Accelerated Healing of Sprained Ankle
A sprained ankle is a common injury. Sometimes, all it takes to sprain your ankle is a roll, twist or turn of your ankle in an awkward way. This unnatural movement can stretch or tear the ligaments that help hold your ankle together. Ligaments are tough, elastic bands of fibrous tissue that connect one bone to another. They help stabilize joints, preventing excessive movement. A sprained ankle occurs when the ligaments are forced beyond their normal range of motion.

Treatment for a sprained ankle depends on the severity of the injury. Although self-care measures and over-the-counter pain medications may be all you need, a medical evaluation might be necessary to reveal how badly you've sprained your ankle and to put you on the right path to recovery.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of a sprained ankle include:

1) Pain, especially when you bear weight on it
2) Swelling and, sometimes, bruising
3) Restricted range of motion

Some people hear or feel a pop at the time of injury.

Causes

A sprain occurs when your ankle is forced to move out of its normal position, which forces one or more of the ligaments that surround and stabilize the bones out of its usual range of motion, causing the ligament to stretch or tear.

Examples of situations that can result in an ankle sprain include:

1) A fall that causes your ankle to twist
2) Landing awkwardly on your foot after jumping or pivoting
3) Walking or exercising on an uneven surface

Western Medicine Treatment

Treatment for a sprained ankle depends on the severity of your injury. Many people simply treat their injury at home.

Medications

In most cases, over-the-counter pain relievers, such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others), naproxen (Aleve, others) or acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), are enough to handle the pain caused by a sprained ankle.

Therapy

A few days after your injury, after the swelling has gone down, you may want to start performing physical therapy exercises to restore your ankles range of motion, strength, flexibility and balance.

Balance and stability training is especially important to retrain the ankle muscles to work together to support the joint. These exercises may involve various degrees of balance challenge, such as standing on one leg.If you sprained your ankle while exercising or participating in a sport, talk to your doctor about when you can begin your activity again. You may need to wear an ankle brace or wrap your ankle to protect it from re-injury.

Surgical and other procedures

If your ankle joint is unstable, your doctor may refer you to a joint specialist for evaluation. You may need a cast or walking boot to immobilize your joint so that it can heal properly. In rare cases of severe ligament tears, or if you are an elite athlete, you may need surgery to repair the damage.

Adopted from mayoclinic.com