Ankle sprain
800
Member
1289 days
catwood posted 6 weeks ago.
I sprained my ankle really badly in January and it derailed me for a month. It hurt to swim for 2 weeks because of the kicking. I started biking on the trainer after a week (as soon as I could get my bike shoes on over the swelling that would not go down even with twice daily ice) and it was a whole month before I was comfortable running. It took me another month to get full range of motion back. I didn't, but I recommend getting it checked out and getting a referral to a PT since with your race you want your recovery to be as fast as possible.
13
Member
145 days
emtridoc posted 6 weeks ago.
An ankle sprain is a stretch or strain of the ligaments holding the joint in place. A mild sprain mostly results in some discomfort, a severe or 'grade 3' sprain means you actually ruptured the ligament and results in joint laxity and may require surgery. That's rare. You definitely want to do regular icing and range of motion exercises while trying to stay off it a bit for at least a few days. NSAID's (ibuprofen, aleve, etc) will help with pain, swelling, and inflammation. Ibuprofen (motrin/advil) is well tolerated by most people. 400-600 mg 4x a day with food should be safe. If you have any kidney or other health problems you may want to check with your doctor before taking more than the over-the-counter dose. Wear a compressive dressing like an "ACE" bandage or pick up a "Scott Ankle Brace" or something similar at your local drug store to help support it. Wear the compressive dressing during the day for at least 5-7 days, then when you exercise (tape will likely work better in the water). If you can afford it, things like PT, or even acupuncture and chiropractic can help speed the healing (and I'm an MD, trained in western med, but I believe in these modalities and have seen their effectiveness - my wife is a veterinary acupuncturist, and you know there's no placebo effect in animals). Let you body heal. If you've put down a good base and you've still got 6 weeks to go you can definitely afford 7-10 days of light exercise and still have time to recover. Ankle sprains can take a long time to fully heal (and by that I mean no more discomfort). I broke my wrist and sprained my ankle on the same night (who says softball isn't a tough game for the over 40 crowd!) and my ankle bothered me much longer than my wrist.
24
Member
84 days
Raygir posted 6 weeks ago.
I just did the same thing ( I think as I've sprained that ankle before) did a 13mile run on Wed and Thursday ccould barely walk, went to my PT and she pulled pushed and prodded me, then did a "Kinso tape", just 2 long pieces of tape up my shine and calf and 2 small pieces on my ankle, supposed to promote the body healing itself, well long story longer the swelling is gone ( I never iced it of course) ankle feels fine although skipping the track workout tonight ( any excuse I can find) can cycle fine and will try a small jog tomorrow, will let you know, swimmming tonight,, cheers ,, ps dont train through too harsh of pain as you can damage it further... better to be 10% under trained than 1% over trained..
20
Member
398 days
Mark709 posted 6 weeks ago.
Thanks everyone!! The swelling has gone down a bit each day. I'm doing Aleve, Ace wrap, ice, and elevate as much as I can. I swam this morning and it felt pretty good. I'm going to try some light cycling tomorrow morning. My base is fair and I was really making some significant improvements in that area so I want to get back to 100% asap!
24
Member
84 days
Raygir posted 6 weeks ago.
one last note, My PT said to strenghten and gain range of motion " writing the alphabet with my toes" with the foot I sprained,- Imagine trying to write the alphabet with your toes.. A b c d e .. etc.. seems to help
Help - I sprained my ankle on Sunday and I don't want to derail my training. Am I supposed to wait until the swelling goes down before training? is it a pain management thing? Can I train as long as I can tolerate the pain? I swam on monday which went ok as long as I didn't try to kick hard. I was thinking about taping it and trying to bike tonight; however, I don't want to prolong the injury. I have about 6 weeks until an olympic event. I'm pretty sure this is a minor sprain; however, I've read that they can take 4-6 weeks to heal. yikes :(