First USTA tourney tomorrow + bad luck

[clutch21]

I am participating in my first USTA tourney tomorrow in 4.5 singles. I have been looking forward to it all week. Last night I decided to play some basketball after my tennis plans fell through. Well, guess what happened.. I ended up rolling my ankle :/ It's not a terrible sprain but still pretty swollen. It would probably be smart to forfeit the tourney and give it some rest.. but no, I'm to stubborn.. and its my first tournament.

To play it safe I went to academy tonight for an ankle brace. I was surprised how effective the brace was. I could hardly tell my ankle was sprained. Anyways, I guess the point of this was that I'm excited for the tournament tomorrow even though I have a bum ankle now. Also, a lesson to you multi-sport people out there- Don't play basketball before a big tennis tournament

 

[TeflonTom]

u play a tournament on a sprained ankle, u run the risk of permanent ligament damage

 

[tennis tom]

I've played a tournament with a badly sprained ankle. The best way to immobilize it is wrapping it with trainer's tape. You can get it at any pharmacy. There's a foam tape layer you put underneath to keep it from sticking and then the trainer's tape. Apply before the match and remove afterward, don't leave on long term. Use Koban type of bandage after event. If you haven't used it before and can't find anyone to apply it for you, there are Youtubes of how to do it.

G'luck

 

[clutch21]

I've played a tournament with a badly sprained ankle. The best way to immobilize it is wrapping it with trainer's tape. You can get it at any pharmacy. There's a foam tape layer you put underneath to keep it from sticking and then the trainer's tape. Apply before the match and remove afterward, don't leave on long term. Use Koban type of bandage after event. If you haven't used it before and can't find anyone to apply it for you, there are Youtubes of how to do it.

G'luck

I was going to use the brace I bought at a sports. Its a pretty sturdy brace that laces up and does the "figure 8" with the straps. That should be as adequate as tape, right?

 

[clutch21]

u play a tournament on a sprained ankle, u run the risk of permanent ligament damage

Yeah.. I'm hoping that the sprain is not that serious and supporting it with a good brace should help decrease that risk. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[tennis tom]

I was going to use the brace I bought at a sports. Its a pretty sturdy brace that laces up and does the "figure 8" with the straps. That should be as adequate as tape, right?

I doubt it, when you see athletes sprain ankles on TV, including tennis players, the physio doesn't put a brace on it, they wrap it with trainer's tape, there's a reason for that.

 

[CaldwellYSR]

I am participating in my first USTA tourney tomorrow in 4.5 singles. I have been looking forward to it all week. Last night I decided to play some basketball after my tennis plans fell through. Well, guess what happened.. I ended up rolling my ankle :/ It's not a terrible sprain but still pretty swollen. It would probably be smart to forfeit the tourney and give it some rest.. but no, I'm to stubborn.. and its my first tournament.

To play it safe I went to academy tonight for an ankle brace. I was surprised how effective the brace was. I could hardly tell my ankle was sprained. Anyways, I guess the point of this was that I'm excited for the tournament tomorrow even though I have a bum ankle now. Also, a lesson to you multi-sport people out there- Don't play basketball before a big tennis tournament

Maybe use the brace this time but don't start depending on it. After this tournament you should get off that ankle and let it heal. The problem with braces is they immobilize your ankle so much that all the shock resistance your ankle normally does is nullified and that force goes directly to you knee. This is why most BB players have terrible knees.

 

[floridatennisdude]

I doubt it, when you see athletes sprain ankles on TV, including tennis players, the physio doesn't put a brace on it, they wrap it with trainer's tape, there's a reason for that.

Yea, there are two reasons....fit and convenience. Other than that, the braces are highly recommended.

For OP, it might be recommended to tape it an wear a brace. Frankly, I'd sit the tourney out. If you are dead set on playing, just research some of the risks.

 

[tennis tom]

Yea, there are two reasons....fit and convenience. Other than that, the braces are highly recommended.

Could you explain what you mean by that. When the stakes are as high as winning a grand slam and a million in prize money I think they are going to receive the best care available. The physio has five minutes during an injury timeout to fix things. Seems it would be more convenient to tie a brace on rather than applying trainer's tape, but I've never seen a courtside tournament physio pull out a brace, only tape. I've been taped and it does a darn good job of immobilizing the joint.

 

[spot]

For all the studies I have seen a brace is significantly more effective than tape even when the tape is applied by a professional. (Don't even get me started on the uselessness of untrained people taping their own ankles) Trainers use tape because thats what they have been taught to do- not because there are any studies showing they are more effective.

Maybe there are some people who prefer the feel of tape to a bukly brace but that is a different matter.

And I'll also say that its ridiculous for people to try and play through injury for a hobby. Get your ankle healthy- there will be plenty more tournaments to play without risking long term damage.

 

[samarai]

You are gonna play a tournament on an injured ankle. That's not a wise decision. If you were gonna get paid lots of money for playing then its another story, but for just a recreational league, your risk is so much more than what the reward has to offer. If there is some swelling then there's some tissue damage. "RICE" it and let it heal.

 

[Dave_D]

This is the reason why I have given up all basketball playing now ever since I hurt my knee in February of 2011. It still is not 100% even after an MRI and physical therapy. I have a feeling I'm going to eventually need some type of surgery, although nobody can tell me what they can do to actually fix it.

 

[samarai]

They tape it because they want to stabilize the joint( don't really want to move the joint) and want to reduce the swelling. You wear a brace because you want extra support ( joint still has some movement) when engaging in the activity.

 

[floridatennisdude]

Could you explain what you mean by that. When the stakes are as high as winning a grand slam and a million in prize money I think they are going to receive the best care available. The physio has five minutes during an injury timeout to fix things. Seems it would be more convenient to tie a brace on rather than applying trainer's tape, but I've never seen a courtside tournament physio pull out a brace, only tape. I've been taped and it does a darn good job of immobilizing the joint.

1) convenience, the trainer can carry a dozen rolls of tape in a trainer bag. It would require a closet to store enough braces at a pro tournament to be prepared for a worse case scenario. Considering that injuries can occur suddenly to multiple parts of the body, it isn't feasible of cost efficient to have a stock pile of braces on hand.

2) fit, no 2 bodies are created equally. The trainer would have to analyze the individual and choose correctly a fit of a brace for their specific body type. Tape can be applied quickly and to fit the players body with relative accuracy.

It's pretty much common sense. There is also a cost factor where a brace can run $30-50 each an tape is maybe 3 bucks a roll.

 

[Turbo-87]

I am not a trainer, but I can tell you from experience that you would be best to rest if you can. I have rolled both ankles badly in my days of playing volleyball and baseball, but they unquestionably kept me from playing at all. Yours doesn't sound terrible like mine were, but if you roll it bad enough multiple times your ankle will loosen up and will seem to WANT to roll every time it is stressed. I speak from too much experience.

I worked really hard to strengthen my legs/ankles and I have not had problems in a couple of years now, but I did wear a brace full time for a season just because I was so afraid of rolling it again and going through all that pain all over again. I haven't worn a brace for two years now in any sport but I can still tell that my ankles aren't especially resistant to rolling but they are better. Once you roll an ankle, the effects stay with you for a long time. In severe sprains, I have heard people say it would have been better to break an ankle than sprain it so badly.

I would opt to rest it, but if you feel the brace will prevent further damage, it's your call. Mine were bad enough that I couldn't play so my choice was easy.

 

[tennis tom]

I think if braces were superior to tape, the Pros, would carry them in their bag. Surely by the time a pro is good enough to be seen on TV he has sprained his ankle more than once, he would have acquired a brace and would keep it in his emergency kit.

As to playing with a severely sprained ankle, years ago when I was much wiser, I sprained my ankle for the first time in a tournament. I won my match and had to play another round that afternoon. I did everything wrong, I went directly to the hot tub and put a jet on it for a half-hour. No brace, wrap or anything else. I played my match and won. The next day I went to an orthopedist and he wrapped it with a Koban type bandage that I saw for the first time. It hurt like hell and I didn't play for a few weeks. I could feel it for a year but after that it was as good as new and I couldn't remember which ankle it was. Since then I've had friends who were trainers tape me when I've sprained ankles over the years. I always carry trainer's tape in my bag for emergencies. I can't conceive that a brace would be better at immobilizing an ankle in an acute situation. Pro football players, are taped all the time on TV, and they have the best orthopedist's and trainers on the sidelines. They would have a trunk full of braces for every players's size if they were superior to taping. I've never used a brace except for those neoprene sleeves for some warmth, they don't give much real support.

Maybe the the OP can do the science for us and try a brace and try taping and tell us which works better for an acute new sprain. There is a technique to properly tape but any trainer will know how to do it and you can learn to do it yourself with a Youtube video. Over the years, almost every tennis player I've encountered with a sprained ankle did it playing BASKETBALL! I'll look down at their ankle and say "basketball?" and they'll usually say "YUP". I remember when Tod Martin sprained his ankle, he did it playing basketball down in the desert.

 

[floridatennisdude]

^^^for an acute injury, you are correct. The compression of a tape job stops it from swelling and that is half the point of it. Braces can be designed to compress on the joint, but it can't be done to high certainty in a 5 minute injury TO.

For the OP, I am guessing that the swelling has subsided. If not, he is kinda silly to play on it. With no swelling, I'd go with an Active Ankle type of support to prevent it from rolling again.

Read the overview here with the comparisons between the two:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/86495-overview#a1

 

[clutch21]

Yeah like I said originally, I should have sat out. With that said, it was not a severe sprain. I sprained it on wednesday night and I was able to walk on it and jog with little to no pain yesterday (thursday). Lateral movement caused pain though (Not severe pain but it was present).

As far as inflammation goes.. it is only mildly swollen. You almost have to palpate both ankles to get a sense of where the inflammation is at. Obviously I, and pretty much everyone else, has had sprain much worse than this. I probably could have "toughed it out" with no brace, but like you guys said that would have been stupid and risky.

I ended up settling on a brace that laced up and had three straps that mimicked the support that tape gives. This morning, I could hardly tell my ankle was sprained without the brace, and once I put it on, I felt no pain, even when cutting hard side to side.

Anyways I played my first round match today, and lost (2 and 3). I played pretty well but I drew a seeded guy so it was tough. No problem with pain or with movement. I played my consolation match a few hours later and ended up winning a long one- 3-6, 6-2, 1-0(4). The guy made me move quite a bit, and again felt no ankle pain.. I was pretty sore but not specifically my feet. I don't know if the lack of ankle pain or soreness is necessarily a good thing, but that was just my experience with it today.

 

[clutch21]

Maybe use the brace this time but don't start depending on it. After this tournament you should get off that ankle and let it heal. The problem with braces is they immobilize your ankle so much that all the shock resistance your ankle normally does is nullified and that force goes directly to you knee. This is why most BB players have terrible knees.

Interesting. I was considering using the brace full time from now on.. but this makes me think twice. Was this conclusion drawn from experience or back up by some data or what?

 

[floridatennisdude]

Interesting. I was considering using the brace full time from now on.. but this makes me think twice. Was this conclusion drawn from experience or back up by some data or what?

Read thru the entire link I posted above. You don't want to be dependent on a brace. The supporting muscles won't have an opportunity to strengthen.

Ideally, you'd get all swelling out (RICE) and then rehab/strengthen it. Shouldn't really play on it until after rehab. Braces are only temporary solutions.

 

[CaldwellYSR]

Interesting. I was considering using the brace full time from now on.. but this makes me think twice. Was this conclusion drawn from experience or back up by some data or what?

It's been given to me by all the therapists and trainers I've been to. I'm sure there's data to back it up to. The way they've always put it to me is that your ankle acts like a cushion to absorb as much of the impact of striking the ground (quite a bit of weight even if you're skinny) and then your knee catches what's left and then your hips. If you immobilize your ankle then it has no give and no cushion to absorb anymore so your knee is put under more stress than it's made to absorb. As a by product you end up with bad knees... eventually bad hips and back. Slippery slope

 

[clutch21]

It's been given to me by all the therapists and trainers I've been to. I'm sure there's data to back it up to. The way they've always put it to me is that your ankle acts like a cushion to absorb as much of the impact of striking the ground (quite a bit of weight even if you're skinny) and then your knee catches what's left and then your hips. If you immobilize your ankle then it has no give and no cushion to absorb anymore so your knee is put under more stress than it's made to absorb. As a by product you end up with bad knees... eventually bad hips and back. Slippery slope

Thanks for the heads up. Once my ankle is good to go again, I'll lose the brace.

 

[tennis tom]

Reviving an old thread here regarding using trainer's tape versus an ankle brace. I saw Jack Sock sprain his ankle yesterday in the semis of the Tiburon Challenger against Steve Johnston. He was down on the court and had to be helped to his sideline chair. He was taped by the phyiso, got back up and won the match.

I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to play the final today. He showed up today, played with his ankle taped, no brace and WON in a VERY exciting tie break third set--HOORAY Jack! He's a great up and coming American and hope we see him at Wimbledon some day soon. He exhibited a lot of courage, humility, and heart--he's great kid.

Story below:

http://journalstar.com/sports/local...cle_cd06bd02-0595-5dcc-b07c-70559cf6df97.html

 

[samarai]

Taping stabilizes a joint( wont let it move). I've done enough tape jobs. Braces supports a joint ( there is some movement ). Personally if this is just for recreational purposes, I would be against wearing and kind of brace or tape jobs, like i mentioned before, not worth the risk. If you need to wear a brace every time you play then really you need to address the underlying problem.

 

[rufus_smith]

You did the right thing by getting an injury right before the first tourney match. Many people forget to develop a good excuse before a match. Now you safely lose 6-0 6-0 to a crafty older player and have good reason for it.