Don't ignore your ankle sprain!

Twisting over on your ankle, or spraining your ankle is a common problem that many of you may have experienced at some point in your lives. What most people don’t think about is that an ankle sprain when not properly treated, can result in ongoing difficulties throughout the whole body.

The severity of the sprain can vary from having some pain and a little swelling, to your ankle showing deep black/blue bruising, ballooning up with swelling, severe pain and requiring an air cast with crutches.

When you sprain your ankle, typically a bone called the talus, (at the bend in the front of the ankle), gets stuck forward.

This causes the ankle joint to be more unstable, making it easier to turn over on the ankle again - take note ladies, this will make you potentially more unstable in heels.

When you turn over on the ankle, you tend to tear ligaments, either on a micro or macro level. This also affects stability.

Ligaments don’t “grow back”, so it is important to avoid re-spraining the ankle in order to keep it strong and stable.

Apart from creating a stability problem, the jammed ankle joint affects circulation, and so can keep swelling from resolving.

The stuck ankle joint will also affect how you walk, run, jump, which over time can cause the knee and hip to have to work differently, resulting in pain.

In my practice, I have often seen how an old ankle sprain that was never treated, can be a hidden key in chronic knee and hip issues.

Manual therapy, or hands-on treatment can resolve an old or newly sprained ankle’s movement, so helping with pain, swelling, balance, hip and knee issues, as well as getting you back to your activities more quickly and comfortably.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to chat about an ankle, knee or hip issue and see how manual therapy can help.