How to treat a sprained foot?

Modern people are under great pressure in life. They sit for long periods of time without exercise every day. If they exercise a lot or do heavy or tiring work, they can easily sprain or strain their muscles. People often don't take it seriously, thinking that they can get better by resting or applying two plasters. Unprofessional judgment and unprofessional treatment will often delay the best treatment and recovery period for sprains, resulting in permanent damage. Even if the injured area heals, it is easy to sprain it again and again until a more serious injury occurs. Below, we will introduce you to the treatment and recovery of sprains to help you recover and maintain more effectively after a sprain.

Sprained ankle is one of the most common acute injuries during running. Uneven road surface, playing basketball, playing football, and lower limb fatigue can all cause sprained ankle. For those students who have never sprained their ankle, I can only say that you are very lucky, or you just don’t exercise enough. For those of us who love sports, it is too painful to be "confined" if we cannot move. There are two reasons why ankle sprains worsen: one is improper on-site treatment, and the other is the lack of necessary rehabilitation training.

The traditional view is that after spraining your ankle you need to rest for a long time or reduce walking until you fully recover. In fact, this view is already outdated! Modern rehabilitation medicine research has confirmed that too much rest is not only not conducive to ankle recovery, but also brings more problems such as joint movement disorders, muscle atrophy, and loss of proprioception. Therefore, after the 48-hour acute phase, you must actively carry out rehabilitation training to restore ankle function faster and better. If you sprain your ankle, whether you treat it properly is an important factor in determining how quickly your ankle recovers.

On the day of the sprain:

After the pain subsides, continue running, wrong! Taking a hot bath when you get home at night is a mistake! It is wrong to apply some blood-activating external compress such as safflower oil before going to bed!

The correct processing should be like this:

The first step is emergency treatment to control inflammation

After spraining your ankle, emergency treatment must be carried out according to the RICE principle.

Rest: Stop exercising immediately after an ankle sprain because further activity can increase bleeding.

Ice compress: Apply ice to the injured area to constrict blood vessels, reduce bleeding, and relieve pain and swelling.

Pressure bandage: Wrap the injured area with an elastic bandage and apply moderate pressure to reduce exudation and swelling.

Elevate the affected limb: Elevate the affected limb above the heart when sleeping at night to promote blood circulation and help reduce swelling.

Tips: It’s not that safflower oil cannot be used, but it cannot be used within 48 hours of a sprain. It can be used after 48 hours.

Step 2: Restoring joint range of motion

After 48 hours, we can start simple rehabilitation training without long rest, which will lead to secondary problems such as joint adhesion, muscle atrophy, and decreased strength.

These two movements can stretch and relax the calf gastrocnemius and soleus muscles and increase the range of motion of the ankle dorsiflexion. Stretch for 20-30 seconds each time and repeat 3-4 sets.