Ankle sprain is a common medical condition where one or more of the ligaments of the ankle is torn or partially torn, usually through turning the foot under and causing excessive stress on the ligaments of the ankle. This can be caused by excessive external rotation, inversion or rarely eversion of the foot. When the foot is moved past its normal range of motion, the excess stress puts a strain on the ligaments. If the strain is great enough to the ligaments, then the ligament becomes damaged, or sprained. Unfortunately the majority of people are told to relax and keep the ankle still a period of time, but as soon as the pain is manageable they will slowly start exercising again. Typically, when they start using their ankle again, which has not fully healed, it causes the body to compensate. An ankle is naturally flexible, but when sprained it becomes immobile and therefore loses the natural movement. The knee is naturally stable and is not meant to do flexible movements, but when the ankle has a sprain the knee has to compensate for the missing flexibility. A lot of people who are suffering from knee injuries have been or still are suffering from a sprained ankle because the knee compensate for unnatural movement. When patients come to our clinic with knee injuries we often find the solution in treating their ankles first, which will help to heal the knee injury simultaneously.
Sprained ankle and Anti-inflammatory drugs
A sprained ankle can be very painful and therefor when people suffer from an ankle sprain many turns to anti-inflammatory drugs, also known as painkillers. This can provide a short-term solution because it will lessen the pain and therefore make it possible to continue working out, but in the long run you may cause yourself to suffer from a more serious injury and for a longer period of time. When suffering from pain it is very common to take a painkiller in order to make the pain manageable, specific painkillers work as an anti-inflammation drug. Inflammation is often misunderstood as something bad, but in fact what inflammation really does is starting the healing process. When taking a painkiller you will prevent the healing process to start and therefore cause your injury to last longer and not heal the natural way.
The EEMC
At our Clinic we have treated many patients with Sprained ankles, one of them had very severe knee and back pain, had flat feet and they were inverted. She had an adjustment which made the pain much more acceptable. However, because of the patients’ unstable ankles, the adjustment was not being maintained. In this case we traced the source of the problem back to a previous sprained ankle that was not healed properly. We asked the patient to wear ankle Braces for 2-3 months, so the patients’ ankles could not move from side to side and further injure them. The patient had an immediate improvement with her back and knee and when she received an adjustment it was maintained. When you suffer from a sprained ankle and don’t take proper care it is very easy to re-injure your ligaments, it is therefore very important to know how to take care of your injured ankle to ensure it recovers.
