Treating Your Ankle Injury
Posted on: 13 January 2019
Ankle injuries can be serious and extremely painful medical problems to experience. However, patients that have suffered ankle injuries may not be fully aware of the steps that they can take in order to treat this injury so that they can fully recover as quickly as possible.
Keep The Ankle Elevated
Elevating the ankle is a step that many people will fail to take when they are addressing an ankle injury. However, elevating the ankle can dramatically reduce the swelling that occurs as it will help to stop fluids from pooling in the injured area of the ankle. This is particularly important when you are sleeping or resting, as you may wake up to substantially more swelling than is needed if you fail to elevate it.
Wear Support Braces
During the time when your ankle is healing, you will want to wear support braces. This is necessary as the muscles in the ankle joint can be substantially weakened after this injury. These braces will be able to help reinforce the ankle so that it can be less likely to be reinjured during the recovery. While these braces can be somewhat uncomfortable to wear, the support that they provide can be extremely important to help your ankles avoid reinjury.
Rest The Ankle
Resting your ankle is especially important during the early stages of your recovery as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the ankle will need time to regenerate. While rest is extremely important during the early part of your recovery, you will gradually want to exercise and strengthen your ankle as your recovery progresses. This is needed to avoid reinjuring the ankle soon after you recover from this injury. Otherwise, you may find that your ankle is weakened and easier to injure for months after the injury has healed.
Seek Professional Treatment
Minor ankle injuries will often heal on their own within a matter of days as long as the patient is following basic care for ankle injuries. Unfortunately, serious ankle injuries will often require professional treatment in order for them to fully heal. Patients may not want to seek treatment as they can assume this will always require surgery to heal serious ankle problems. Yet, there are many other treatments your ankle doctor may be able to use. This can include physical rehabilitation, specially designed casts or braces, as well as medications to help control the swelling and pain. Also, they may be able to recommend exercises to help the ankle heal and strengthen.
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