Medically Reviewed by Dr. Rachel N. Verville
April 24, 2017
Few things are worse than the moment you feel your ankle roll out from under you and it makes that telltale popping sound. You know what just happened—you sprained your ankle—but what are you supposed to do next?
What you do immediately following an ankle sprain can have a direct effect on your recovery time, pain levels, and how fully you are able to recover. Taking the proper steps after an ankle sprain can also help prevent the chances of a sprain happening again.
Rules to Follow After an Ankle Sprain
- Get off your feet. Don’t try to “walk it off” or wait to see if the pain goes away. If you keep walking around Frisco on a sprained ankle, you’re just going to do more damage—damage that can be permanent. Keep your weight off the ankle as much as possible.
- Prop your foot up above the waist or heart and keep it elevated. When you elevate your foot immediately following an ankle sprain, you decrease the amount of blood flow to the injury site, which helps decrease pain, swelling, and inflammation.
- Ice it. Icing the sprain site will help keep down swelling, but don’t do it for more than 20 minutes at a time. Extended periods of icing may further damage the soft tissues of your ankle.
- Apply a compression wrap to provide support to the injured ankle. Start the wrap just behind the toes and then spiral towards the heart, around the foot and ankle, overlapping by about half the width of the wrap. Keep going until you’re several inches above the injury.
- Call a foot doctor in Frisco. Once you’re stabilized, and the pain and swelling are under control, call your local foot doctor and make an appointment. The podiatrist will determine the Grade (severity) of your ankle sprain, and make sure you’re getting the proper treatment necessary to heal as quickly, and fully as possible.
Take Your Ankle Sprain Seriously
Too many individuals who suffer an ankle sprain in Frisco think they can just ice their injury periodically at home, take some pain medication, and the sprain will eventually disappear on its own. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. Once you’ve had one ankle sprain, your chances of it happening again greatly increase. This is especially true if your ankle isn’t properly treated by a foot doctor the first time around. Do you really want to take that chance?
If you just suffered an ankle sprain, don’t delay making an appointment with Dr. Verville at RNV Podiatry in Frisco. Call today to schedule an appointment at (214) 385-8822.
