High Ankle Sprain
 

So I suffered a high ankle sprain during a hockey game on April 19th, needed crutches until the 21/22nd. I didn't do any lower body work or play hockey until the the 29th of April, and even then, I was still experiencing pain while applying pressure onto my left foot. Recently, I've been trying to do squats and deadlifts, but I still experience a sharp pain. I'm even having difficulty playing hockey; when I pivot or push off with my left foot, I feel a clicking sensation around my ankle, which follows up with a sharp pain immediately after.

It's been 20 days since the initial injury occured, and even though I'm able to walk normally, it's still extremely frustrating not being able to do any real lower body exercises or skate properly. Anyone else experience an injury like this? If so, how long was the whole recovery process for you?

The recovery process usually takes much more than a couple weeks. In theory, a recovery process involves acute (first 2 weeks), sub-acute (2-6), and long term rehab (6+ weeks). However, phases may be extended or shortened depending on the body's natural physiology.

It's difficult to say this, but you will probably be limited by your ankle for a while so really take care of it.

sprained my ankle in dec, wasnt fully healed with no pain till about late feb. could start doing regular stuff probably a month after though. did the rehab exercises i found on youtube, they helped alot

Severe Ankle Sprains usually take quite a bit of time to heal, I wouldn't rush it if I were you. Ice it from time to time and don't put too much weight on it while it's healing

From the sounds of it, looks like my ankle won't be 100% until the season's over :okay:

Yeah, that's the thing with injuries. The worse part is that rarely do injured areas recovery 100%

For high ankle sprains, any external rotation of your foot or bending your knee past your toes(dorsiflexion) will aggravate that area where you injured it. Playing hockey has both the external rotation of the foot from the pushing off phase and dorsiflexion when returning the foot back to take your stride. Take it easy as you don't want to re-injure it.

I don't even think it needs to be iced. There isn't any swelling and it sounds like it's past the stage of icing.

I think the ankle needs to be seriously rested, only walking. No Deadlifts, squats, no putting it in a fragile position

Heck, I would maybe even get a Adidas wrap and wear that often OR ace bandage as a more economic solution (Hospital might give it for free during an x-ray)

When I broke my ankle, it was the typical time thing, 4 weeks in a cast, 2 weeks in ace bandage = 6 weeks essentially off the ankle. When it was in the ace bandage, I did work on the ankle flexibility to move to walking.

But sprains are a funny thing, it may take longer.

If you have time, I might even head over to the UBC Hospital on a slow day (Monday or Tues), and get them to take an X-ray in case. You don't want it healing in the wrong form.

The key thing is, you are the only one that knows your ankle and how it feels. I mean, only when I felt 100% my ankle was strong enough, did I start slowly easing into all my normal routines. Gym and All - and that wasn't easy at all.

I tried doing front squats last week and gave up after a few sets. Tried doing back squats last night and the ankle seemed fine, albeit I was only doing a plate. This type of injury is extremely aggravating, since some days it feels completely fine, until I move it a certain way. The most difficult part about this is when you begin to notice your lower body start to lose mass.

You srs m8te?

I wouldn't even do squats. You have to understand that muscle memory is incredible.

You should have saw the size of my right leg, after 6 weeks. It was stupidly different from my left leg. Took literally less than a month of the gym, and it was back to the same size.

The key thing to get from this is....forget about looks. I rather heal that sprain ASAP, then keep aggravating it for the sake of having a good lower body mass.

Was it the game we played at Kensington?

Agree with subordinate as well, you don't want to push your body into a squat as that would put your foot into a dorsiflexion which could re-aggravate your injury.

haha yes, it was that day you had to help me back to my car

looks like I'll lay off the squats and deads for a while

Do you wear a brace at all to play ball or exercise? Maybe it's something to look into during your recovery phase. A look at your footwear might be a good idea as well as it could lead to excessive pronation/supination of the foot.