Sprained my ankle, kind of scared...

[parkerlineage]

I sprained my ankle doing an ariel about two months ago, and I was supposed to be on crutches for a month. I was off them in two weeks and feeling mostly fine. I was supposed to wear a brace for the next six months to a year any time I did karate - I stopped about four or five weeks ago. I thought I was fine...I even sparred twice, without difficulty.

Yesterday, during an hour long private lesson, I was doing a kick with a 270 degree spin, and my ankle kind of twinged. About a half hour later, I practiced one of my kata that has really deep stances and is rather long, with a lot of horse stances, too. My ankle was screaming at me about 3/4 of the way through, and I had to stop.

I'm just really worried I'll never be back to where I was before. What should I do?

[bushido_man96]

You are just going to have to rest it, buddy. You can still workout, but take it easy when you have to pivot, stretch, and what not. 270 spins, not such a good idea at this point. Every night, RICE it: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Don't worry. I have rolled both of my ankles about 3 times each, and have been in crutches and braces for a while. Crutches lasted about a day for me, and I wore an ankle air cast one time, and then another time a big 'ol boot made just for me ($300). I recovered within about 2 months, and I am fine now.

It will be a little weak for a while, making it more suceptible (sp??) to re-injury for a time. Take it easy, and it will heal.

[MizuRyu]

I learned the hard way too. What the doctor tells you: do.

[Sohan]

It will certainly heal, but in my experience (motorcycle wreck in '88 among others), once a joint is severely sprained, you likely may have issues with it again in the future. My right ankle swells up ever now and then for almost no reason at all. You must realize how much stress you are placing on it by practicing MA--a whole bunch, I assure you.

Rest it, and then when it's better rest it some more and then do some basic ankle raises and other exercises to strengthen the joint. Might be a good idea to use a brace for quite a bit, perhaps permanently, though I dislike being dependent on braces. Practice balancing movements with counterweights to develop lateral movement strength as well.

With respect,

Sohan

[Red J]

You'll never be back to the way you were if you keep doing aerials and 270s when you should be taking it easy and wearing your brace. You really need to think long term and get healed before you go all out.

Listen to your doctor, strengthen the area and work from stances (or even a chair) that put less strain on your ankle. Don't let your ambition lead you to a quality of life issue that could affect you long term. It's not worth it.

With the proper care, you will be back stronger before you know it.

[parkerlineage]

Thanks, guys! I'm taking three and a half weeks off for a trip to Washington DC, so hopefully, that will give it some time to rest. I work 20 hours a week in our dojo, so it never really gets a break.

Thank you all, again.

[Aodhan]

Thanks, guys! I'm taking three and a half weeks off for a trip to Washington DC, so hopefully, that will give it some time to rest. I work 20 hours a week in our dojo, so it never really gets a break.

Thank you all, again.

All of the above. Remember, if it is a SPRAIN, then the damage is most likely ligament in nature. (Ligaments connect bone to bone). If you remember the old click pens that had the spring, ligaments are much like that spring. If you stretch them out, you can never get them back quite tight as they were. This is why people that repeatedly dislocate their shoulder eventually have to have surgery.

Ligaments also take much, much longer to heal than tendon/mucle injuries. They have less blood supply, and are under stress more often (Especially in the ankle area) than are tendons/muscles. Take the three weeks to recover, wear the brace or tape your ankle for support so the ligaments get as much chance to rest as possible.

A STRAIN, on the other hand, is generally muscular/tendon in nature, and those will heal faster than will a sprain, and requires a different treatment regimen.

Aodhan

[bushido_man96]

A word of advise, don't play any pick-up basketball games while healing.

[parkerlineage]

A word of advise, don't play any pick-up basketball games while healing.

I suck at basketball.

Thanks for the advice, guys...I've been taking it easy, but it twinged when I tripped coming down an escalator and I was worried it was going to go out. It's so weird, though...yesterday, I was really hyper, and I jumped up six steps from the ground, tripped, and caught myself with no problem...sigh...still taking it mostly easy, I suppose...

[bushido_man96]

A word of advise, don't play any pick-up basketball games while healing.

I suck at basketball.

Thanks for the advice, guys...I've been taking it easy, but it twinged when I tripped coming down an escalator and I was worried it was going to go out. It's so weird, though...yesterday, I was really hyper, and I jumped up six steps from the ground, tripped, and caught myself with no problem...sigh...still taking it mostly easy, I suppose...

Hey, I stink at Basketball, too, but it didn't stop me from going out and looking foolish.