How long does it take to heal a sprained ankle?
That all depends on how you treat yourself. If you just use R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), you are in a for a pretty long road to recovery. The typical healing time for R.I.C.E. is about 4-8 weeks. However, it has been recently discovered that if you follow a good, active rehab program for the ankle, you can reduce that healing time to about a week. The key is to make sure you are following gentle, yet effective healing techniques that work.
What should I do first?
Before you do anything else, it is always wise to get yourself checked out by a doctor. You should get an X-ray and make sure there isn’t a fracture. If there is a fracture, then you may need a cast or pretty much immobilize the ankle instead of doing rehab. Rehab will be the next step once the break has healed. But, assuming you don’t have a fracture, the first thing you should do is elevate and ice your ankle. Ice and elevation will help to stop swelling and is effective in the beginning stage of a sprained ankle.
How long is ice effective?
Contrary to popular belief, ice is not effective for very long. In fact, it only helps to contain swelling for about 2 days. After those 48 hours of initial healing time, put the ice aside. It’s just not going to do much of anything for your ankle and you’re much better off starting to take a much more active role in the healing process.
What should I do next?
If you haven’t begun already, you really need to start a good rehab program for your sprained ankle. Ankle rehab is absolutely key to healing properly. It also has the added benefit of significantly speeding up the healing process. You will want to do some gentle, but solid ankle exercises and stretches that have been shown to get good results for ankle injuries. The quicker you actively rehab your ankle, the better your results will be. Done right, ankle rehab will help you to feel significantly better within a week.
