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Severely sprained ankle


UWSkier

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As part of my exercise regimen to stay in shape for skiing, I play basketball in the winter and spring months. Well, yesterday was the last day of the basketball season, and I just so happened to come down on a foot after going up to block a shot. My right ankle is FUBAR. I can walk on it with a pronounced limp, so I don't think anything is completely torn, but I did hear a good crack-pop when I came down on it.

Short of blowing way too much money on a set of Fogmans, does anyone have any experience getting on the water in this condition? Copious amounts of athletic tape before putting the foot in the binding? I was able to play on it after taping it up last night, which was probably a mistake cause now it hurts worse than it did before. I'm not staying off the water though... Maybe our cold water up here will be good for it. :)

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You don't want to hear this, but stay off of it. Let it heal.

The same thing happened to me recently but under different circumstances. I went to the doctor and this is what he told me to do. After he X-rayed it to make sure that the ligaments were not torn or that the bones that hold the ligaments weren't fractured, he said to ice it down and elevate it for the first day. After that, don't stay off it! He said that will cause a longer time for it to heal. If the ankle is sprained, you can't really hurt it any more and the movement is good for it. Use it as much as the pain allows you. I heeded his advise and I had good luck and I healed quickly. Also, if you do nothing else, buy one of those supports for your ankle. It's the kind that looks like a sock but with the front half of the foot cut off. It fits tight enough to push the excess blood from the swelling away from the ankle which greatly improves your mobility. I didn't think it would work when the doctor gave it to me but it was awesome. I went from barely walking on it to walking without a limp in about 2 days.

Get it x-rayed to make sure that there is nothing torn or broken before you walk on it.

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As part of my exercise regimen to stay in shape for skiing, I play basketball in the winter and spring months. Well, yesterday was the last day of the basketball season, and I just so happened to come down on a foot after going up to block a shot. My right ankle is FUBAR. I can walk on it with a pronounced limp, so I don't think anything is completely torn, but I did hear a good crack-pop when I came down on it.

Short of blowing way too much money on a set of Fogmans, does anyone have any experience getting on the water in this condition? Copious amounts of athletic tape before putting the foot in the binding? I was able to play on it after taping it up last night, which was probably a mistake cause now it hurts worse than it did before. I'm not staying off the water though... Maybe our cold water up here will be good for it. :)

Well if you heard a pop, I'd be willing to bet that you broke the tip off the ankle bone where the ligament attaches.

It will always hurt more the next day than it does immediatly after injury. (Lucky that you could even get to sleep).

I strongly recommend that you take a look at a pair of active ankle braces for BBall, they can't completly prevent sprained ankle, but they can seriously reduce the severity of injury.

For the next couple of weeks an air splint on the ankle will greatly improve your comfort and stability just walking around. Elevate and Ice when possible.

Sorry to hear of your injury.

Mike

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If it's only sprained then go out right now and break it. "They" always say a sprain is far worse to come back from than a break. Go for it, jump off a ledge or roof or something.

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I've sprained both ankles (at different times) they each took over a year to fully heal.

Best thing you can do is immediatly get off it, wrap it, elevate it, and put ice on it. Do this for a week straight. Using it is the wrong thing to do, hence my year long recoveries. LET IT HEAL or it will drag on forever.

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I did the same thing - came down on a foot playing ball and rolled it. I heard a pop too. Was told just torn ligaments and nothing broken. Still in high school at the time I was back into sports a few months later. But, 15 years later it still pops and cracks at will. Whatever got messed up in there never went back right to hold everything in place. So my approach of getting back on it may not have been the best one.

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I almost ended my season before starting it with a severly sprained ankle from Volleyball. I never really got off it to let it heal. I was walking without limp from about 2 weeks on - except for the first few steps. The biggest issue I faced was that the reduced flexibility in the ankle of my rear foot. I had problems through 2 summers getting my rear heel down on the ski. I have since been through PT and it's much better - back to almost normal. I felt like I had re-sprained it after my first day at PT - I was limping for about 3 days.

Go get it checked out, follow doc's recommendation so you don't end up with an injury that will hamper your entire season or longer. Don't be afraid to ask for PT if your insurance will cover it.

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If it's only sprained then go out right now and break it. "They" always say a sprain is far worse to come back from than a break. Go for it, jump off a ledge or roof or something.

:lol:

Sorry to hear that Matt :)

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Sorry for the Hi-Jack ... but with all the great advice I thought I'ld ask

"What do you do for a Severely Sprained Body? I got on one of those damn wakeboard and I don't know what happened. Black eye, busted blood vesels in the eye, smashed nose, cut lips, brused ribs, and the do-dads took a hit Cry.gif . Other than that, I feel great.

And thanks for the late advice to stay the heck off the those killer boards" Crazy.gif

End of Hi-Jack

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Sorry for the Hi-Jack ... but with all the great advice I thought I'ld ask

"What do you do for a Severely Sprained Body? I got on one of those damn wakeboard and I don't know what happened. Black eye, busted blood vesels in the eye, smashed nose, cut lips, brused ribs, and the do-dads took a hit Cry.gif . Other than that, I feel great.

And thanks for the late advice to stay the heck off the those killer boards" Crazy.gif

End of Hi-Jack

buy a surfboard :)

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Yikes! I did that tom my right ankle as well in 1985 playing basketball as well. I heard a pop as well. That one took over 1 year to heal. I did the Anneal000 plan as well. :)

I have don it several times since, weak ankle now (onceo you tear a ligament you lose the stabilizers Mad.gif ) and each time took it easy. Combination ice, wrap, light walking. The light use does seem to make it heal faster since it doesn't lock or freeze up.

My wife just did this about 3 months ago coming down the stairs. I took her about 3 weeks to heal it. She iced immediatiely, raised it, wrapped it, and took it easy for a couple of days and then started slowly using it. It took her about 3 weeks to fully heal.

Definitley get a wrap. I got a body Glove one and it added some support.

Good Luck Matt, I FEEL your PAIN.

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Ouch. Last year around this time i suffered a severely sprained ankle. Tore several ligaments and blood vessels and i permenanty damaged several nerves throughout the top of my foot. I too heard and pop and i think it was the sound of a ligament tearing but i am not a doctor so i have no idea what it truely was. I did however see a doctor and i was given a large black boot to wear and was told i needed to walk around on crutches for 3 weeks before i could even put any kind of pressure on the ankle. Anyways it was a good 3 months before i could even walk on it without the boot again and another 3 weeks after that before i could even fit my swollen foot back into my bindings to wakeboard. I had quite a time getting to where i was stable on that ankle again. It is now a year later and my ankle is still bigger than the other one and i have no feeling in the skin on the top of my foot (thank you dead nerves). Also if i touch a certain spot on my ankle, i feel this feeling spiderweb down to the tips of my toes (broken nerves).

Anyways good luck with the recovery from that one. As long as u can walk on it, i am guessing nothing is super torn and swollen so recovery shouldn't take too long. It shouldn't be a season ender. Just stay off it for a little and it should be fine in no time.

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I strongly recommend that you take a look at a pair of active ankle braces for BBall, they can't completly prevent sprained ankle, but they can seriously reduce the severity of injury.

I couldn't agree more I have a pair and use them every time I play. Maybe if I had them sooner I wouldn't have had to have surgery. SInce I started using them I haven't had 1 bad sprain. Well worth the money. They hold up well after using them for 6-7 years I finally had to order the rebuild kit.

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Keep weight off of it for about a week or two, then get a good laced ankle wrap with supports and wear good shoes.

Learn to wakesurf.

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Well, fortunately it's not looking as severe as I thought. Swelling is pretty much gone today. I can still feel it and walk with a slight limp, but I don't have to dead-leg it like yesterday. It's funny. Yesterday it was bugging me so much I wanted to leave the office early to go home and ice it. Hurt like hell! Today I can barely feel it. Started some light rehab exercises this morning already. Mostly flexion and extension type stuff. I don't know what the pop sound was... I know it's going to be weak for a while, but I think it should be good for this weekend with a little athletic tape.

Beer and BBQ must be a wonder treatment for bum ankles. :)

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Glad to hear it! Please be careful to not damage it more seriously.

I'd still get the compression sock to wear most of the time until the swelling is gone and you don't have any more limp.

Also get a pair of active ankles for future BB play. It's been over 2 years since I sprained mine and I still have some soreness at times and am very cautious about injuring it again.

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I usually wear a wrap on this ankle actually after injuring it slalom skiing on a crash last year. This past week I decided to go without the wrap. Oops...

I'll definitely be going back to that for Bball this fall when we start up again!

Thanks for the tips e'rybody!

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Sprains take such a long time to heal. My MCL sprain is just now about 80% from a March 13th injury....

Getting old sucks.

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The Pop is not that unusual. I used to play competitive volleyball and would catch someone's foot under the net from time to time. A very loud pop and be on crutches for weeks. I never broke it though.

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