Updated September 4th, 2022
Introduction
Guess who’s back?…..back again?…..Can you believe that you sprained or rolled your ankle AGAIN? You may have just got over the last time and have started to feel better. Or it seems like you sprain it every year! If this describes you then you came to the right place.
Recurrent ankle sprains can lead to chronic ankle instability, poor balance, and possibly arthritis in the future. Enough of those yearly ankle sprains for you or your child. And how about we get away from that uncomfortable ankle brace that you thought you would be wearing for the rest of your life. If this is your first ankle sprain, read my How To Recover From A Sprained Ankle article for more in depth information on the severity of ankle sprains and various treatment options.
Here is a crazy statistic for you: up to 70% of patients who have sprained their ankle report they STILL HAVE SYMPTOMS and/or have a recurrent injury in the future. When you have sprained your ankle once, clearly you are very likely to do it again! But there has to be a way to prevent that right? I will take you through some nerdy anatomy first, but if you would like to skip straight to treatment, CLICK HERE (1).
Anatomy
Spraining an ankle means an injury to the ligaments that help hold bones together to provide stability for the whole joint. An inversion injury (shown above) is the most common mechanism of injury.
Once the lateral ligaments are sprained or damaged, they take a lot of time to heal. That is usually time that most are not willing to spend or do not know how to treat it, leaving them vulnerable to the same injury in the future. With each sprain or rolled ankle, the ligaments, muscles, and tendons continue to weaken, leading to even less stability and balance.
Treatment Options
Should I have surgery? (2)
In the research, surgery has been shown to be less successful than conservative therapy and exercise. There is an increased risk of infection and a delayed wound healing.
There is also a high likelihood of muscle and sensory loss, which could lead to decreased balance and stability down the road.
This is a great conversation to have with your Primary Care Physician or an Orthopedic Surgeon.
Taping and bracing have show to be effective (2)
Braces should be worn for a minimum of 6 months post injury to prevent recurrence
Benefits of a brace can last up to a year post injury
Lace up ankle supports have shown to be better than semi-rigid supports
If you would like to purchase our recommended ankle brace, click the link below:
(As an Amazon Associate, Peak Movement Health earns from qualifying purchases)
Professional Opinion
I believe that braces can be effective if used directly following the injury, especially if returning to athletic competition. But, as shown in research, the braces may not be as beneficial after 6 months to a year post injury. Braces are a great compensation to continue your normal daily activities, as long as you’re also completing exercises and stretches to help improve your ankle stability. I don’t believe a brace should be a long-term fix after an ankle sprain, it is more like a band-aid to help get you through the time until your ankle is healed and stable.
I like to compare braces to how we learn in school. If the teacher is giving you all of the answers, how will you perform when challenged in the real world? The brace is giving your ankle all of the answers now, what is going to happen when you take it off and go back to normal movement? The muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the ankle do need a break directly after injury, but it's not a great idea to give them a full year or more off because you want these tissues to support your ankle independently without relying on a brace.
5 Important Tips
Stretch daily
Pain-free stretching is very important for helping the muscles around the ankle joint maintain proper position and move throughout the day without significant stiffness. Give the stretches below a try. Remember, you should feel a “stretch” of the muscle, not pain when you attempt. This is not a “push-through it” type of recovery.
2. Strengthen your body from the core down
Although you hurt your ankle, resulting problems may lie further up your body. Focusing on the body as a whole has been shown to be very beneficial for injury recovery. After the first ankle sprain or roll, you begin to walk differently to compensate for the injury. This causes your knees, hips, back, and other ankle to work much harder to keep you balanced throughout the day.
If you are currently pain-free, try some of these exercises:
3. Improve your balance
An initial understanding that I share with all of my patients is that in order to improve your balance, you need to challenge your balance (safely, of course). I challenge my patients in the clinic, but am close by to ensure I can help them correct their balance if needed. Sometimes after a few ankle sprains, just standing can be difficult or challenging. This is a great time to stand with a hand (or two) on your counter to complete the exercises below:
4. Start a walking program
This one may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you are still walking with a limp or have some pain when you walk. I tell my patients to start with walking short distances (50-150 feet) and assess what changes this brings about. Did it lead to some soreness that went away after a few minutes? Did you feel your ankle loosen up and it actually feels a little better? If you answered yes to these questions, a walking program is a great thing to start for your ankle and overall health.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) suggests each individual perform 150 minutes of exercise per week for improved overall health and fitness. There are also strengthening suggestions found HERE (3)
Setting up a Walking Program:
Unless you live in the Frozen Tundra like I do, outside walking will also get you the benefits of breathing fresh air and hopefully some sunshine!
Walking inside can be beneficial too if you can get an area opened up for you to take some laps in the house or apartment.
If you can make the time to walk everyday, you would only need to walk for about 20 minutes everyday to get the recommended 150 minutes!!
Only 30 minutes per day if you walked 5 days per week!
Treadmill walking is helpful as well, and it may be a great time to catch up on the latest Peak Movement Health articles! :)
5. Avoid inflammatory foods/drinks
The Standard American Diet (SAD) thrives on inflammatory foods and drinks. There are added sugars and ingredients most can’t pronounce in most of the items on the shelves in grocery stores. What does all of this sugar do for your recovery time? It actually delays your recovery time because the consumption of sugar (through cookies, sodas, sweeteners, etc.) actually causes more inflammation in your body!! If you want to get extra nerdy with me and learn more about reducing inflammation in your body to help improve your recovery time and overall health CLICK HERE.
Conclusion
Having an injury occur over and over again can be very frustrating and debilitating to an individual. It can change the way you move, think, and live. After that first sprain you are left wondering, is this going to happen again? After the second sprain the thought becomes: when am I going to injure my ankle again? It is very difficult to break this cycle, especially when it becomes a chronic problem over multiple years. Physical Therapy can be very helpful to anyone with chronic or recurrent ankle sprains both immediately after the injury to help reduce pain and in the future to prevent another occurrence.
Thank you for reading along, we hope you gained some valuable insight from this post. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to request an article on a topic we have not yet covered, please contact us below!
References
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