by Randy Augsburger

Created on: November 07, 2011   Last Updated: November 09, 2011

Having a badly sprained ankle can be a real pain in the ...well, ankle. Ankles are important to mobility and an injury to one slows you down and makes daily life much less enjoyable. A severe sprain can be hard to differentiate from a break, if after 48 hours you still cannot support any weight on your ankle please see a physician for x-rays and treatment.

There are several keys to recovering quicker from that bad sprain and getting you back into the game of life.

First for early (first 2 - 3 days or more) recovery tips use the RICE method. Rice stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

Rest- Keep off your feet as much as possible, especially the first 48 hours, Let your ankle rest in order to heal. If you are running around you get all kinds of continued tweeks to the ligaments and it slows down the healing process, so stay off that ankle.

Ice- Ice your ankle to keep the swelling down during the first 48 hours and less swelling means less pain. A ziploc bag full of ice wrapped in a towel is a fairly comfortable way to apply the ice.

Compression- Wrapping your ankle will also keep swelling down and lend a degree of support to it for when you do have to move around. It’s always handy to have an ACE bandage around for things just like this.

Elevation- Get your ankle above your heart and it will help reduce the swelling even more. You get to sit in the recliner for a couple days and catch up on your favorite book.

In addition to this basic care you may want some pain medication. The best course is to start simple. Try plain aspirin if your stomach can tolerate it. If not acetaminophen or ibuprofen are the basics. If none of these helps you will need to see your doctor.

Once the initial period of swelling is past (usually after 48 hours) you will be getting tired of sitting and may be tempted to resume your life. Be careful!

If you must go out before you are completely healed, get a brace. A plastic air brace will velcro in place and you won’t even notice it after a time. The last thing you want is to retwist that sprained ankle. There is nothing like seeing a grown man crying because he resprained his ankle.

If you don’t get a brace at least wear ankle supporting shoes. Lace them up tightly and walk very carefully. The last part of your recovery will be stretching.

Stretch your ankle whenever you are sitting and resting. Just take your ankle slowly through its full range of motion up to the point of pain in each direction and hold it there for a couple seconds. Don’t force anything, just keep it loose.

After your recovery some form of ankle exercises can help prevent a repeat performance.

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