Most people have sprained their ankle at least once in their life. It can happen from just tripping over in the street. If you are more active, you can find a sprain happening more often.
Sometimes the sprains are minor and heal themselves within days. In other cases, they can be more dangerous. There are times that ankle sprains can feel and look worse than a bone fracture, due to the way the muscles and ligaments and damaged.
Treating sprains is a necessity, but you usually must leave your body to do all the work. Itis time to help improve the healing process and make it easier for the body fix the damage. Moreover, then there are times that you just need to ease the symptoms to help you get through the healing process.
Here are eight proven methods to instantly relieve your ankle sprain. It is time to get your life back in order sooner rather than later!
Follow the RICE Method
Let’s start with the RICE method for sprain healing. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and indeed does help. You can relieve the pain, improve blood flow, and promote the process of healing the damage done during the incident.
RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
Resting is one of the best things you can do. If you try to do too much on your ankle after a sprain, you are likely to make the damage worse. This is the case for any damage. Avoid walking on your ankle as much as possible. Some people need crutches, as just putting the slightest bit of pressure on the ankle is difficult.
For the first two or three days after injury, you will want to apply ice to the area regularly. You can use an ice pack directly on the affected area for 10-20 minutes at a time. Use this at least once every two hours. The ice will help the swelling to go down, which will improve the chances of your ligaments and tendons mending.
The ice can also help to reduce some of the burning sensation and redness from the inflammation. After the first couple of days, no scientific proof using ice regularly can help. However, it can sometimes help to ease thepain felt while your ankle is healing. After the first three days, once the swelling has gone, people also find that heat can help with the healing. You will need to find whatever works for you specifically.
The compression part involves using a wrap around your ankle. This will help to limit the movement in the leg and help to reduce the swelling that occurs from the damage. You should wear the compression for at least the first day, but around 36 hours has shown positive effects.
While your ankle is healing, you may find that a brace or fabric band will help to ease some of the pressure. The brace will keep the tendons and ligaments in place while you move around.
Do not keep the band on too tightly. You do not want to restrict the blood flow to the foot! If other parts of your leg are swelling,and you see marks where the band has been, then you will need to remove it and get a looser one.
Keep your leg elevated while it is healing as much as possible. You want it to sit above your heart, to encourage the blood to flow better around your leg. Raise the leg for a couple of hours every day until the swelling has gone down. This can also help to minimise the bruising, so your ankle looks better.
Consider Take Some Anti-Inflammatory Medications
Your leg will swell from the injury. This is part of the healing process, but that does not mean you have to put up with it. You want the swelling to disappear as soon as possible to help improve the chances of a full recovery and avoid a restriction of the blood flow.
Anti-inflammatory medication is one of the best options. The medication does not numb the pain that you feel. Instead, it helps to reduce the swelling and improve the blood flow. You can physically help your body heal itself with this type of medication. You will also naturally get rid of the pain, as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments do not put excess pressure on the nerves.
Not sure about using the counter medications? Some foods offer anti-inflammatory benefits. Eat them for each of your meals to help your body naturally heal itself.
Improve Mobility Through Exercises
While you need to rest your ankle while it is swollen, you will need to improve the mobility over time. Doing some light exercises with your ankle will help with the healing process, as you prevent the tendons and ligaments from seizing and losing flexibility.
Only do these after the first couple of days. You should not feel any pain while doing them. If there is anexcess pain, you need to stop and wait. Listen to your body. Pain is telling you to stop doing whatever you are doing,and you risk making your injury worse!
Start with some circles with your ankle. This eases the stress on the ligaments and will stretch them lightly. You can move on to doing the alphabet with your leg. If your ankle hurts but you can move your toes, start with this part of your body first. You can work your way up to the ankle movement.
Next, you can move onto sitting with your foot on the floor. Keep your foot firmly on the floor, as you move your knee from side to side. This will stretch out the side ligaments and tendons, improving the reach for them to promote healing.
Move Onto the Other Ligament Stretches
It is not just your ankle ligaments that will struggle after a sprain. You will need to focus on stretching and strengthening the other parts of your leg. They will seize and make it harder to move your injured leg if you do not. You will find you get more movement sooner by performing the following calf exercises.
Sit with your legs stretched out in front of you on the floor. Place a yoga strap or a wrapped towel around the bottom of your foot, around the ball. While keeping the leg straight, pull on the towel gently. You should feel a stretch around the back of the calf. You only need to keep the position for around 30 seconds, although if this is too hard, reduce the time you hold it and gradually increase the time as you do the exercise more.
You can also stretch the calf by standing. Face a wall and place your hands on it. Keep your good foot in front with most of your weight on it. Step the injured foot back and stretch it to keep your heel on the floor. Now bend the back knee a little to feel a stretch in your calf. Like before, just hold the position for around 30 seconds.
Repeat the two exercises two to five times for best results.
Improve the Strength of Your Ankle
While improving your injury, you can also work on preventing the injury occurring again. This is important, as your injured leg will be more susceptible to damage in the future. Start with some strengthening exercises on your ankle.
Keep your injured foot on the floor, with your toes against an object that won’t move. Push forward, as if trying to move this solid object with your toes for about five seconds and then release.
Next, put an exercise band around both of your ankles. Keeping the uninjured foot on the ground, push your injured one out, pulling on the exercise band until you feel the tension. Release and then push out again. You will also work on your inner thigh muscles while doing this exercise.
Switch the movement of the legs, pushing your injured leg into the injured one. Hold the position for five seconds before releasing and then pushing again.
With improved strength in your ankles, you will find that they hold you up better. This does not mean you can just run on any ground, but you will find it easier to avoid twisting and rolling over on your ankles when you are out.
Use Turmeric to Naturally Relieve Pain
Now it is time to relieve the symptoms you experience while you are working on healing the ankle sprain. Start by adding more turmeric to your diet. This spice has been used for medicinal needs for centuries and remains as one of the most favored in Eastern medicines.
Turmeric is one of the natural anti-inflammatory remedies that I mentioned. It will help to reduce the swelling in the leg, naturally easing the pain that you feel from your injury. However, that is not the only benefit for the pain. The spice will help to prevent muscle spasms, due to its ability to help muscles and tissues relax. When relaxed, you will find it is easier for the body to heal them.
While you can add turmeric to your diet, it can be used as a topical treatment. Make a paste with some turmeric, warm water, and lime juice. Place it over your sprained ankle and leave it on for around 10 hours. You can wrap it in a bandage to make sure it stays there. Every 10 hours, wash the paste off and reapply it to create a constant anti-inflammatory and healing reliever.
If you do not want to leave it on throughout the day, at least leave it on throughout the night. This is when your body does most of its healing, so will benefit from the extra help.
Relax in Epsom Salts
Epsom salt baths are popular for all types of healing, so it is not surprising that they are used for healing sprained ankles. Epsom salts are mineral crystals that are full of magnesium sulfate. This compound helps to speed up the healing process within the body and calms the nerves. You will experience less pain and fewer muscle spasms, helping you feel healed much sooner than without the compound.
One of the best things about Epsom salts is that they are cheap to buy. You can get a large bottle and use them daily. The salts will not just heal your ankle but can help to soothe the muscles and promote healing for all types of health problems.
Just pour a cup of the salts into your warm bath water and soak in them for 30 minutes. You can only soak the ankle if you want or you can lay back and relax to unwind from the day.
You will want to use the salts twice a day, so you may find that on one of the occasions you just want to soak the ankles. Grab a bowl and soak your feet, while you watch TV, read a book, or get on with some sitting down chores in the house.
Apply Castor Oil Straight to the Area
Finally, pull out the castor oil for your sprain. This oil is full of ricinoleic acid, which is an anti-inflammatory. By applying it directly to the sprained area, you will help to reduce the swelling around your ankle. You also add moisture to the area, which will help with reducing bruising and blemishes on the skin from the damage. Castor oil has been used for centuries for healing sprains, as it helps to reduce inflammation and ease the pain effectively.
When you have put the oil on your skin, use heat to help open the pores. The oil will then be able to soak through the skin and get directly to the tendons and muscles that need the help. You will want to elevate the foot to help with improving the blood flow around your body at the same time.
This is something you can do during the healing process. You could see that it takes less than two days for the swelling to disappear altogether.
Do not Put Up with the Pain of an Ankle Sprain
It is time to look after your body. While you cannot always prevent sprains from happening (although you can try), you can speed up the healing process. There’s no need to put up with the swelling and pain daily. The tips above will help to ease the pain, speed up the healing, and strengthen your ankle to prevent a sprain again.
Most ankle sprains do not need to be treated by a doctor. If the swelling or bruising does not go down after a few days and there’s still intense pain, you will need to make sure the sprain is not something worse.
Check out more info on ankle sprain here:
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