Ankle Injury:-/ Advice?

[CrazyGymnast8892]

I was working on floor dance last wednesday... we were correcting the parts of our routines that a judge recently came and evaluated. My correction was pointing my toes when my feet left the ground. I was doing really well. but one of my attempts, i jumped, kept my toe pointed, landed, rolled my ankle, and fell to the ground. I screamed, i heard a pop... it was no good. I live about half hour away from my gym so my mom came and got me, brought me to convenient care and got xrays... thank god no break. but a severe sprain... the doctors didnt give a degree but my coaches thought it was 2nd or 3rd degree. Its a high sprain. I am in an air cast. I have been conditioning and working on pit bar. I was hoping to start back on tumble track next monday, but i dont know if its healed enough. I want to get back fast because i have level 8 states the last weekend in march. Any advice what i should do? I am currently walking on it, but the bruising and swelling are continually getting worse. I am soaking it in ice and water 3 times a day 20 minutes each time as welll as writing the alphabet with my foot while it is soaking. is there anything else that could possibly help heal it faster?

 

[teena82]

I'm not a doctor so take all of this with a grain of salt. I did do a lot of research when I had 2 grade 3 sprains in my ankle (not much else to do with a cast on your leg). A grade 2 would mean you tore part of the ligament. A grade 3 would mean you torn it completely apart. If you're walking on it, I would guess it's a grade 2. The only way to know for sure is an MRI. I had a grade 3 on either side of my ankle and I wasn't willing to move it let alone try to put any weight on it. The bruising and swelling is essentially caused by internal bleeding in your ankle from the ligaments. Try to keep it elevated above your heart to help this go away and prevent it from getting worse. I would switch between moist heat (a heating pad with a damp towel over it) and ice constantly. 20 minutes each. Make sure you don't put ice directly on your skin. Also warm water with epsom salt is good. If you can, find a place near you that does sports therapy or sports rehabilitation that would be the way to heal the fastest. They'll do therapeutic massage (which will hurt a lot), ultrasound, and other things to help. They can also show you exercises to do.

Good luck!!

 

[tumblebug921]

sounds like something that happened to me! i was doing a full and landed on the side of my foot.. it swelled up and looked like a softball - no lie. i know it might be a little late based on the date, but it still wouldn't hurt now.. and it could help in the future. but along with a hot epsom salt bath and icing it and physical therapy, icy hot seemed to at least make mine feel better if it didn't help it a tiny bit. also, there's stuff you can get at the drug store called nelson's arnica cream that is especially for bruises and sore muscles. i used it on my ankle and each night i put it on after i got my cast off (it was broken ): ) i noticed the swelling go down a good bit. it ended up healing actually before the doctor said it would. i've used it on my lower back/almost tailbone when i busted on beam doing a hitchkick, various stone bruises, and sooo much more. its amazing and makes bruises heal in half the time. good luck at state

 

[gurlgymnast]

I hade a grade 2/3 (I almost completely severed a few ligaments) a couple years ago and I could barely move it for several months...it's probably only swelling because you're using it a lot. I would probably concentrate a lot on landings. You can definitely do bars, beam shouldn't be so bad except for the balancing issues...tumbling on floor and vault was the slowest for me to get back because I just couldn't get my ankle to do what I needed it to do...It was so frustrating! Now, I'm going through the same thing with my knee...it's been 6 mo since I injured it and now I am able to do about 80% of what I could do on it before (but I still can only tumble on floor with 4 inch landing mats).

 

[gymgurl]

i did the exact same thing and i:
had grade 2 tear of ligament
off ankle completely for a week
on crutches for 2
out of sport for 4
as a gymnast (i wasn't at the time - i was getting assessed to see what level i would go into) i think u could make the recovery time shorter.

 

[GetaGrip]

Oooh... Man, that really stinks! I've never sprained my ankle, but I've smacked my foot on the beam so hard in a back handspring that I couldn't walk for a week (beam). Air casts are definitely the best! I'd rest it as much as I could if I were you. Icing is a good idea, but I'd also elevate it to make swelling go down.
Smart idea to write the alphabet w/ your foot! That'll keep your ankle working while it's in the brace. Also, after you don't fully need the brace, I'd get off of it. Use it as little as possible. It will stiffen up and be really hard to work with if you keep it in too hard. And instead of walking/running around for no reason w/ out the brace, rest.
I hope you feel better!

-Lauren