As we’ve discussed on the blog at length, recovering from an ankle sprain can be a challenge. If you don’t fully recover after damaging your supportive ankle ligaments, you can experience chronic ankle instability, leaving you susceptible to additional injury. Many people try to make a full recovery following an ankle sprain, but doing so is not always easy. It’s not uncommon to run into a few different obstacles during your recovery period. In today’s blog, we spotlight five hurdles to ankle sprain recovery.
Avoiding Setbacks During Ankle Ligament Injury Recovery
Here are some of the potential pitfalls you’ll want to work to avoid as you attempt to help your ankle ligaments heal following a sprain.
1. Returning To Athletics Too Soon – Nobody wants to feel like they are letting the team down by missing time with an injury, but we see athletes worsen their original injuries all the time by returning to athletics before they are fully healed. Don’t rush back to athletics, especially on a weakened ankle, because there’s a good chance you’ll do additional damage to the ligaments.
2. Settling For “Good Enough” – Our ankles will progressively improve as our rehab goes along, and at some point you’re going to get the the point where your ankle feels good enough to walk or jog on. Don’t assume that your road to recovery stops here. You need to keep pursuing physical therapy and strength training once you’ve reached this point if you want to get back to a pre-injury level of fitness. Don’t settle for good enough, keep pushing on with your recovery exercises.
3. Wrong Treatment – Another common barrier to full recovery after an ankle sprain is caused by pursuing the wrong course of treatment. Rest is great in the short term, but that should quickly change to physical therapy and moderate exercise. Don’t assume that time will heal all wounds, because rest alone won’t help your ankle get back to a pre-injury level of fitness. You also need to pursue active interventions.
4. Ignoring The Problem – Some people don’t even pursue the wrong treatments, they just flat out ignore the problem. Assuming your ankle will eventually get back to normal if you just keep pushing through the discomfort is a recipe for continued discomfort in your ankle. Don’t just grit your teeth and assume all will eventually be well. You need to proactively treat a sprain.
5. Only Strength Training – Your ankles need to be able to handle a fair amount of stress during athletic activity, but strength training can’t be the only exercises you pursue during recovery. You’ll also want to work in some flexibility exercises with the help of a resistance band. Restoring strength and flexibility is key to getting back to a pre-injury level of confidence in your ankles.
