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The_Jazz · 05-30-2006, 05:13 AM

If you've got torn ligaments, you're going to have a hard time on your trip.

I blew out my ankle my junior year of cross country as I crossed the finish line at nationals, which was a bizarre way to end a season. My injury sounds very similar to yours where the toes were normal looking but the foot itself was very swollen and bruised. I tore several ligaments, and it took over a month for the swelling to go down. I was on crutches for 2 weeks. Keep up with the ice and elevation as much as possible and try to keep it compressed to get the swelling down. Ibuprofin is a great anti-inflamatory, so if you aren't already taking it, start. If you can get your hands on ketoprofin, that's even better but you might need a proscription.

Here's the bad news - the general rule of thumb is that it takes a year to come back 100% from a severe ankle sprain. Once the swelling has gone down and stayed down for a couple of weeks, you'll need to start the rehab process. Heating your ankle and writing your ABC's with your toes is a good start, but you'll also need to strengthen all of the stabilizer muscles since the ligaments aren't there to help any more. That means working with surgical tubing, doing hopping drills and stair hopping. You'll also almost certainly need to tape your ankle before basketball or any other sport, volleyball included, that requires lateral movement. If you're going to run, stay on a nice stable track and off the roads and certainly any grass or gravel. For your trip, you'll probably need to learn to do a heal lock tape on yourself and I'd suggest investing in a case of tape or see if you can scrounge some canvas tape used by boxers - I used that for over a year, and it really helped.

Let me know if you need any more specifics. Unfortunately, I know a lot about this. Don't think that it's not going to suck, because it is.

05-30-2006, 05:13 AM	#2 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	If you've got torn ligaments, you're going to have a hard time on your trip. I blew out my ankle my junior year of cross country as I crossed the finish line at nationals, which was a bizarre way to end a season. My injury sounds very similar to yours where the toes were normal looking but the foot itself was very swollen and bruised. I tore several ligaments, and it took over a month for the swelling to go down. I was on crutches for 2 weeks. Keep up with the ice and elevation as much as possible and try to keep it compressed to get the swelling down. Ibuprofin is a great anti-inflamatory, so if you aren't already taking it, start. If you can get your hands on ketoprofin, that's even better but you might need a proscription. Here's the bad news - the general rule of thumb is that it takes a year to come back 100% from a severe ankle sprain. Once the swelling has gone down and stayed down for a couple of weeks, you'll need to start the rehab process. Heating your ankle and writing your ABC's with your toes is a good start, but you'll also need to strengthen all of the stabilizer muscles since the ligaments aren't there to help any more. That means working with surgical tubing, doing hopping drills and stair hopping. You'll also almost certainly need to tape your ankle before basketball or any other sport, volleyball included, that requires lateral movement. If you're going to run, stay on a nice stable track and off the roads and certainly any grass or gravel. For your trip, you'll probably need to learn to do a heal lock tape on yourself and I'd suggest investing in a case of tape or see if you can scrounge some canvas tape used by boxers - I used that for over a year, and it really helped. Let me know if you need any more specifics. Unfortunately, I know a lot about this. Don't think that it's not going to suck, because it is. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo