Rehabing Ankle injury - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

jorgelito · 05-29-2006, 11:32 PM

I was wondering if anyone knew a good ankle injury rehab program.

I recently severely injured my left ankle:

I was playing IM volleyball when I went up to block a kill when the other guy came under the net and I landed on him rolling my left ankle really badly that I couldn't walk. Did the whole RICE thing the first night.

I went to the doctor a few days later - X-rays were negative. I was on crutches for a week. The doctor was shocked at how bad my foot looked (it was all black and blue and so swollen (puffy). It looked like a cartoon: my toes were normal but the rest of the foot was all swelled up. Apparently I did evrything BUT break it - torn ligaments etc.

It's been like 4-5 weeks. I'm walking and light exercising: running (more like jogging) 1/4-1/2 mile on a track once or twice a week. Played one game of volleyball (my IM team made the playoffs). But I know I'm not 100%. I can feel it. I for sure cannot play basketball (my 1st love), no way I can cut and stop or even jump and bang around in the post. Most of the time I walk a lot all over campus or when I walk my dog.

I really want to recover well.

Does anyone know of any kind of regimin for rehabing an ankle?

For now I try to "roll" my ankle and stuff like that when I sit at my desk, in lecture, or at the busstop. I'm even taking glucosamine (I heard it was good for the joints and the ankle is a joint right?).

I'm going on a crazy trip this summer which involves vigorous walking etc for 2-3 months and I want to be 100%.

Thanks.

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.

JustJess · 05-30-2006, 05:50 AM

NO HEAT. Sorry, that's a misconception. After you work it, you should be icing it.

I wouldn't be running right now. If you tore ligamentS there's no way you should be putting that much pressure on it. Look, you're in school, so that means health insurance, right? You want an ortho guy to be checking your ankle with MRI's, and you want to be doing real rehab/PT. I can tell you how they went about rehabbing mine, and the Jazz can tell you about his, but frankly, you'll screw it up if you do it without someone showing you what to do. This is not a do-it-yourself situation. And learn it well now... once you've done something like this, the stats go way up on your chances of doing it again.

In fact, if you're in the NYC area, come to my hospital. If not, go to any ortho person and get a script for PT. Seriously. I'm really really not kidding. And the longer you try to compensate, the more out of whack you're going to throw the rest of your body. Trust me. A minorly torn ligament in my left ankle, left untreated for 2 months, equalled more rehab for the sciatica I ended up with after being out of balance for that long.

Go go go go go go now.

pacaveli · 05-30-2006, 10:54 AM

yea i've gone through some ankle troubles in my life, i play volleyball to, i did probably close to the same thing you did. I had to miss the biggest game of the season against the cross town rivals

( we lost )

anyways the longer you let it rest the faster you can rehab it with physical therapy stay off of it for about 2-3 weeks, and then begining doing things like pushing and pulling on stretchy bands. do balance exersizes, like stand on the bad foot and move your good foot around you touching the ground about every 2 seconds.

jorgelito · 05-30-2006, 12:11 PM

Wow, thanks so much you guys. I really appreciate all this information. It helps to hear others' experiences and to gain other perspectives.

I will go to the doctor 1st thing tomorrow for a follow-up to see how the ankle is from a medical standpoint.

I have the Advil, ace bandages, crutches on standby, ice packs, tape. I gues all I need now is time.

Thanks again you guys, much obliged.

Thanks JustJess for your kind and generous offer - I'm in LA so I can't get over to your hospital.

The_Jazz · 05-30-2006, 12:16 PM

After rereading all the posts above, I wholeheartedly agree with JustJess - heat is bad after exercising/rehabbing your ankle. To clarify my earlier post, heat should only be used BEFORE exercise to losen up the connective tissues and increase blood flow to the area in preparation for the increase activity and to promote healing.

I assumed that your doctor already recommended some sort of rehab process. If he didn't, go get one. If you have access to one, use a trainer or physical therapist. This is a serious injury that isn't easy to recover from. My injury occurred 13 years ago, and the injured ankle is still less stable than the other.

05-29-2006, 11:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
jorgelito All important elusive independent swing voter... Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia	Rehabing Ankle injury I was wondering if anyone knew a good ankle injury rehab program. I recently severely injured my left ankle: I was playing IM volleyball when I went up to block a kill when the other guy came under the net and I landed on him rolling my left ankle really badly that I couldn't walk. Did the whole RICE thing the first night. I went to the doctor a few days later - X-rays were negative. I was on crutches for a week. The doctor was shocked at how bad my foot looked (it was all black and blue and so swollen (puffy). It looked like a cartoon: my toes were normal but the rest of the foot was all swelled up. Apparently I did evrything BUT break it - torn ligaments etc. It's been like 4-5 weeks. I'm walking and light exercising: running (more like jogging) 1/4-1/2 mile on a track once or twice a week. Played one game of volleyball (my IM team made the playoffs). But I know I'm not 100%. I can feel it. I for sure cannot play basketball (my 1st love), no way I can cut and stop or even jump and bang around in the post. Most of the time I walk a lot all over campus or when I walk my dog. I really want to recover well. Does anyone know of any kind of regimin for rehabing an ankle? For now I try to "roll" my ankle and stuff like that when I sit at my desk, in lecture, or at the busstop. I'm even taking glucosamine (I heard it was good for the joints and the ankle is a joint right?). I'm going on a crazy trip this summer which involves vigorous walking etc for 2-3 months and I want to be 100%. Thanks.

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

05-30-2006, 05:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
JustJess Unencapsulated Location: Kittyville	NO HEAT. Sorry, that's a misconception. After you work it, you should be icing it. I wouldn't be running right now. If you tore ligamentS there's no way you should be putting that much pressure on it. Look, you're in school, so that means health insurance, right? You want an ortho guy to be checking your ankle with MRI's, and you want to be doing real rehab/PT. I can tell you how they went about rehabbing mine, and the Jazz can tell you about his, but frankly, you'll screw it up if you do it without someone showing you what to do. This is not a do-it-yourself situation. And learn it well now... once you've done something like this, the stats go way up on your chances of doing it again. In fact, if you're in the NYC area, come to my hospital. If not, go to any ortho person and get a script for PT. Seriously. I'm really really not kidding. And the longer you try to compensate, the more out of whack you're going to throw the rest of your body. Trust me. A minorly torn ligament in my left ankle, left untreated for 2 months, equalled more rehab for the sciatica I ended up with after being out of balance for that long. Go go go go go go now. __________________ My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

05-30-2006, 10:54 AM	#4 (permalink)
pacaveli Psycho Location: MD	yea i've gone through some ankle troubles in my life, i play volleyball to, i did probably close to the same thing you did. I had to miss the biggest game of the season against the cross town rivals ( we lost ) anyways the longer you let it rest the faster you can rehab it with physical therapy stay off of it for about 2-3 weeks, and then begining doing things like pushing and pulling on stretchy bands. do balance exersizes, like stand on the bad foot and move your good foot around you touching the ground about every 2 seconds. __________________ Check my blog out. Basically me talking about video games http://gginsights.blogspot.com/

05-30-2006, 12:16 PM	#6 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	After rereading all the posts above, I wholeheartedly agree with JustJess - heat is bad after exercising/rehabbing your ankle. To clarify my earlier post, heat should only be used BEFORE exercise to losen up the connective tissues and increase blood flow to the area in preparation for the increase activity and to promote healing. I assumed that your doctor already recommended some sort of rehab process. If he didn't, go get one. If you have access to one, use a trainer or physical therapist. This is a serious injury that isn't easy to recover from. My injury occurred 13 years ago, and the injured ankle is still less stable than the other. __________________ "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

05-30-2006, 12:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
jorgelito All important elusive independent swing voter... Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia	Wow, thanks so much you guys. I really appreciate all this information. It helps to hear others' experiences and to gain other perspectives. I will go to the doctor 1st thing tomorrow for a follow-up to see how the ankle is from a medical standpoint. I have the Advil, ace bandages, crutches on standby, ice packs, tape. I gues all I need now is time. Thanks again you guys, much obliged. Thanks JustJess for your kind and generous offer - I'm in LA so I can't get over to your hospital.