How to Strengthen Your Ankle After a Sprain
Protect your ankle., Make sure to get plenty of rest., Ice your ankle to relieve pain and swelling., Compress your ankle for 48 to 72 hours after injury., Keep your ankle elevated., Do not apply heat to your ankle., Avoid drinking alcohol for 72...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Protect your ankle.
During the first 72 hours after your injury, you need to keep your ankle as protected as possible to reduce the chances of injuring it further.
If you have a medical boot or a splint lying around, put it on your ankle.
You can also learn how to make your own splint by clicking here.
After the 72 hours have passed, you can start to rehabilitate your ankle (See Method 2).
If you have crutches from a previous injury, use them to get around rather than trying to walk on your injured leg. -
Step 2: Make sure to get plenty of rest.
Along with protecting your ankle, you need to let it rest.
The only way that your ankle will begin to recover is if it doesn’t have any more pressure put on it.
Sit on the couch or lie in bed and let your body start repairing your ankle.
When you are immobile, your body can focus on fixing the injured parts of your ankle.Take a couple of days off work or school and catch up on your favorite TV show while your ankle begins to heal.
If you have to go to work or school, use crutches to get around so that you don’t use your ankle to walk. , You should ice your ankle as soon as you can after you injure it.
The cold temperature of the ice reduces the amount of blood to the area so your ankle won’t hurt as much and the swelling will go down.
Make sure to ice your ankle for no shorter than 10 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes.
Any time under 10 minutes will have little effect, will any time over 30 minutes could actually damage your skin.Use an ice pack or a bag of ice wrapped in a towel.
Do not apply ice or an ice pack directly to your skin as it could burn your skin and cause frostbite. , Wrap your ankle in a bandage to keep swelling down and to limit your ankle’s movement.
You can use whatever bandage is on hand, though elastic bandages and tubular compression bandages are the most commonly used to compress a sprained ankle.
To learn how to properly wrap an ankle, click here. , Keeping your ankle elevated can also help to relieve swelling and speed up the healing process.
Whenever you sit or lie down, prop you ankle up.
Doing this helps because when you ankle is elevated, less blood will flow into the area and cause it to swell.To do this, you should either sit in a chair or lie down in your bed:
In a chair:
Prop your ankle up so that it is above your hip.
In your bed:
Prop your ankle up so that it is above your heart. , Heat has the opposite effect as ice does in the first 72 hours after your injury; heat will actually make more blood flow to the area, causing further pain and swelling.
Because of this, its important to avoid heat for the first 72 hours after you get injured.
Do not soak in a bath or hot tub and do not put a hot pack on your ankle.After 72 hours have passed, you can begin to put some heat on your ankle to help it start loosening up so that you can try some strengthening exercises. , While drinking a beer or a glass of wine to forget about the pain may be all you want to do, you need to try to avoid alcohol for the first three days after you sprain your ankle.
Alcohol can actually slow down your body’s healing process and cause your ankle to swell and bruise further., While you might want to jump right back on to that playing field or go for a run to let off some steam, it is really important that you avoid physical activity for at least three days after your injury.If you try to exercise before your ankle has had time to heal, you could very well injure your ankle further and have to spend even more time recovering. , Massaging your ankle can increase the amount of bruising and swelling in your ankle.
You should wait at least 72 hours before you begin to rub your ankle.
However, after those 72 hours, gently rubbing your ankle can help it to regain its movement. -
Step 3: Ice your ankle to relieve pain and swelling.
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Step 4: Compress your ankle for 48 to 72 hours after injury.
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Step 5: Keep your ankle elevated.
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Step 6: Do not apply heat to your ankle.
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Step 7: Avoid drinking alcohol for 72 hours after your injury.
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Step 8: Do not run or try to do other physical activities.
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Step 9: Do not massage your ankle.
Detailed Guide
During the first 72 hours after your injury, you need to keep your ankle as protected as possible to reduce the chances of injuring it further.
If you have a medical boot or a splint lying around, put it on your ankle.
You can also learn how to make your own splint by clicking here.
After the 72 hours have passed, you can start to rehabilitate your ankle (See Method 2).
If you have crutches from a previous injury, use them to get around rather than trying to walk on your injured leg.
Along with protecting your ankle, you need to let it rest.
The only way that your ankle will begin to recover is if it doesn’t have any more pressure put on it.
Sit on the couch or lie in bed and let your body start repairing your ankle.
When you are immobile, your body can focus on fixing the injured parts of your ankle.Take a couple of days off work or school and catch up on your favorite TV show while your ankle begins to heal.
If you have to go to work or school, use crutches to get around so that you don’t use your ankle to walk. , You should ice your ankle as soon as you can after you injure it.
The cold temperature of the ice reduces the amount of blood to the area so your ankle won’t hurt as much and the swelling will go down.
Make sure to ice your ankle for no shorter than 10 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes.
Any time under 10 minutes will have little effect, will any time over 30 minutes could actually damage your skin.Use an ice pack or a bag of ice wrapped in a towel.
Do not apply ice or an ice pack directly to your skin as it could burn your skin and cause frostbite. , Wrap your ankle in a bandage to keep swelling down and to limit your ankle’s movement.
You can use whatever bandage is on hand, though elastic bandages and tubular compression bandages are the most commonly used to compress a sprained ankle.
To learn how to properly wrap an ankle, click here. , Keeping your ankle elevated can also help to relieve swelling and speed up the healing process.
Whenever you sit or lie down, prop you ankle up.
Doing this helps because when you ankle is elevated, less blood will flow into the area and cause it to swell.To do this, you should either sit in a chair or lie down in your bed:
In a chair:
Prop your ankle up so that it is above your hip.
In your bed:
Prop your ankle up so that it is above your heart. , Heat has the opposite effect as ice does in the first 72 hours after your injury; heat will actually make more blood flow to the area, causing further pain and swelling.
Because of this, its important to avoid heat for the first 72 hours after you get injured.
Do not soak in a bath or hot tub and do not put a hot pack on your ankle.After 72 hours have passed, you can begin to put some heat on your ankle to help it start loosening up so that you can try some strengthening exercises. , While drinking a beer or a glass of wine to forget about the pain may be all you want to do, you need to try to avoid alcohol for the first three days after you sprain your ankle.
Alcohol can actually slow down your body’s healing process and cause your ankle to swell and bruise further., While you might want to jump right back on to that playing field or go for a run to let off some steam, it is really important that you avoid physical activity for at least three days after your injury.If you try to exercise before your ankle has had time to heal, you could very well injure your ankle further and have to spend even more time recovering. , Massaging your ankle can increase the amount of bruising and swelling in your ankle.
You should wait at least 72 hours before you begin to rub your ankle.
However, after those 72 hours, gently rubbing your ankle can help it to regain its movement.
About the Author
James Mitchell
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in crafts and beyond.
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