So it happened. I got my fisrt bad sprained ankle yesterday. Heard/felt the tendon pop and all. Swelled up hudge within 2 minutes. Had a 2 hour drive to the ER, fun fun. I was gonna sit back for a couple days and see how it felt cause I thought it was just a sprain, and there isnt anything the hopital can do for em. However teh pop/crack sound I heard had me a bit worried, by the time I got back to my hometown I could not put any weight on it. So I took my un-insured ass to the ER hopeing to not end up in a cast. Well the good news Is its not broken pheww, so Im stoked even tho I will be getting a hefty bill for the the x-rays and such.
Anyway As sprained ankles are a pretty common injury in our sport I was hopeing someone could help me out. I was wondering how long of a down time usally goes allong with a bad sprain. Its starting to trun more purple and very very swollen as spains are. There was some damage to the tendon on the outside, not bad enough for surgury. The doctor said she would be back and never came back… I even tho I will be paying for the vist I didnt really get any questions answered.
I was planning on going to the trials even in VT, and will still be goin, but do you think a litle under two weeks is going to leave me in pain and not able to ride? I am sure I wont be able to ride to my fullest but I was able to snowboard after 2 weeks with a very very badly sprained knee.
Anyone got some experince?
Just a note, the doctor I saw before I went to the ER and every nurse there were pretty sure I had a very high chance of it being broken, and might be one of the worse sprain some of them have seen. Is this gonna be a longer recover period than I think?
Badly sprained ankles take 3 months to fully heal, and that’s with ultrasound and phsiotherapy. I’ve done it three times now. I could ride again after maybe 3 weeks but it felt very weak and I would get random twinges and days when it was painful. It got better over time but didn’t stop hurting, and full range of movement didn’t return for 3 months.
Yeah I’m sorry my previous post should have been a little more sympathetic, I wasn’t so happy when I found out either. Apply RICE (rest,ice compression,elevation for all y’all who don’t know) to make it more comfortable and decrease healing times.
The description says they have “spring steel stays” in them, and I guess they do. I had to dig them up and feel them because I didn’t believe it. The stays aren’t very stiff at all, but I guess they support well when laced up next to my leg. It’s definitely not like a rigid plate
I agree with the person above… your not gonna be walking normally for probably a month… and even at three months you might not have all your confidence back in your ankle…
Also… it will be weak, and susceptable to spraining again until it fully heals…
Sprained ankles suck… I got a bit of one just doing a silly 2 foot drop. I’d like to see what you are using for a brace too… My ankles have been sprained way too many times…
Hang in there… Maybe you can get some good sympathy from someone particularly cute…
phlegm,
Are those braces sold in pairs or is that price per brace?
Keldridge,
Yea I got a cute little nurse helpin out:p. I owe my girlfirend bigtime, Id be one hungry thirsty kid with out her.
Looks like im in for a rough ride. Guess I should spend my money on some more dvd’s insted of the uni parts I was about to get. I will defenetly look into some sort of brace for my ankles. Right now I would pay what a 100 braces cost to ride.
By they way, If anyone needs a 19inch wheelbuilt in the next couple weeks, I will have an extra set of spokes and plenty of time haha
That’s $25 per brace. You need two of them. They’re not left or right specific. Also, in my experience, I’ve found that the braces make it possible to ride before the ankle has returned to full strength. It’s the best $50 you’ll ever spend, really.
I had a minor sprain about a month ago, I iced it and took care of it awhile and it pretty much got better again, just had some slight pain left when I flexed it too much.
Then a two weeks ago I was out riding again and just fell of the unicycle onto my feet, and landed wrong so that I sprained it again much worse. It swelled up pretty good, and for a day or so I couldn’t walk or move my ankle at all. But I iced it 6-8 times a day, kept it elevated, took ibuprofen, and that helped it heal much faster. I was riding (carefully) within the week.
Then I went to FLUCK. And hurt it a little more.
The thing to do, is after you hurt it and it starts getting better, is to start doing ankle specfic strength exercises to get it stronger, because after a sprain it’s going to be weak and you need to strengthen it to heal it aswell as to protect it from being injured again.
Yes I wore when whenever I was riding at FLUCK. But if you wear them constantly for a long time, your ankle has less chance to strengthen itself…
your injery sounds allmost like mine.came down on my foot sideways with most of my weight. herd something snap,side of my foot and top of my toes black and blue,with swelling.pulled something on the side of my foot behind the little toe.only out for two weeks.
If you don’t allow your ankle to fully heel and keep on reinjuring it, it will get easier and easier to sprain, evetually not being able to ride at all.
Taking suplements that are good for circulation (sometimes they say for heart disease) will help. The ones I can think off the top of my head are vitamin E and garlic (ask your local health food store). Once you can move it w/o pain, getting your legs moving a lot helps, like swimming, and cycling, as long as your ankle doesn’t hurt during or after these exersises. These things increase blood flow to the area and hence healing.
Well if you wear a brace while riding, and then several times a week train your ankles you won’t have that problem. Like ballancing w/ one foot an a soccer ball, rubber planground ball, or squishy disk. I think the later two would be better. Because they are squishy you would have to do a lot of subtle movements to maintain the same position, doing a lot more to strengthen your ankle as opposed to mainly improving your ballance (but that’s a good pluss too:))
I’ve got this problem with my ankle that’s been going on for a few months now. It’s never been really bad. It’s from foot bending up towards my shin, usually when coming off of a slanted ledge or rail, or jumping down a larger set of stairs and stopping instead of rolling out of it. It comes and goes, and I can usually walk it off in a couple minutes and keep riding. I have an ankle wrap, and it makes it feel better. I just never stay off of it long enough to let it fully heal I guess.
I think I’m about to buy some of those ankle braces though.
I sprained mine badly on my maiden voyage on a Coker, stepped off half street half street gutter (roll to the ouside), Thought I broke it, That was a year and a half ago, Don’t do what I did and wait until the last month to come up with some strengthening exercises for it, I came up with a way to tie a weight on webbing, hang set up over my foot and off the edge of a couch and lower and raise the weight opposite of the roll direction, I’m a lot older than you and you will probably heal a lot better but I’ve been told that they never go back to the way they were before the roll, I have to tape the ankle and brace it before I do lateral movement sports, I use the Aircast brand that they sell at UDC and have been very pleased with it, Good Luck
haha