Anon Looking for “normal” ankle sprain stories

[Anonymous (2435)]

Looking for some help. My daughter sprained her ankle the other day. It seems to be a moderate sprain - not mild and not the worst per her ortho and PT. A fairly typical sprain but with all of the warnings about the importance of NOT rushing things, and making sure to fully recover, etc. The problem I’m having is that I seem to be mentally spinning about her return and worrying (probably irrationally) about worst case scenarios. She is a multi year level ten who has had many injuries over the years, but this is her first ankle sprain. I am not quite sure why this one is triggering me mentally (I have suspicions but that’s not worth going into right now.) The reason for my post is, can anyone share some stories of a standard/basic return to gymnastics with an ankle sprain? Like not the horror story of someone whose ankle sprain turned into months and years of trouble and eventual retirement (I’ve read those already)? I feel like there have to be people out there who sprained their ankle and did rest, PT, etc and then came back and were okay. If that’s you/your kid, can you please share? I’m not looking to rush things or for some miracle comeback, but just some normal examples of what the next few weeks and months may look like. Also open to tips and advice on return to sport after an ankle sprain, though mostly we will be deferring to her PT. Thank you.

 

[JBS]

Most of our ankle sprains are back in 6-12 weeks depending on how bad. They all do lots of PT. Upper level kids are typically doing bars within a week or two over the pit.

 

[Anonymous (2435)]

Curious, when you say “back” what does that mean? Like back to where they were (or close to that) pre-Injury, or back to where they can start training fully again? (Or somewhere in between)?

 

[Anonymous (4d9d)]

A few years ago my daughter sprained her ankle 5 weeks before the start of the season. It was a moderate sprain but swollen enough that I took her for an x ray and she was on crutches for about a week. I was sure she would miss the first couple of meets, but she rested and was back in time for the rest meet. No further ankle problems in the years since.

 

[Dahlialover]

I had lots of ankle sprains as an active kid and they were never a big deal. A few weeks of rest-ice-compression-elevation then easing back into sports, as tolerated, with an elastic bandage or tape for support. No big deal.

 

[JBS]

Curious, when you say “back” what does that mean? Like back to where they were (or close to that) pre-Injury, or back to where they can start training fully again? (Or somewhere in between)?

Back to where they were before the injury. 6 weeks would be a mild one... 4 weeks to heal and a couple weeks to get back. More serious sprain is more like 8 weeks with 4 weeks to build back up. In other words... if a L10 was released back to us for full workouts at 8 weeks... it would still take us another 4 weeks to build her back up to her previous state.

We typically tape or brace (or both) the ankle for another couple of months after that while training.

Ankle pain is very normal with the recovery of a sprain... this is why it is important to work with a good physical therapist that understands how to work them through the pain to get them going again as quickly as possible.

I have to say... we have never had a gymnast retire simply due to a sprained ankle.

 

[Anonymous (2edf)]

My daughter had a fairly serious sprain that took about 2-3 months to properly heal. She had a 2 weeks off or so and did no jumping-related things for a while, so no tumbling or even jumping off beam/bars. That was two years ago and it hasn't bothered her since

 

[Anonymous (794f)]

I've only xcel platinum. It beats me how she got to L10 without any sprains because I've already had like 12 in my 4 years in the sport. Wish I had ankles like hers haha. Anyways, it has always healed for me. I wore ankle braces/taped when I first get back into the gym and now I just wear low support braces all the time at practice as prevention. I don't need another sprain lol. But yeah, it will be fine! Hope it gets well soon for your daughter!

 

[CoachPow]

We've had dozens of sprains over the years. With ice, rest, and PT, she should be back to doing bars in a few weeks, and full participation a couple of weeks after that. Point of advice if I may- find a PT familiar with the movements and expectations of gymnastics. I've found many orthos and PTs don't fully understand the sport and either clear them too quickly, or assume the only skills done in a gym are those they see on the Olympics.