A sprained ankle is a common injury. There are about 25,000 ankle sprains every single day. They can occur from playing sports or simply tripping over something. They can occur by stepping on uneven ground or landing on someone else’s foot. And depending on how badly you sprain your ankle and how you rehab it, you could be looking at 1-12 week healing time.
There are 3 different grades of sprained ankle (1 -3). Grade 1 is considered the least severe and a grade 3 sprain is considered much more serious. And many people who get more serious sprained ankles do not heal for months. In fact, about 30% still feel ankle pain over a year later. We believe this is a function of poor ankle rehab and is certainly not necessary if you take charge and proactively treat a sprained ankle with a good rehab program.
So, what exactly is a sprained ankle? There are a bunch of ligaments that hold the ankle joint together. When you roll or twist your ankle outside its normal range of motion, the force on these ligaments stretch to far and in some cases actually tear. The more force and range of movement on the ligaments, the worse the injury will become. And even though ligaments are pretty tough and strecth naturally, too much force and stretching will cause injury.
The problem is that most people wear stiff shoes and have very weak ankles. People rarely walk barefoot and even less regularly walk on uneven ground. That means that the stabilizer muscles in the ankle atrophy over time. So, something that wouldn’t even bother someone with strong ankles would easily cause a sprained ankle in someone with weak ankles.
Why? The ligaments in someone’s ankle joint who has weak stabilizer muscles has very little range of motion within their ligaments. They have just gotten weak and inflexible over time. So, the best way to protect against this is to do good ankle stretching and exercises as a regular practice. Also, walk barefoot more often and on uneven ground. And make sure you wear comfortable shoes that allow your feet and ankles to move more freely. This will help ensure your ankles improve in strength and flexibility which will dramatically lower your risk of a sprained ankle.
But, most importantly, follow a good rehab program. Doing targeted exercises and stretches to repair a sprained ankle and strengthen weak ankles from dis-use and mis-use over time is the best way to help yourself stat injury and pain free.
