If you’re an athlete, it’s only inevitable that you receive an injury of some kind during a game. Usually, that injury will be a sprained ankle, particularly if you’re playing in a sport that involves a lot of running. For those who play soccer on real grass fields, the entire match is a minefield of injured ankles waiting to happen. One wrong step in an uneven part of the field, and you’re down.
On the other hand, you may truly just be unlucky. Perhaps you didn’t see that step or ledge walking down the sidewalk or into the building, and the next thing you know, you’re either stumbling awkwardly or falling on the ground. Whether you want to admit it or not, maybe you just tripped over yourself the wrong way, and now your ankle is suffering for it. Regardless of the reason, injured ankles are common. They’re also extremely painful and difficult to deal with–especially if your life is constantly on the move.
Sprained ankles, for whatever reason, don’t seem to constitute enough of an injury to sit life out for a while. You might be able to get out of a few games but in the real world? You’re still expected to show up at work usually. Or, if money is in demand, you may not want something like an injured ankle from getting in the way of working. For something as commonplace as an injured ankle, it may seem redundant or unnecessary to visit your doctor. As such, you may want to look into natural remedies you can try at home to deal with the pesky pain. Here are a few ideas.
1. Rest And Ice
The key method to an ankle injury is rest. Your body can do a great deal of healing all on its own if it’s allowed the time and opportunity to do so. How long you need to rest your ankle should ultimately be determined by your doctor, but if you’re winging it on your own, then you’ll want to aim for a few days. If there’s still tenderness when you walk, you’ll likely want to give it a few more days. Resting your ankle at an elevated position can help with the swelling and inflammation, too, so prop it up!
Icing your ankle is equally important. Keeping the area cool can help with the bruising, swelling, inflammation, muscle spasms, and pain. However, you don’t want to keep the ice against your ankle for too long. It can actually cause nerve damage if left too long against the skin. Instead, aim to hold the ice pack there for 20 minutes. However, if you feel like your ankle is numb, you’ll want to remove it faster than that. Use ice every two to four hours during the initial three days following the injury. Ice packs, bath, or massages are all excellent methods.
2. Fix Your Form
After your ankle has seen through the worst of the swelling and pain, you may want to institute some exercises to fix your form and strengthen your ankle. After all, the muscles around your ankle were damaged during the injury and need help strengthening once more. Some exercises you might perform, and again this is only after the swelling and pain have been reduced or vanished entirely, have to do with extending your ankle upwards and to the sides. You can do this easily with an object or elastic rubber band. Simply push and extend your ankle for a time.
3. Correct Your Posture
This is similar to fixing your form in that you want to make sure that your muscles, and thus your ankle, is repairing itself correctly so that your ankle isn’t weakened by the injury. This is when that elevated rest comes into play. By making sure that your leg and ankle are held in the correct posture, you can ensure that your muscles repair themselves quickly and correctly. Another way you may want to go about this is through compression. Whatever you use to compress the area–sock, bandage, etc.–it will help keep your posture correct and aid the muscles repair.
4. Collagen Rich Diet
It may be surprising to know that eating certain foods can actually help your injured ankle, too. Vitamin C, in particular, helps build collagen which is what your body requires to build tendons and ligaments. Since it is these aspects of the ankle that are usually injured during a sprain, ingesting collagen-building foods can help your body kick start the healing process. Some of these foods are obvious like oranges and other fruits. You’ll want to stick with citrus fruits, perhaps even some green peppers, to really get the most out of these fruits and vegetables and help your healing.
5. Supplements
If you don’t think you can get enough Vitamin C in your diet, then you may want to consider taking some supplements. Vitamin C is not the only supplement you can take to help your ankle heal either. Calcium helps build strong bones, and your ankle bones are going to need all the strength they can get after an injury. So, taking Calcium supplements is an excellent idea. In addition to that, you may want to consider taking phosphorous supplements, too, since it also plays a key role in strengthening your bones. Magnesium also plays a role in bone development.
6. Soft Tissue Therapy
There’s a reason why the saying, “the healing touch,” is popular and still used today. Massage therapy, or soft tissue therapy as it is sometimes called, can actually be far more beneficial than the layman might typically realize. In terms of ankle injuries, soft tissue therapy can actually help reduce swelling, pain, and inflammation of an injured area. With the experienced practitioner, they will be able to enact the correct massage and perhaps couple it with cold treatments to further stimulate the healing of your ankle. Soft tissue therapy is designed to help the body heal itself and function correctly.
7. Essential Oils
You may not understand exactly what essential oils are, but they’re basically concentrated oils from plants that have been shown to have health benefits. You can utilize these to help your injured ankle, too. The essential oil of cypress can be used to help reduce inflammation as well as increase blood circulation. Meanwhile, the essential oil peppermint can decrease inflammation and actually reduce bruising in the injured area. By mixing these two oils together (two drops each), you can cover most of your ground. Spread it over the injured area around three or five times a day and compress warmly.
