Posts Tagged ‘Ankle’

This is one that I find affects a wide group of people, many of whom do not regularly engage in any particular sport or attend a gym. Recently, I have had conversations with individuals who have seen their GP and been prescribed anti-inflammtory tablets but there is much more you can do. This can be treated with a good deep tissue massage on the affected area along with work on the joints of the foot, ankle and into the calf muscles. You can help yourself with some simple home remedies: use a tennis ball, golf ball or even a rolling pin and sit comfortably with it under your foot and use it for self massage by rolling it across the underside of your foot as you press down on it.

Another option – and one that will help cool any inflammtion – is to fill a small plastic drinks bottle with water and put it in the freezer. When frozen, use this as a roller under your affected foot. This way you have the massage effects of the roller along with the soothing and cooling affect of the ice. I would still recommend seeing a manual therapist who will make sure of the diagnosis and work with you towards recovery.

Something that came up the other day when I was with a new client was the question of ‘how long should this take to heal’.

He had sprained his ankle whilst out running about four weeks previously and had attended hospital for an x-ray to rule out a fracture. Fortunately he had not fractured it, he was advised to rest and elevate the ankle but was not given any advice on what to expect. He was concerned that after what felt like a long time it should be okay and the swelling greatly reduced.

It led me to think that there are probably many people in a similar situation. We all have experience of straining a muscle and normally within a couple of weeks we are okay. Without going into all the science of this ligaments which are what you damage when spraining an ankle take longer – significantly longer. It is not an exact science and there are many variables such as severity of injury, age of person injured, steps they take to assist recovery and many others.

Generally though ligaments take about six to eight weeks before you will feel comfortable enough to start some light running. This is followed by a slow period of increased activity before some months later you can expect to be back where you were, so don’t despair if it seems to be taking a long time we can support the healing process and when you are able to use it again make sure that it will work effectively.