Serious ankle sprain and frustration

[chasely]

Rebels,

I was playing soccer last Thursday when I gave myself a nasty ankle sprain. I don't know what happened but I'm guessing my cleats dug in and whoops, there goes my ankle. It's easily the most pain I've ever been in (I've lived a fairly charmed life). I still can't walk or drive (I drive a manual) going on four days now. I got it x-rayed and no fractures were present. I'm guessing it's a sever Grade II or a Grade III sprain.

This really sucks. I'm 25 and I feel like this is the first time my body has ever let me down. Sure, I've been overweight but my body still responded to my wills. I'm extremely frustrated with my body and myself. I was finally hitting a groove with working out and eating right, then this happens. I'm still eating pretty well, since it takes a lot of effort to get to the kitchen . Moreover, I feel like my ankle hasn't gotten any better. The pain isn't really there any more, but I still can't do anything.

Has anyone else here gone through these frustrations? I don't know how long this healing process is going to take, but I can't imagine how long it's going to take before I can lift weights again (I'm thinking September or October even).

Kind of unrelated to this post, but when you're coming back from a bad injury, is it a good idea to wear a brace or let your joint gain strength by not bracing it. And if it is braced, should I brace both ankles to make sure that I'm not overloading my other joint?

Thanks for letting me get my frustrations out.

[Sam]

Hey Chasely,

Luckily, i've not suffered any such injuries, but i can sympathize with your problem. I'd suggest that you do as much as you can on your upper body until your ankle repairs.

Absolutely DEFINITELY brace your ankle, and if you feel like it, the other one also. I wouldn't risk delaying recovery by exercising with an unprotected ankle.

Training through pain doesn't apply to injuries, at least it doesn't in my opinion.

[silverpeacock]

Give it time to heal properly (Something I'm not able to do, I'll admit that right off). Like Sam said, work on your upper body for the time being, and ice your ankle, and keep it elevated. Also, wear a brace when you start back up again, until you get all its strength back.

[Shoshie]

DO NOT overwork your ankle. I got a severe ankle sprain last October (3rd degree high ankle sprain) and it's still a problem sometimes. Ankle braces are your friend. Keep off your feet if you can. Crutches are best. If you're eager to get back to exercise, focus on upper body and one-legged work. In time, you'll be able to do swimming, but get doctor approval before returning to running, jogging, or weighted squats. It's really easy to build up scar tissue after a sprain, and that will make everything take even longer to heal. If you have insurance or can afford it, go to a physical therapist, particularly if it's taking a really long time to heal. Ice. Ice ice ice.

Good luck! I hope you're feeling better soon! Sprains are pretty much the worst.

[fsjjunkie]

When I was your age, 20 years ago (says the wise, old man (yeah, right)), I did the same thing playing soccer. Both ankles, at different times, multiple times. I've also done shoulders, knees, fingers, elbows, etc. Soccer is dangerous.

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation is the general prescription for a sprain. After about 48 hours, when the swelling has subsided, you can use occasional heat to aid circulation and healing. You should definitely use a brace to stabilize the ankle while rehabbing it. The doctor who xrayed it should have told you how long to stay off of it. It's been less than a week. You won't feel better for a couple more. The bad news is a severe grade II sprain (which this sounds like) will take longer to heal than a broken bone. I recommend Physical Therapy. They'll be able to check your range of motion during rehab, do massage and electrostim to break up the inevitable scar tissue, and give you specific, safe and proper exercises for you ankle.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Ligaments don't have a blood supply so they take a long time to heal. I'd support it for 6-8 weeks and it might be a full year before it's at 100%.

[Pat G]

Slow and steady mate.

I'm assuming you're already on some sort of rehab program, but if not, have a read of this below quote from a recent 70s Big QA, it is about rehabing from the point of view of getting back into lifting heavy, but i'm sure there would be lots of cross transfer.

Q&A

From @btnewgent on Twitter:

@70sbig 3 wks. into TM & going great. Sprained my ankle Sun. walking down f’ing stairs. Any tips for rehabbing fast?

Dear @btnewgent,

Sprained ankles are no fun. I’ve sprained my right ankle pretty bad three times. The last time was the first CrossFit Football seminar and someone mocked me for being a pussy in the comments afterwards. This is a generic way that I would progress back into good ankle health. This assumes you haven’t broken any bones. Also, consult your doctor and sue him or yourself if you make things worse. Don’t listen to me. Ever. These progressions may take several days due to severity; rehab means you do a little bit, see how it responds and heals, then do a little more next time. Do not do too much, but be consistent and progressive with rehab.

- Ice it ASAP after the injury. It’s best if you can submerge your foot into a bucket of ice water. They make little rubber toe covers to protect your toes. Just don’t exceed 10 to 15 minutes if your toes aren’t covered.

- Ice it some more. You should be icing it, letting it return to normal, and icing it again as much as possible, especially during the first few days.

- Ice it. Hey, see the trend?

- If it’s bad enough where you can’t put any weight on it, then start doing ROM stuff prior to icing. Ankle circles, plantar flexion/dorsiflexion, inversion/eversion, or whatever you can handle. Note that pain during these movements probably won’t make it worse. You may need several exposures of this over a few days. Ice after ROM work.

- Load the ankle lightly. Do this by standing on the good foot, and giving the bad foot a little weight. The progression moves from a little weight, to equal weight, to more weight on the bad side, and finally to full weight on the bad side. Follow this up with ROM work and icing.

- Do the same loading with calf raises on a step. Progress from barely any load to full body weight load. Always follow up with ROM work and icing.

- Begin walking. Do not limp and do not look down. The neuromuscular connection will be, uh, F***ed, and you need to reestablish it. Don’t hamper progress by allowing limp so that people realize that you’re hurt, but a heart-filled warrior. I would quantify the distance of the walking so it can be progressed. Finish with ROM work and icing.

- At this point you are fine to do non-explosive lifting and training. You might have been able to do some after the calf raise progression. Do ROM work and icing after training.

- The ankle will probably feel good after the walking progression. Do not start doing something idiotic like box jumps. Go through an “extra body weight loading” progression. Start this by pretending like you are going to jump, lowering your body as if you’re about to jump, extending the hips and knees, but do NOT leave the ground. This will probably apply a force 4 to 9 times your body weight on the structures (I’d have to check some data to be more specific). I would quantify reps of this. Eventually you can have short little hops and landings with loading similar to the standing and calf raise loading (more on healthy side, progressing to more on bad side). ROM and icing will obviously follow.

- Things are probably pretty good now. I’d jump rope as a warm-up and regularly do the foot drills before I do any lateral activity. Go ahead and ROM and ice it.

At this point, you should have gotten hundreds of ROM reps, which act like rehab in itself. I didn’t even mention using therabands (for resisted inversion/eversion/plantar flexion/dorsiflexion) or compression tack and stretch (“voodoo flossing”, a term I do not like), but those methods would work extremely well. If you followed a progression and didn’t act like a Tommy Tough Guy, then your ankle should be back to normal, and probably even better than before the injury. Icing can be irritating, but if you get an ice bag (at most $5) from any pharmacy or convenience store and wrap it with an ace bandage, it will stay on without effort (plus those ice bags don’t produce condensation or drip water).

[Strawberry Squatcake]

The info from patg is pretty close to the rehab I had in HS when I sprained my ankle playing volleyball. The school and my mom wanted me to do rehab. This last NF challenge I did some mobility work, which has been helpful as I've rolled that same ankle twice and sprained it once since high school? I may be wrong, but I think once you sprain, unless you rebuild strength, you're much more likely to roll or sprain again. So rehab is worth it. Good luck with patience during healing! You will be back at it before too long!

[chasely]

Thanks for the tips all. It's been nearly a week and I can put body weight on it, but can't walk. I've kept it elevated nearly the entire time. I'm lucky to have an employer where I can work from home, though I'm not as productive.

I'm going to set up a doctor's appointment to get a referral for physical therapy. I want to do it right so I'm less likely to injure it in the future.

I've got myself a good ice pack and ankle brace.

Guess I won't be playing soccer this fall