I’m pretty sure it’s sprained. Last night, I was playing a game of free-for-all dodge ball and someone landed on my right ankle, bending (spraining?) it and bringing me to the ground. It hurt, but I got up and walked it off just fine.
A little while later I felt I was fine (it only hurt a little if I stretched it a lot) and decided to do some unicycling. That was a terrible idea – when I stopped riding, I couldn’t walk straight. I couldn’t even operate the pedals of my car and had to let my younger brother (unlicensed) drive me home. By the time I got home my ankle hurt even without movement. I iced and elevated it overnight and am feeling much better right now. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to do any serious riding, but I want to learn one-footed riding with my left foot while my right heals.
I’ve already started work on one-footed riding with my right foot, but my approach will have to be a lot different for my left foot if I try to learn it now (I was learning by riding with pressure only on one foot, and then just “going for it” – taking my foot of the pedal and seeing how far I can go). Now I’ll have to learn from a still position and will most likely need to learn one-footed idling.
I can one-foot idle with my right foot (In fact, that’s what I was practicing last night), but not yet with my left. I wish I had spent more time with my left though, because idling is still sorta squirrely.
When one-footed idling - is there a lot of pressure on the opposite foot? Is having a right foot even necessary (doesn’t sound like it, right?)? and when I fall, will I be placing too much pressure on my right foot? Even once it doesn’t hurt, is this a bad idea? Does anyone have any experience using only one leg to do everything? Is it better to just skip idling?
Sprained ankles suck! And if it’s stage 2 or 3, it can take 3 months to heal. I just had a bad one yesterday as we started a 9 mile MUni, when I tried a drop off a 4’ ledge and snagged my pedal on the edge. I landed all weird and twisted my left ankle, but thought it would be ok so I did the whole ride.
I took 3 motrin that I had with me, and there was very little swelling and I thought I’d be ok. Got home and did the “I.C.E.” routine and stayed off of it. But this morning I could barely put weight on it, and it has swollen quite a bit! So today I’m continuing the therapy and using ice, compression and keeping it elevated.
I’ve got a very important uni-related event scheduled for this Friday, so I hope I will be able to make it! I’m thinking about seeing my doc tomorrow for a cortisone injection to reduce swelling and hasten the healing.
The more cycles of 20 minutes of cold on and 20 minutes off the faster it will get better. But no longer than 20 minutes and it does not have to be super/super cold or you can do what I did and gave myself slight frostbite. Didn’t even realized it until I looked at my knee later in the day. There was a big discolored spot on my knee.
I had a similar situation to Muni’s with an important martial arts event five days off and I had a badly sprained thumb. I knew about using cold but my instructor told me to rotate basically all through the day and in 3 days it was a lot better.
I’ve been researching pretty much all day on home treatments for sprained ankles, 1st-3rd stage. All seem to recommend icing about every 2-4 hours, for 20 minutes max each time, for up to 48, and sometimes even 72 hours after initial sprain.
I’m dying to soak in a hot bath, and some sites say it’s ok after 24 hours; it’s now been about 31 hours. Too soon, and it can increase swelling. I’m keeping it wrapped and elevated as well, and will try to sleep with my foot above waist level by placing some books under my mattress in the lower leg/feet area. I’m just trying to do everything right to speed recovery.
I do think that if I can get my doc to give me a direct cortisone injection, that will get the excess swelling down, which is the main obstacle to the healing process and range of motion. I’m also taking motrin about every 5 hours or so, but never aspirin, which can increase swelling by thinning the blood so it won’t clot as normal. All this seems to be helping a lot. :o
So, to protect your injured ankle while learning one-foot riding, you plan to land on your… face? Wrists? Butt? Can you say bad idea? Would you rather heal fast, or do some painful riding while healing slowly?
I can imagine just how sore that must be, have sprained my ankles many times before. What shoe do you use for riding ? Have you tried something with more ankle support ? 2nd bad sprain for you in a short time. Hope it heals quickly.
and stewSquared, what John said. Rest it, take a couple days off. It will only take longer to heal if you try ride through the pain and discomfort.
Heal first, period. I have, in my youth and stupidity, severely spranged and/or broken both ankles 6 times each. it gets easier every time. I learned to heal and have not had any incidences for in excess of a decade. this can happen repeatedly and suck worse each time. get better. Perhaps if you were in a cast like brace, but that could lever your poor knee in a upd… so nothing stupid like that either!
If you’re injured, call for a ride from a licenced driver. Don’t make an unlicensed driver drive you home. if you get pulled over -the unlicensed driver is sooooooo screwed.
if you get really hurt, (massive bleeding or a head trauma) call an ambulance.
If you do anything illegal, don’t write about it in a public forum or ever identify anyone… it’s the internet, that crap can bite you in the ass. You don’t want your asses hurt more than your ankle!
