The Best Healing Strategies to Recover from an Ankle Sprain

Sprains and strains are soft tissue injuries of the muscles and ligaments present in our feet, wrists, legs, back, knees, thumbs, and ankles. A sprain in the latter usually presents itself as pain, swelling, tenderness, and limited movement.

Here are some ways to recover from an ankle sprain in weeks rather than months.

Stretching

Stretching exercises near the affected area can promote healing. The intention is to prevent the parts near the sprained muscle from the fate by making them stronger. Another reason stretching is recommended is because it may direct blood flow to a sprained ankle, thereby increasing the concentration of reparative cells.

So, try moving that ankle in every direction two to three times a day; avoid directions that reignite the pain, but keep checking on them to see if the ankle is healing.

Elevating

When your ankle sprain displays swelling, it’s best to keep it elevated to keep all the fluids up and away from the swollen area.

Since a reduction in swelling also means pain relief, wear compression stockings and prop up your ankle on a couple of pillows to prevent fluid from gravitating towards your lower extremities.

Apply a Heat Pack

Heat, like stretching, promotes blood flow to the injured ankle and provides overall relief to the sprained area.

As soon as you’ve reduced the swelling using the previous method, we suggest you apply a heat pack for 20 minutes to help the wounded area heal faster.

Massage Therapy

A gentle to deep tissue massage for a mild to severe sprain can improve blood circulation to your ankle. However, we don’t suggest you try this at home, as only a professional massage therapist knows how to approach a sprain to make it better, not worse.

Therapists can also tell whether a particular technique is accelerating your healing process or slowing it down by exacerbating the inflammation, so you’re better off entrusting the task to a professional.

Physical Therapy

If you’ve already recovered from a sprain by resting it for a few days, you might want to find out what caused it in the first place to avoid a recurrence. Since sprains happen due to weak muscles most of the time, you might want to invest in muscle-strengthening sessions with a physiotherapist.

In addition to identifying any weakness, we’ll also try to look for a cause in your lifestyle to recommend appropriate changes and create a personalized recovery plan to promote faster recovery and relief for the pain.

5 Star Clinic: A Pain Management Centre Like No Other

While many sprains heal on their own, you might want to consult a doctor to make sure your particular injury doesn’t require medical intervention such as surgery and a follow-up or concurrent visit to our physiotherapy clinic.

There’s also the fact that you may be unnecessarily prolonging your injury and the accompanying pain by not seeking professional therapy.

Contact us at 07380 242622 to schedule an assessment at our clinic in Lancashire.