Spraint Ankle

Yesterday I spraint my ankle, I jumped and landed badly that's all I'm gonna say. The doctor said it was swollen and tore some ligaments but no bones were broken thankfully. I've been putting ice on it for 10 mins at a time like the doctor suggested and to always to keep it elevated. It's still painful, not so much on the swollen part anymore and the swelling's gone down just a little. I'm waiting for my dad to come home  to take me to rent some crutches, the doctor said to use em if it's too painful to walk and gradually put pressure and weight on my foot after the first week. My dad said I should keep my foot down and try to walk a little besides hopping around the house. I'm afraid to do more damage to it cause I just spraint it (and it also hurts to walk). So..here I am waiting for the crutches and go to school afterwards. It's going to be a pain going up and down the stairs..

Anyways, any advice to give me on like how long would I expect it to fully heal and any experiences of ankle injuries you would like to share?

Tricky things sprained ankles because they rotate in a lot of directions.  You might benefit from getting firm tube bandage to support your ankle while it's recovering.  Walk as best you can rather than staying immobile as this will keep the circulation going and that will help it to heal.   Alternating ice packs with soaks in hot baths ditto. For stairs....  if it's impossible to hop, sit on the step and push yourself up backwards using your good foot!   If the swelling is already going down it probably won't take too long before you're back on both feet.  Good luck

i don't want to freak you out, but do NOT, i repeat: DO NOT walk on it for AT LEAST 1 week.  i had the same thing in both my ankles (i have crappy ankles...) and one of them i didn't walk on it, used crutches for two weeks, then walked on it, and now it's fine.  but the other one i had to walk on (i was doing a play and the director refused my crutches on the stage and said i would fail the class if i brought them on--i was in theatre school) and it's STILL stiff.  suffice it to say: i wish i had failed that class, instead of having a stiff ankle.  and this was 6 years ago.  a torn ligament is apparentl more painful and takes longer to heal than a broken bone.  just keep this in mind.  this thing will take time to heal (my good ankle took about 2 yrs to be back to normal)

so don't walk on it.  please don't.  i know people have different rates of healing and stuff, but it's better to be safe than sorry. 

for the actual things you should do: keep your foot slightly elevated (so the blood doesn't rush there and thus make it swell even more), and alternating between ice and hot and good, as gi-jane said.  take some advil/tylenol for the pain.  i was also told to do some akle exercises (which you do more frequently and better onece it's healed, but do them every day and even after it's fine).  these are to stretch the ankle/turn it.  i don't know if this makes sense without me showing you, but you make little circles with your feet (clockwise and counter), but only as big as you can handle (even if it seems like it's too small to do anything, if that's all that you can do at first, do it anyway.  as it heals, you'll be able to make bigger circles--but DON'T push it).  also pull it in the 4 directions: up (so your foot is flexed), down (pointed) and upwards (so the arch of your foot is closest you your face) and then downwards (so that the side of your foot with the pinky toe is towards you.  but don't do any of these too hard at first, sicne it could tear the ligament more.  use the pain as a barometer.  and do these BEFORE you take the advil, and every time the pain comes back and you feel like you need to take anotehr one again.  i say this because if the painkiller is in effect, you WILL push further than your body wants it to.

so: listen to the doctor who said to put rpessure on it AFTER one week, take it easy, watch some movies/catch up on your reading, and make the best of this situation.  my school had an elevator so that really helped.  if yours doesn't, as a friend to help you up the stairs.  i hope you feel better soon (you will, don'T worry), but remember to be careful and do some good ankle stuff after, like dancing (only when it's healed).

:O)

wow thank you so much for your advice. It's already been a day with crutches and its pretty hard to walk around with it. I feel so bad that I'm in everybody's way and tomorrow is going to be a hard day cause I have to go up 3 flight of stairs for my first class then back down for the 2nd and then back up 2 for my third class. I really wish my school had a elevator but it's a poor school x_x. How did you mess up both your ankles? You don't have to answer that but I'm just wondering.

the first one (the one that healed) was in grade 6 in gym class.  we were supposed to climb the rope but i decided to protest because the gym teacher was sexist, racist, and a douche bag.  eh told me to pass i had to sit on the knot at teh botton of the rope, so that's what i did.  i then started to do the tarzan.  when «time was up» i jumped off, but instead of landing on the mat i landed on the wood floor and had landed the wrong way (with the side of my foot on the floor) and i ehard a crack.  eww...

the second one was in cegep (i live in quebec, so it's like grade 12 for anyone else), playing soccer, same thing happened, btu with the otehr ankle.  see: weak ankles.  so just be careful with your other one!!!

good luck with the stairs!  so they have moving stairs/escalators?

ohh, ouch. It's good that it healed.

Nope, its just normal stairs, I have to walk up and down them one at a time. Just hope I don't break my ankle doing this through the long week.

I just have one more question that I'm wondering about, how long should I let my foot rest until I can actually start to safely walk on the foot? Cause I've been hearing about not to walk on it and then don't keep it immobolized, I don't know which to follow. I tried to slowly put pressure on my foot but it's still too much pain for me to walk properly.