On Saturday, June 23, 2012, I was jumping around like I do sometimes because it's my way of getting exercise. I stepped wrong or something and collapsed and bruised and injured my left ankle (I'm not sure if I twisted it or not), and it was bad enough that I had to get my mom to help me back up. For the past three days, today being the third day, I've had one of those roll-up bandages on it, but it's still hurting / sore. Is that normal, and how long should it last? My mom twisted her ankle once badly, and it took her a few weeks to recover. She said the first few days were bad with the rest of the days just being soreness. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Hold an icepack to your ankle as much as possible, and maybe take ibuprofen if the pain gets real bad. Buying a brace for it isn't a bad idea either. If it doesn't get better soon and you're having trouble walking, go see a doctor. It takes about a week for a sprain to heal, but if you're unlucky it may take longer. I sprained my ankle a few years back, and re-sprained it last fall, and I've had trouble running ever since. Luckily, the first time I sprained my other ankle it took about two weeks for it to heal and it's been fine after that.
Well, I don't think it's quite that bad. The night I hurt it was really bad, but now it just hurts if I move it just right, so it's not constant pain. My mom just had me take the recycling out, and I moved wrong twice, and it hurt. Also, we unfortunately don't have any ice packs, and there's no need for the Ibuprofen since it's not that bad, like I just mentioned above. I also do have a brace, it's the roll-up bandage I mentioned that my mom used for her arm when she got bucked off a horse at my aunt's ranch and fractured her clavicle on May 15, 2010.
You may want to see a doctor just to be sure, I thought I sprained mine during fall last year and it ended up being fractured and I couldn't walk for 2 months.
A roll up bandage doesn't offer as much support as a brace does. You can get one for like $15 at Walgreens, I highly recommend that. You have any frozen packages of corn/peas/etc? Those can be used in stead of an icepack.
D'you live in the US? It's a pharmacy chain, one of the bigger ones along with CVS. But basically, almost any pharmacy will probably have a brace, if not try a department store (Walmart, Target)...
The only pharmacy we ever go to is RiteAid's, and that's not too often. Also, we don't have a Walmart and Target here, but we do in Yakima, which is about a 30 minute drive from here.
Then go to Rite Aid for the brace, an see if they have some of those snap-to-activate ice packs. You really need to support your ankle and ice it, and get off of it so the swelling will go down. Otherwise you'll make it worse. And please, please, please make an effort to see a doctor. I fell in the sixth grade and thought I sprained my ankle, but when the swelling didn't go down the next day after R.I.C.E-ing it (that's Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation for you non-med folks) I went in and had it x-rayed. Turns out it was Spoiler: squicky stuff a small fracture, I had shaved off a piece of non-moving bone after falling. I was in an air-cast for three weeks, on crutches for at least one.
Here's a video I did on my ankle: [video=youtube;rGuHPwg2zoE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGuHPwg2zoE[/video] I forgot to mention in the video that I'm also still driving.
Update. Well, I'm still in the bandage, and my foot is still tingling when touched, which wouldn't happen from just a sprain. My mom now thinks that I pulled a tendon and made a suggestion about the doctor. However, I once pulled a nerve in my arm and it tingled when I touched things, which eventually healed and stopped. The only difference, though, is that I'm putting weight on my foot, whereas when it happened with my arm, I wasn't, since you can't walk on your hands -- well, I mean you can, but it's not something normally done. Also, here's that video, which was already posted in The Spam Zone the same day it was taken, that I took around 12:10 AM PDT on June 29th for reference: [video=youtube;PMZ49x6UMKc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZ49x6UMKc[/video]
Fire your camera man, terrible work. What the hell are you watching? Tough luck on the sore ankle, when I was 2, I fell and shattered all the bones in my left arm, ever since then i've been left with 13 stitches and 2 pin scars on my arm, so think yourself lucky I say.
Just wanted to give you guys an update. I still wear the bandage until I go to bed, but the bruising finally seems to be going down. I also happened to discover that I also injured the left side of my left ankle, as there's a red bump there. It's under whatever that normal bump that's always there is called and in the middle.
The bruising finally started going down on Tuesday, as I previously mentioned, and I've been without the bandage since Wednesday. I'm not sure when I'll be able to jump on it again (I've been jumping on my right foot, which makes my leg sore each time, lol), but I suppose this can be closed now. Thanks, everyone, for all of the great advice.
