You slip and fall, you are playing a sport and your twist your foot or you simply place your foot down wrong. The result is a searing ankle pain in Joliet. You hobble home or to the doctor’s nursing your sore and often swollen ankle and/or foot. In all likelihood, you have sprained your ankle causing some damage.
What Is a Sprain?
A sprain occurs when you stretch and/or tear the ligaments. Ligaments are connective tissues. They join one end of a bone to another. Ligaments are one way your body has of providing both stability and support for various joints in your body. If they are not healthy and in their proper position, you cannot walk or run properly if at all.
A strain affects negatively the ligaments of your ankle. A sudden, twisting force can stretch and tear so that your ankle no longer functions as it needs to. The same can occur to your knees and wrists. All it takes is placing too much weight on your ankle ligaments or twisting your ankle in a fashion that places it wrongly.
Classification of Sprains
The medical professional classifies ankle sprains (and other types of sprains) according to their severity. They place them within one of three grades:
Grade 1. Grade 1 sprains are mild. This type is indicated by only a slight damage to the ligament fibrils and some stretching.
Grade 2. This is a moderate type of stain. The ligament is characterized by a partial tearing. Other aspects are laxity in the joint when shifted a specific way.
Grade 3. This is the more serious class if strains. Considered as severe, it features a total tear of the ligament. The joint, as a result becomes completely instable and nonfunctional.
Ankle pain, no matter what grade it falls into, exhibits certain common characteristics. Therefore, while the level of ankle pain may vary for each grade, the diverse classifications will have the following mutual features:
Bruising
Inflammation
Swelling
However, the severity of the sprain will dictate the treatment.
Ankle Pain: Treatment and Recovery
If the strain falls into the mild category, the immediate treatment is RICE. This RICE protocol involves Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This proves to be effective for such cases. Recovery may be slow, but with the addition of physical therapy it will often decrease the rest period.
Moderate sprains may also adopt the RICE protocol initially. The ankle, however, may require both physical therapy and some bracing as part of its treatment. In the case of severe strains, the RICE protocol and physical therapy may not have an impact. This type of ankle pain may not disappear unless you have surgery to repair the affected ligaments.
If you are suffering from ankle pain, you need to contact expert medical staff. Take the time to talk to the qualified and compassionate staff at Suburban Foot & Ankle Associates. For many years we have been providing committed and caring services to their patients, we are there to ensure your visit to the facilities is an exceptional one. They are proud of who they are and what they offer. For more information about their services, visit Suburban Foot & Ankle Associates.
