that toughen up attitude work you reckon?

So you don't think smart training and recovery is the best approach?

That toughen up thing is nonsense to me sorry mate... It's useful sometimes, when trying to move through apathy and learning some real courage/grit, but it's an injury. Running it off just seems ridiculous dude!

It's lingered for 5 weeks now. I just attended an incredibly physically exhausting 3 hour karate seminar yesterday. My ankle ain't no better for it. And I've still been walking around every day, not just sitting around.

I agree that completely avoiding mobility may not be the best, but limiting it while it heals (so as to not tear anything further at the extreme ends of ROM) makes sense to me.

 

[jobo]

XD

Does that toughen up attitude work you reckon?

So you don't think smart training and recovery is the best approach?

That toughen up thing is nonsense to me sorry mate... It's useful sometimes, when trying to move through apathy and learning some real courage/grit, but it's an injury. Running it off just seems ridiculous dude!

It's lingered for 5 weeks now. I just attended an incredibly physically exhausting 3 hour karate seminar yesterday. My ankle ain't no better for it. And I've still been walking around every day, not just sitting around.

I agree that completely avoiding mobility may not be the best, but limiting it while it heals (so as to not tear anything further at the extreme ends of ROM) makes sense to me.

So ,, youve spent five weeks not running off and it hasnt healed, yet you dismiss the idea as lucredous, ?

But yet you said it only happened a week and a half ago, now sudenly uts five weeks And youve been " resting it, except youve just remmember a seminar you did.

You asked for advice from experiance, if the pain isnt eye popping, then get on with it, blood flow will improve the hralling and you will be come impervious to the pain, which by your description is only mild discomfort anyway, if you went to PT they would have you doing excersises that hurt, iyou can do that yoyrsekf and save the time and money

Flipping Melenials

 

[_Simon_]

So ,, youve spent five weeks not running off and it hasnt healed, yet you dismiss the idea as lucredous, ?

But yet you said it only happened a week and a half ago, now sudenly uts five weeks And youve been " resting it, except youve just remmember a seminar you did.

You asked for advice from experiance, if the pain isnt eye popping, then get on with it, blood flow will improve the hralling and you will be come impervious to the pain, which by your description is only mild discomfort anyway, if you went to PT they would have you doing excersises that hurt, iyou can do that yoyrsekf and save the time and money

Flipping Melenials

Hehe.. I posted this thread on September 25th dude . A week and a half before that date I'd rolled my ankle. So as of today it's been 5 weeks .

The seminar was yesterday, I didn't only just remember it! I'm a tad confused! Have been taking it fairly easy on it (whilst still walking as normal) apart from the odd training session in which I'd strap up my ankle. But in a few sessions there were moments when my foot would go into a ROM that hurt.

Nah fair enough am always happy to take on advice, I do appreciate it mate. Just hard when i read and hear conflicting stuff, people saying let it rest, others say keep moving and move it through pain-free ROM, others saying train hard and ignore the pain.

What I dismiss as ludicrous is running on an injured ankle! I mean I could try it of course (even though running's out of the question because of other issues atm), but to me it would seem to put it in a danger zone of too much stress. With karate training stuff I can moderate how I do things, running is full bodyweight impact through one foot at a time...

It isn't mild discomfort, it's really quite painful but only at certain angles and pulls, otherwise I can walk on it without any pain. It's just at those extremes it hurts (full plantar flexion etc).

I do get what you're saying though, and I have still been getting on with things (still walking).

Hehe, what do us millenials do exactly? Try to look after ourselves? Crazyness! ;D

 

[jobo]

Hehe.. I posted this thread on September 25th dude . A week and a half before that date I'd rolled my ankle. So as of today it's been 5 weeks .

The seminar was yesterday, I didn't only just remember it! I'm a tad confused! Have been taking it fairly easy on it (whilst still walking as normal) apart from the odd training session in which I'd strap up my ankle. But in a few sessions there were moments when my foot would go into a ROM that hurt.

Nah fair enough am always happy to take on advice, I do appreciate it mate. Just hard when i read and hear conflicting stuff, people saying let it rest, others say keep moving and move it through pain-free ROM, others saying train hard and ignore the pain.

What I dismiss as ludicrous is running on an injured ankle! I mean I could try it of course (even though running's out of the question because of other issues atm), but to me it would seem to put it in a danger zone of too much stress. With karate training stuff I can moderate how I do things, running is full bodyweight impact through one foot at a time...

It isn't mild discomfort, it's really quite painful but only at certain angles and pulls, otherwise I can walk on it without any pain. It's just at those extremes it hurts (full plantar flexion etc).

I do get what you're saying though, and I have still been getting on with things (still walking).

Hehe, what do us millenials do exactly? Try to look after ourselves? Crazyness! ;D

Runnibg it off is a soccer term for carrying on with a seamingly painful game ending injury that magically stops hurting when you distract yourself by chasing a ball about, as a concept it doesnt require you to actually run,though its not the worse idea.

Pain is a nebulas concept, if there was seriiys i jury then walking would result you screaming and falling to the flood, anything less than that is dependent on your persnal tollerance to pain, one mans pain is anothers mild discomfort, crry on with pain, increases yoyr tolerance and the pain magically deminishes. Till you dont notice it at all. or pain and the actual level of injury are only vaguely connected to each other, or its all in the mind

Other wise wht are you going to do, ? Youve avoided discomfort for five weeks ( in can recover from a broken leg in that time)and its no better, how many Weeks, months, years are you going to devote to this before you decieded to " run it off "?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Runnibg it off is a soccer term for carrying on with a seamingly painful game ending injury that magically stops hurting when you distract yourself by chasing a ball about, as a concept it doesnt require you to actually run,though its not the worse idea.

Pain is a nebulas concept, if there was seriiys i jury then walking would result you screaming and falling to the flood, anything less than that is dependent on your persnal tollerance to pain, one mans pain is anothers mild discomfort, crry on with pain, increases yoyr tolerance and the pain magically deminishes. Till you dont notice it at all. or pain and the actual level of injury are only vaguely connected to each other, or its all in the mind

Other wise wht are you going to do, ? Youve avoided discomfort for five weeks and its no bettet, how many Weeks, months, years are you going to devote to this before you decieded to " run it off "?

That's an overly simplistic understanding of what injury is. I managed just fine for weeks with a muscle torn 25% through in my forearm. But certain things - relatively small things - caused significant pain. I found out later that significant pain was me re-tearing any healing it had done. So, it wasn't healing. It wasn't getting better. What fixed it? Finding out (from a professional) what was actually wrong, how to avoid re-injury so it could heal, and finding the right exercises to help heal it (not just randomly continuing with what I normally did).

Your advice can work by accident, but it can also lead to worsening an injury.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Hey guys, I rolled my ankle in a tournament recently (a week and a half ago), I can walk on it fine with no pain at all, but it still hurts quite bad at certain angles (if I turn my toes/foot inwards and do plantar flexion, it HURTS!).

Anyone have any tips from experience to assist recovery? I don't think it's serious, but potentially strained tendons. I figured just avoid putting it through the range of motion where there's pain, and doing things to increase blood flow to area? Bodyweight calf raises?

Have also learned that stretching is not necessarily very beneficial for strains/sprains (just pulls at the damaged fibers/tendons more)

Cheers

Have not read all the responses so I apologize of this has already been said.

I have broken my ankle 3 times and sprained it within the last month. My issue with sprains is that I have broken my ankle so many times I no longer feel pain when I twist it. Last time I felt a slight bit of pain, which surprised me, but I kept on walking with out much pain for a fe days. That is until it swelled up to twice normal size

1) see a doctor and get an x-ray. I walked around on a broken ankle for a bit and it was not getting better. Reason, it was fractured.

2) Ankle braces are your friend

3) if it is sprained look to a splint

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Have not read all the responses so I apologize of this has already been said.

I have broken my ankle 3 times and sprained it within the last month. My issue with sprains is that I have broken my ankle so many times I no longer feel pain when I twist it. Last time I felt a slight bit of pain, which surprised me, but I kept on walking with out much pain for a fe days. That is until it swelled up to twice normal size

1) see a doctor and get an x-ray. I walked around on a broken ankle for a bit and it was not getting better. Reason, it was fractured.

2) Ankle braces are your friend

3) if it is sprained look to a splint

Yeah, I hobbled for two weeks once on a fractured leg. Surprisingly less painful than I'd have thought, but doing so wasn't helping it heal.