Sprained Ankle in USTA
 

So last night I was playing a mixed USTA match and jumped up and hit an overhead (I admit I was showboating a little) and came down on my right ankle...bad sprain but nothing broken...first time it's ever happened...


So here's the question: I need to know the absolute best and quickest home therapy regimen I can get on that will have me back in action sans pain and/or swelling within 1 week...



P.S. If it matters I'm female


Come on TTers I need some serious help with this....

It depends how bad was your sprain. If you actually tore ligaments, you are not playing in a week no matter what you do.

Looked at an Ortho website and according to their criteria, I have a Grade II sprain...which means no ligaments are torn

Go see the doctor; ice, rest, elevation. You probably will not be sans swelling or pain if you go back in one week.

Let me clarify the Grade II criteria...says I have partial tearing but not a complete tear in the ligaments...

http://www.aircaststore.com/aircast/...es/air-stirrup Up walking in no time.

you might be walking but you won't be playing tennis. Typical healing time, to the point where you could probably play competitive tennis, for grade 2 sprains is 4-8 weeks depending on how your rehab goes and how old you are (older=slower healing times).

No, there is hope. When I played you, I had a Grade II sprain that I had just (re-)injured 2 days earlier. I originally injured it in January, 2010. It got huge and all black & blue and bloody inside due to the ligament tear. When I came to AZ in March 2010, it was ~75% healed and I had been playing for about 3 weeks. On the first night we were there (on a Saturday evening), I was playing soccer with my son (in running shoes with a beer without my brace...) in a friend's back yard when I stepped in a hole and rolled it again. It was clearly re-torn because it got all swollen and black and blue again. We played on Tuesday morning, and I played fine (with maybe a little limited mobility), although it was still black and blue and nasty looking. It wasn't really fully healed until May 2011, though, and I still wear a soft brace on it to prevent roling again.

The keys to get back quickly is:

1. Reduce swelling - ice, compression, elevation, and NSAIDs (i.e. Motrin)
2. Pain tolerance - again, hit the motrin...
3. Stabilization - if you have access to a sports trainer, get your ankle professionally taped. Use a brace; I used the active ankle brace:

http://supports4less.com/activeankle...tive-ankle.gif

Good luck.

Braces are your friends, along with ice and compression. I've done the same thing at work, and it was brutal. Needless to say, my job is 95% on my feet, so I had to make it work. Mine was solid again in around a month, maybe a bit longer; but it's not too bad after the first week or so. Just lots of compression and some good rest in the evening really helps.

Good luck, it's not a fun injury!

-Fuji

Hmm your original injury was in January and you were 75% healed in March? That doesn't sound very hopeful to me! I am going to guess that your reinjury was not that bad if you were able to play on it 3 days later. IMO Rushing back from injury is usually not a good thing in general. You might get away with it in some instances but you could regret in many instances as well so why chance it? Almost all of my issues that developed into chronic injuries that caused problems for months and months- came about because I rushed back on to the court before I was completely healed. Maybe I am just getting old...

The re-injury looked as bad as the original. It was swollen and black and blue and bleeding on the inside all over again. I don't know for sure how severe it actually was because I never got it checked the second time. It was definitely only 75% healed after 2 months, but I had been playing on it with a brace for weeks before that. If you want to play on it before it is completely healed, the issues are whether it is stable enough with a brace/taping and whether you can tolerate the pain.

Why chance it? It depends on how stupid you are and how much you want to play (for me - it's "very stupid" and "I really want to play"...). It sounds like this is an important match for the OP. If I were giving advice, I'd say "don't play on it", but the OP's question was not "should I play on it?", it was "how can I play on it?".

JRB's post about the Active Ankle is helpful ... played with them for years while I was volleyballing ... and nothing tears up your ankles like volleyball.

About recovery ... there was a time when I was playing with guys that often sprained their ankles but were able to recover fairly quickly. But they were young, fit, and had access to trainers.

It seems to me that every single time I went to a doctor (and physical theropy) I recovered better and more quickly than when I try to "wing" it myself. Every time I dont go to the doctor I wish that I had.

Finally, I was talking to a doctor recently that suggested physical theropy is most helpful for the long term. That without propper streching and repair that scar tissue develops where the injury was and reduces flexibility for the future making re-injury more likely.

If you can go to a physical therapist and get ultrasound treatment, you could heal in the week sufficiently to play (if you taped your ankle).

"evidence to help you"....
I sprained my ankle Sept. '08.
I still can't jog, run, skip, hop, or do ONE ankle raise onto my toes.
Does that help you?

The first time I sprained my ankle was the worst, it took a year for it to completley heal to the point I couldn't remember which ankle it was. It was duirng a tournament. I won my match and had to play another one that afternoon. I soaked it in the hot-tub between matches (this was many years ago before the invention of ice). I went to an orthopedist the next day and he wrapped it in a Koban form of ace bandage. I think I couldn't play for a few weeks, it was so long ago I'm fuzzy on the details. Then I discovered trainer's tape. It's what they use on pro-athletes to immobilize ankles and get them back on the field. So, if you must play, learn how to apply trainer's tape for the event and then remove it after. It's cheap and you get it at any pharmacy. You get the white adhesive tape and a foam tape to put underneath it to keep it from sticking to the skin. Playing a match right after I did it was probably why it took so long for mine to heal completely. You may need someone to show you how to apply it like a trainer.

Spent 6 weeks using a adjustable wobble board, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTZ6MZyp7jY
and Vew Do balance board http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYHQO...eature=related to re-hab a sprained ankle yrs ago. Never rolled it again. Lots of stretching and bodyweight squats too. Cannot imagine doing any of this while it is injured.

"A reply to enlighten you":

If I was your age, I would expect a similar result...

Get pre-wrap and tape. Google how to tape the ankle or better yet, have someone show you how. Even with a bad sprain you can be back on the court in a week, taped.

Rest Ice Compression Elevation (and Advil/Aleve). Stay off your feet as much as possible over the next 48 hours. You shouldn't be playing in a week no matter what, but if you take care of it immediately you can cut down how many weeks it takes for you to get back. It can make the difference between being out 2-3 weeks and being out of action 5-6 weeks.

Thank you...