An ankle sprain can be an extremely painful injury. Ankle Sprain’s occur with a twist or roll of the ankle that damages ligaments, tendons, and muscle tissue. After the ankle sprain, you will most likely see swelling and a bad bruise is normal.
Ankle Sprain’s should be treated with ice right away in order to decrease the inflammation and lower the pain level. With an ankle sprain, pain is normal and one may not be able to walk on it for several weeks if the sprain is severe. If the ankle sprain hurts to walk on, definitely use crutches for support.
It is important to go into physical therapy after an ankle sprain for several reasons.
Why Physical Therapy is Important:
After an ankle sprain, your ankle and its surrounding muscles will be extremely weak because they have been partially torn. Your ankle is one of the main support systems of the body and you depend on it for balance and to be able to walk, stand, and run. A weak ankle will not be able to handle your weight and therefore, it will be very easy to re-injure you ankle.
One of the most common injuries with the ankle is chronic ankle sprains because of improper recovery strategy. The ankle needs to be re-strengthened so that it can support your weight and not roll or twist when you make short movements.
What We Do In Physical Therapy:
First, we want to make sure that your ankle is on the correct path toward healing and decrease the inflammation as much as possible. Each time you come in for physical therapy, we ice your ankle and apply soft electrical stimulation. This stimulation decreases pain by blogging the it's signals and increases circulation of the area at the same time.
Once your ankle has healed sufficiently to begin walking on it, we provide strengthening exercises. A brace should also be worn during this period to give your ankle extra stability as not to re-injure it.
Exercise will strengthen the ankle and help you to regain balance. This is one of the most important steps to the ankle’s recovery or you could easily injure it again. Exercises may include using ankle weights and balancing on the ankle to help gain greater stability.
Physical Therapy is a vital part to the recovery of an ankle sprain. Cross Bay Physical Therapy is located in Howard Beach, Queens. Call (718) 835-0084 today and schedule a consultation! As Queen’s Physical Therapy, we can serve many of the surrounding areas such as Lindenwood, Ozone Park, and Richmond Hill as well. Call (718) 835-0084 and set up an appointment today!
By Benjamin Bieber