Swelling - its not your friend, but it is

Swelling is not your friend...but it is.

Kind of confusing, isn't it?

Let me explain what this is about...

Swelling around an injured ankle is your body's way of protecting that ankle from further damage.

Whenever you suffer an ankle sprain, your body responds by doing everything that it can to stop movement. It responds by flooding the twisted ankle and the area around it with blood and lymph.

While it's a great mechanism to prevent additional damage after the initial ankle injury...swelling actually extends ankle rehab time for days maybe even weeks.

So, if you are in a hurry to get your ankle healed, one of the ways you can accelerate the whole process of rehabbing is to get the swelling down fast.

There are a lot of medicines you can take to reduce swelling, but almost all of them have some kind of side effects that you have to be concerned about.

The best way that I have found to reduce swelling in a rolled ankle is by getting moving...use the muscles in your legs to pump the swelling out.

Don't think getting moving is a good idea? Here's some history on what the medical establishment thinks about getting moving as early as possible after an injury or surgery.

As medical science advances, researchers are finding out that the earlier a person gets back to normal activity after an injury, the more complete the recovery is.

For example..I remember when my grandpa had his first open heart surgery. The doctors did not want him getting out of bed or doing anything for 10-14 days. He was told to stay in bed, in the hospital until he was "ready" to start the physical therapy portion of recovery. That was back in the 1970's.

The same thing applied with recovery after other surgeries or even after giving birth...wait for a week to 10 days and then start getting back to your normal routine slowly.

Fast forward to today. My father-in-law had open heart surgery to repair some blocked arteries in November of 2006. The doctors wanted him to be on his feet, out of bed and walking within 24 hours of the surgery being completed. (Actually they really wanted him to be up and out of bed earlier, but max was 24 hours)

Doctors realize that getting moving after an injury or surgery is a big key to accelerating recovery and reducing rehabilitation time.

Apply this concept to ankle sprains.

The earlier you can get on your ankle (after you know you don't have a broken ankle or torn ligaments) the faster you will recover.

So, movement as soon as possible accelerates the healing process...but it has to be the right type of movement and it must be safe so you don't risk further injuring your ankle before its healed.

Understand that by reducing ankle swelling, you are vulnerable to additional injury so you have to be careful what you do to strengthen your ankle.

The ankle rehab program that you follow must be safe and effective or you could actually make things a lot worse quickly.

It's all in your mind

Its been a couple of weeks since you sprained your ankle. The doctor said that you did not have any significant damage and that your ankle should heal on its own in a few weeks.

Your ankle seems better, but how can you be sure?

The swelling in your ankle has gone down, but just the thought of getting back to playing sends chills up your spine.

What if you injure your ankle again?

What if your ankle is not strong enough to play again?

Will the ankle brace the physical therpist gave you affect your performance? Will it actual prevent an ankle injury?

Will you be able to do what you used to do...and will it hurt when you start again?

You still have a little stiffness but your ankle doesn't hurt.

Is it too early to start your normal routine again?

Its funny how recovering from injury can make even the most confident, assured person a little uneasy.

I think its our body's way of protecting us from hurting ourselves again, but it keeps us from living a full life.

In my opinion, the rehabilitation of any injury, including rehabbing a sprained ankle is 30% physically healing your ankle and 70% mental...believing your ankle is healed.

Sure, the actual ankle ligaments and tendons need to be healed and the muscles that support the injured ankle need to be strengthened again, but I think that our own limiting beliefs about how fast any injury can heal hold us back from recovering.

Our bodies are capable of accomplishing great things, but our minds often hold us back...we don't think we can do it...we don't believe that its possible.

A great example of this is the 4 minute mile. For years and years, it was believed that no man would ever run a mile in 4 minutes or less. The medical establishment even chimed in with physical reasons why it was impossible to run a mile in 4 minutes or less.

Then one day, Roger Bannister ran a mile in under 4 minutes. Within a couple of weeks, many more people ran a mile in under 4 minutes because now they had proof that it could be done because Roger Bannister did it.

Now, athletes run miles in under 4 minutes regularly.

Just because everybody says that you can't rehabilitate an ankle sprain in less than a week, doesn't mean you can't do it.

Keep an open mind. Believe that your ankle is healed. Follow a proven sprained ankle treatment protocol and get it done!

In less than a week, you can rehab your ankle so you can get on with your life!

The rehab process gives you confidence that your ankle is healed. Now you just have to believe that it is.

The one thing you shouldn't do when you sprain your ankle

When you get hurt, the first thing you want to do is to look at it to "see how bad it is".

With a sprained ankle, this is the last thing that you want to do...

take off your shoe and look at your ankle!

Why?

Because your shoe and shock act as a compression bandage keeping the swelling down.

What's so important about keeping the swelling down?

Several things:

1. If your ankle is too swollen, xrays don't work. Don't ask me why that is, I don't know, I just know what the hospital used to tell me
2. The less swelling there is, the faster you will be able to start rehabilitating your ankle - after you make sure you don't have a broken or fractured bone or a torn ligament, of course.


So when should you take your shoe off?

1. When you can immediately put ice on your ankle to keep the swelling down
2. When you get to the hospital if you decide you need to go.

Reducing the swelling is the first step in starting rehabilitation of your sprained ankle because you if you can't move your ankle, you can't rehab it.

Soon - I'll tell you about the common rehab methods that most doctors recommend that don't really work very well.

Be strong!

Bret

Here's how to avoid recurring ankle sprains

I sprained my ankles more than 50 times each.I would sprain my left ankle, follow the RICE protocal and the worthless exercises that doctors told me to do. My left ankle would heal and very soon after I got "back to normal" I would sprain my right ankle and have to go through the entire process all over again.

After much reflection ( I had a lot of time to reflect, sitting with my ankle in an ice whirlpool for hours each day ) I came to the revelation that the reason I was swapping ankle sprains was that I was only focusing on rehabilitating the ankle that was injured, thereby neglecting the healthy ankle.

Once I realized that I needed to rehab both ankles at the same time, I needed to find a rehab program that would accelerate that process. The program could not involve the use of any drugs, patches, potions or lotions because I was an NCAA Division 1 basketball player who was drug tested regularly throughout the year.

Finally I found a program that worked. You can read about how I found the program and how it worked on my website at: http://www.everythingankles.com

Once I found the program and started using it, I made sure to rehab BOTH of my ankles so they would be equally strong and I would be balanced. It has been more than 16 years since I experienced a life-suspending sprain.

If you're experiencing one sprain after another and want to get things back to the way they were and maybe even better, you need to check out my Accelerated Sprained Ankle Rehab Program. Click here for more information: Sprained Ankle Rehab

When should you stop rehab and visit the doctor again?

So you've spent the last 4 weeks waiting on your ankle to get better or you've been working diligently to rehab your ankle using the program your doctor recommended or using my program at Fastrehab.com ,but you aren't getting the results you expect and want.

Your ankle still hurts, is tender, or has limited movement.

Every ankle rehab program should provide results in 6 weeks or less. Some programs help you get results faster. But if you are not back to almost 100% within 6 weeks, then you may have underlying structural problems with your ankle. It would be best to make an appointment to see your ortho doctor as quickly as possible.

In my experience, stress fractures often take a little bit of time to show up on an x-ray. I have no idea why, but many of my friends have twisted ankles or had strains on their legs or arms that initially did not show a stress fracture had occurred on x-rays, but when an x-ray was taken later due to ongoing pain, the stress fracture was easily seen.

Once you have visited the doctor and confirmed that you either don't have or do have a stress fracture, then you need to start planning how you will rehab your ankle once you get it out of the cast or immobilizing method.

Almost all doctors will put you on some sort of rehab program after the fracture has healed. Not all programs work the same in rehabbing the ankle. Most of the programs last anywhere from 4-6 weeks with marginal results.

If you want results fast and you want to minimize future ankle sprains, you need to check out my accelerated ankle rehab program at http://www.fastrehab.com.

The program has worked successfully for hundreds of people, even people who've had multiple sprains over the years. Check it out, if it doesn't work for you, you get a full refund. Guaranteed.

Thinking about shortcutting your rehab? You're dooming yourself to more frequent and severe sprains

You sprained your ankle a little while ago and followed the R.I.C.E. technique. Within a few days or a week, you were able to get back to your normal routine, so you tossed aside the rehab program your doctor put you on. That's Ok, Right?

I mean, its feeling better, so it must be healed, Right?

WRONG!

If you don't rehab your sprained ankle properly and completely, you are dooming yourself to have future, more frequent and more severe sprains.

Why?

Because the tissue, ligaments and tendons in your ankle need to be strengthened in order to provide the support you need to play your favorite sport or do your normal duties like chasing the kids (or your spouse) around the house.

And it is very likely that you will sprain your healthy ankle the next time because you are favoring the injured ankle subconsciously.

Every Doctor or physical therapist worth anything will insist that you rehab your ankle properly. Follow the regimen all the way through and make certain that you strengthen both ankles so you have balance in your joints.

If you are going to heed my advice and rehab your ankle, don't you want to use the most effective, most advanced and proven method available? Of course you do, so you need to visit my website at http://www.fastrehab.com to learn more about the program that thousands of people have found to be extremely effective even though its unconventional.

Go on over to the site and learn how to rehab your sprained ankle the way top athletes do. You can learn how to rehab your sprained ankle by clicking on the following link: I want to rehab my sprained ankle as fast as possible

Good luck and Fastrehabbing!

When is it NOT a good idea to start rehabbing a sprained ankle?

You should not start any rehab program for your sprained ankle if:

1. The swelling in your ankle will not go down after more than a week
2. You feel unstable when you walk - unstable means that you feel like you are going to fall down or that your ankle is going to fall apart
3. You have not been released by your doctor to start a rehab program
4. You have structural damage such as a torn ligament, tendon or a broken bone.
5. You are not going to follow through with your rehab leaving your ankle in a weakened state causing you to be more like to have ankle sprains in the future


A large number of people that have started my rehab program have had to quit because the swelling would not go down. When I asked if they had seen a doctor they stated that they had not, but when they went to the doctor they discovered they had a fracture or a broken ankle.

The first step of the Accelerated Sprained Ankle Rehab Program will eliminate swelling in only a few hours. If it doesn't then there is something else wrong with the ankle joint.

The program is so effective in reducing swelling that a person who had a broken ankle started the swelling reduction steps and actually reduced swelling by 50%! She stated that she was even able to walk on it with minimal pain, but the swelling came back within a couple of hours prompting her to go to the doctor.

The bottom line is that if you have not seen a doctor or confirmed that you don't have any structural damage to your ankle, you should not start any ankle rehab program.

But, once you have been released to start rehab, you should be using the program that gives you the fastest results - the Accelerated Sprained Ankle Rehab Progam.

You can find more details about the program at the following website:

http://www.fastrehab.com

The program is guaranteed to give you the results you expect or you get your money back.

Give it a chance, you'll be surprised at the results.

R.I.C.E. does nothing to rehab your sprained ankle

R.I.C.E. Sucks!

R.I.C.E. is the mantra of all doctors. If you visit other websites you will most certainly see RICE discussed everywhere because it is the accepted (and safe) thing for doctors to tell you when you have sprained your ankle.

RICE stands for:

R = Rest - rest your ankle

I = Ice - put ice on your ankle

C= Compression - compress the ankle joint to reduce moblility and prevent possible additional damage

E= Elevate - put your ankle above the level of your heart to reduce swelling.

Well...I just have one thing to say...R.I.C.E. SUCKS!!!

Who in their right mind wants to sit around on their butt for 3 or 4 weeks waiting for their sprained ankle to heal?

If you are at this website, you are a proactive person who wants to get your ankle and your life back to normal...as fast as possible...and you NEVER want to have an ankle sprain again!

R.I.C.E. is not active - it is passive - no arguing about it....sit around with ice on your ankle eating bon-bons all day until everything gets better on its own. YEAH RIGHT!!!

In addition to being passive, there is one gigantic flaw with RICE...there is no component of it that includes strengthening the ankle.

Most doctors will just put you on the RICE program and then instruct you to tape your ankles before every practice and game to prevent further injury with the hope that normal activity will help your ankle get stronger and the problem will go away.

What you need to get back to your normal routine as fast as possible is a rehab program that is:

1. Aggressive and effective in its approach to rehabilitation (its safe too)

2. Reduces swelling fast so that rehab can start immediately which reduces the overall time it takes to get back in the game.

3. Provides structured, step by step exercises that will both stretch ligaments and tendons while strenghthening the muscles that support the ankle joint.

4. Has the added benefit of not only strengthening the injured ankle, but helps to improve other aspects of your overall skills - balance, quickness, or some other skill sets.

5. The equipment needed to perform the program is not extremely expensive.

After years of searching, I finally found the program. You can read all about it at the following website:

http://www.fastrehab.com

This program works like nothing else that I've ever tried. It works. Period.


You need to go to that website now, if you're really committed to reducing or or possibly eliminating ankle sprains from your life!