| Ankle Pain ~
Posted: 6/13/2008 12:38:02 PM | Pain and swelling are there for a reason. If you actually broke something, it is possible for it to have started to mend after a month. Since you didn't seek out a doctor, if this did happen there is no guarantee it mended "properly".
If what you did, was sprain a tendon or ligament, or strain a muscle, perhaps the treatment of such things similar to sports medicine would help. With injuries in sports, we generally know when we get injured. The recipe for an acute injury is RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. By rest, we quit doing whatever it was that caused the injury. Ice will restrict bloodflow to the region and slow down nerve input, since our body tends to make more scar tissue than it needs to the nerve input tends to cause spasms which can damage things further. Compression is mostly there for reducing bloodflow, I don't believe it gets involved in muscle spasms at all. Compression should not be tight enough to cut off a pulse, and should probably not be used while sleeping. Elevation (with respect to the heart), allows blood and fluid which has leaked into the damaged tissue to drain. That is the immediate treatment.
After about 30 hours post injury, you can start to work on an injury. At such short times, you want to use more ice (cold temperatures) than higher temperatures. Again, your injury is too long after occurance. But, massage in warm water coupled with ice will probably help. If massage hurts, or if you notice swelling after massaging the sore area, then ice is probably indicated.
At some point, pain and swelling will not be happening, at which point strengthening might be the way to go. I like the idea of standing in a doorway on one leg (the bad one) with your eyes closed. Your body uses its internal sense of balance, and if you feel yourself starting to fall you can use the doorway to stop the fall. Your body will be using all the muscles around the ankle to try and maintain balance, and hence they will get stronger. A wobble board, hiking, walking or running in sand, are other things which can be used to work those muscles around the ankle.
You might want to try some of this idea for a few weeks. Since it has been so long since the injury, I would be inclined to say no longer than 4 weeks. If things are not getting any better, you really need to see someone who has some medical training. It is likely you have done something that needs extra help to heal.
Soccer players I've worked with, are often walking almost normally 3 or so days after a sprain, and running soon thereafter. You have gone far beyond that. I would hope you haven't broken a bone in your foot, or something similar to that in severity.
I hope that helps, it is mostly hand waving, so to speak. I am not a doctor, just someone who has taped a lot of ankles in soccer. | |
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