I’m very proud of myself. I was able to pull off not a serious injury, but a stupid one.
I decided that my urban trials needs a little work, so I went out to try to learn some stuff. I started riding skinnys, hopping up things, dropping off things, gapping, all the basic stuff. Then I decided to go up some stairs. I went up about 10 of them, and when I got to the top, there wasn’t much room to do anything, so I stepped off my unicycle. Not too big of a deal.
The only problem was that I dismounted on a slant, and as I put my foot down, rolled my ankle.
Once again, nothing serious. I can still walk on it (and more importantly, I can still ride), but it is slightly painful. Mostly, I just feel dumb. 
Paco’s friend -‘Hey, how’d you sprain your ankle?’
Paco -‘Riding up THOSE stairs!’
Paco’s friend -‘Wow, you must be really good!’
You can make a war story out of any injury if you say it properly.
Good luck with the healing!
I felt pretty stupid about twisting my ankle on Tuesday. It was (and is) worse to walk on than to ride, since walking puts all your weight on it. I had to ride and limp for more than half an hour to get back to the car. This picture was taken today, four days after the injury. The swelling has gone down a bit, and some of the colours are showing. I am glad to be on the mend but disappointed to miss out on some awesome riding weather up at the Mountain Skifields.
Rowan,thats a nice one you got there.ive seen that on my own foot more times than i want to remember.my ankles are made of glass now.
take another pic when stuff starts turning black…
my ankle’s never looked like that, but my heel has. and since i stubbornly kept walking on it, the swelling migrated up to my hamstring. the colors never made it so far though
Too bad I can’t see how my ankle looks now… the bruising has traveled right to my toes… the only part that is poking out of my cast. I’ll bet the bruising covers the whole foot at this point.
Rowan, just be glad your injury wasn’t a break!
cheers,
Erin
Method for healing sprains
Erin, I am very grateful that I did not break my ankle. Today, I finally succumbed to peer pressure, and I had my ankle checked out. The nurse at Polytech put some anti-inflammatory cream on it, and a compression tube thing, and suggested I get an X-ray done by a Doctor. I reluctantly complied, having earlier heard some bad stories about injuries that weren’t seen to. The X-rays turned out fine, and as I suspected the Doctor just told me to rest it etc. Anyway, just in case a victim to be is unsure of how to treat a sprain, I can tell you what I have learned after talking to the health professionals today. Someone already mentioned the R.I.C.E. technique, but I have a little bit extra to add.
Rest: This part is common sense, avoid walking on your injury as much as possible. I find that riding a Unicycle is much less stressful on my strain than walking, as long as I don’t crash!
Ice: For the first 48 hours after the sprain, apply a sack of frozen peas or whatever cold stuff you can find, for ten minutes every couple of hours. If you do it too long you will find your toes go numb and it might discourage you from using this technique.
Compression: A compression bandage thing is good for this, it’s a bit like an elastic tube which covers your ankle and gives even pressure on the swelling. I guess you could wrap it with something. I missed this step out until day six but it is probably best done early in the process. The Doctor said “take it off at night time when you sleep”.
Elevation: This helps to drain the swelling fluids. Another common sense thing but it seems to really work as it is much more comfortable with your feet up.