I Put My Foot Down!

As I am writing this I have my foot propped up with an ice bag (mine's a frozen vegetable bag) around my ankle. I must have done a lot of walking lately... This last Saturday I went to the mall with my daughter and grandson, and while I was walking along, one of my ankles suddenly became extremely painful! I hobbled over to a chair and rested awhile after which it became easier to walk again with this rest. Now my daughter has the same problem every now and then so I decided to look towards the internet for any information and here's what I found on http://webmd.com/. From reading the articles I probably had a high ankle sprain. In a "high" ankle sprain, a less common type of injury, the ligaments that join the two lower leg bones together above the ankle, called the syndesmosis, are injured. This usually happens if the foot is forced up, or if the leg is forcefully twisted while the foot is planted. This injury can occur either by itself or with an inversion or eversion sprain. If the ligaments of the syndesmosis are injured, the sprain is more severe and takes longer to heal. I don't know how I caused this painful ankle situation but I do know that it sure hurt to put my foot down. The symptoms range from extreme pain at the site first, such as I had, to feeling better soon thereafter. The treatment for an ankle sprain is to use is the PRINCE approach:

• Protection-Use a brace of some sort, or wrap it for 24-36 hours.
• Rest-Do this until the pain subsides
• Ice it-Use an ice pack every 10-20 minutes until swelling goes down.
• NSaids (acetaminophen)-These include ibuprofen (such as Advil, Motrin, or Nuprin) Commmon types of acetaminophen include Panadol, Tempra, or Tylenol.
• Compression. Use an elastic compression wrap to help decrease swelling. This should be worn for the first 24 to 36 hours. with an elastic bandage. Compression wraps do not offer protection, except by reminding you to be careful of your ankle.
• Elevation. Raise your ankle above the level of your heart for 2 to 3 hours a day if possible to decrease swelling and bruising.

So I rested my ankle on Sunday, and kept off of it for most of the day feeling much, much better thanks to the information I found. I still have some tenderness in my ankle today though, hence the need for the "ice" bag.