Being in practice for as long as I have been, you often see things that to this day don’t make sense to me on a medical basis... Lately I have seen an abundance of Inversion injuries, commonly called “ankle sprains”. With the exception of the high school runner or basketball player, the vast majority of these injuries have been of a chronic nature. “I sprained my ankle lots of times Doc. Usually I just stay off it for a few days, put on an Ace wrap or I often will “just try to walk it off”…
Maybe my being a Podiatrist causes me some prejudice when hearing those 4 words, but for the life of me I cannot understand, why, after twisting and feeling pain in one’s ankle you would try to “just walk it off”.
Pain is not something that should be ignored in any part of the body. Would you not pay attention to say, a tooth ache? How about abdominal pain?What makes people think that a twisted ankle is any less of an entity and it can be ignored??
When it comes to home remedies, I also get a lot of “I soaked it in really hot Epsom salts”… Once again the logic of that escapes me, as does the “self wrapping” on ones twisted ankle so they can continue to play in the same game they just injured themselves in to begin with.
If It Hurts, Stay Off Of It
Chronic ankle injuries not only pull and or tear ligaments, tendons and muscles; the possibility of a fractured bone in the foot is also great. That old expression (which I still hear ALL the time) “I could walk on it so I didn’t think it was broken”. It only is when they finally come in 1-2 weeks later and an X-ray reveals a fractured 5th metatarsal that they realize that maybe their “home care” was perhaps not the smartest thing they have ever done.
In this day and age of MRI’s and fantastic physical therapy modalities along with good treatment modalities, I am at a loss why any sprained ankle should be treated by “walking it off”.
Chronic Ankle Sprains
Chronic ankle sprains be it from sports or falling off of your high heels, is something that warrants your utmost attention just as a filling falling out of a tooth or a deep cut with a kitchen knife.
Since ankle sprains are a common occurrence in our daily, active lives, let’s not ignore them and seek treatment before they become a “chronic” painful and debilitating condition.
