Natural Treatments to Reduce Pain & Discomfort on Sprained Ankle! 

Home Remedies For Sprained Ankle: 

Sprained Ankle:

Sprained Ankle, A sprained ankle is an injury that occurs when you roll, twist or turn your ankle in an awkward way. This can stretch or tear the tough bands of tissue (ligaments) that help hold your ankle bones together.

Ligaments help stabilize joints, preventing excessive movement. A sprained ankle occurs when the ligaments are forced beyond their normal range of motion. Most sprained ankles involve injuries to the ligaments on the outer side of the ankle.

Treatment for a sprained ankle depends on the severity of the injury.

Although self-care measures and over-the-counter pain medications may be all you need, a medical evaluation might be necessary to reveal how badly you’ve sprained your ankle and to determine the appropriate treatment.

How Long Does it Take to Heal a Sprained Ankle?

Sprained ankle takes an average of 6 weeks to heal but can take can up to 4 months, depending on the severity. An ankle brace, air stirrup, hiking boots, or other forms of ankle support should be worn during this time to protect the ligaments.

Signs & Symptoms:

Signs and symptoms of a sprained ankle vary depending on the severity of the injury. They may include:

• Pain, especially when you bear weight on the affected foot.
• Tenderness when you touch the ankle.
• Swelling.
• Bruising.
• Restricted range of motion.
• Instability in the ankle.
• Popping sensation or sound at the time of injury.

Call Your Doctor if You:

• Have pain and swelling in your ankle and you suspect a sprain.
• Self-care measures may be all you need but talk to your doctor to discuss whether you should have your ankle evaluated.
• If signs and symptoms are severe, you may have significant damage to a ligament or a broken bone in your ankle or lower leg.

Causes:

A sprain occurs when your ankle is forced to move out of its normal position, which can cause one or more of the ankle’s ligaments to stretch, partially tear or tear completely.

Causes of a sprained ankle might include:

• A fall that causes your ankle to twist.
• Landing awkwardly on your foot after jumping or pivoting.
• Walking or exercising on an uneven surface.
• Another person stepping or landing on your foot during a sports activity.

Related Topics:

Complications:

Failing to treat a sprained ankle properly, engaging in activities too soon after spraining your ankle or spraining your ankle repeatedly might lead to the following complications:

• Chronic ankle pain.
• A chronic ankle joint instability.
• Arthritis in the ankle joint.

Natural Treatments to Reduce Pain & Discomfort on Your Ankle:

Sprains and strains are due to muscles being pulled suddenly. The joints get twisted and pain occurs. A sprain is stretching or tearing of ligaments (these are bands of fibrous tissues that connect one bone to another). They generally affect the ankles and knees. A strain involves the stretching or tearing of muscles or tendons. Hamstring and back injuries are some of the most common strains.

There is rapid swelling when sprains occur. An injury is severe when the pain and swelling are more. In the case of severe strain, the muscle or tendon is torn apart or ruptured. It could cause a lot of bleeding, swelling and bruising around the muscle, leading to malfunctioning of muscle.

How to Get Over These Sprains and Strains?

Here’s How to Treat a Sprained Ankle:

You can treat a lot of ankle sprains at home. Doctors recommend the RICE approach, listed below.

1. Icing:

Ice helps decrease swelling, bruising, pain, and muscle spasms. Putting ice on your ankle is helpful, but you need to be careful. The cold can damage your nerves if you leave the ice in place too long.

• You should only use ice for up to 20 minutes at a time.
• If your skin feels numb, it’s time to remove the ice.
• Use ice treatments every 2 to 4 hours for the first 3 days after your injury.
• Ice treatments can consist of ice packs, ice baths, or ice massages.

To Make an Ice Pack,

• Partly fill a plastic bag with ice.
• Put a thin, damp cloth on your ankle to create a layer between your skin and the ice.
• Wrap an elastic bandage around the ice pack to hold it in place.

For An Ice Bath,

• Fill a large bucket with water and ice.
• Place your ankle in the bucket until the skin starts to get numb.

Ice Massage:

• Ice massages can work well for small areas.
• Freeze water in 4- to 8-ounce Styrofoam (coffee) cups.
• Tear the top part of the cup away from the ice.
• Hold the covered end and slowly rub the ice over the sprained area in a circular motion.
• Don’t hold the ice on one spot for more than 30 seconds.

2. Compression:

You can wrap your sprained ankle to avoid swelling and bruising. You might need to do this for several days or a week after your injury.

• Start by cutting out a horseshoe-shaped pad from 1 x 4- to 3 x 8-inch-thick felt.
• Put this pad around the outside of your ankle joint on both sides of your foot.
• The open end should face up.
• Then wrap an elastic bandage, such as an Ace bandage, in a “figure-eight” pattern.
• Leave your heel exposed.
• Reinforce your wrap with 21 x 2-inch adhesive tape over the elastic bandage.
• Your doctor can show you how to do this.
• The ankle shouldn’t be wrapped so tight that it cuts off your blood flow.

3. Elevation:

• Raise your ankle at or above the level of your heart.
• This helps prevent the swelling from getting worse and reduces bruising.
• Try to keep your ankle elevated for about 2 to 3 hours a day.

To help relieve pain, you can take over-the-counter medicine. Try acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, or Nuprin).

You’ll need additional treatment for a higher-grade ankle sprain. Your doctor might give you a cast, boot, or brace to wear on your ankle. This will keep your ligaments and joint in place while they heal. It limits motion, provides protection, and helps reduce pain. You may need to wear it for 2 to 6 weeks.

Physical therapy also is an important part of ankle sprain treatment. The amount and length of time will depend on your grade and state of health.

4. Rest:

• All ankle sprains require a period of rest.
• The length of time will depend on your grade of sprain.
• Your doctor can help you with a timeline.
• Use crutches if it hurts to put weight on your foot.

5. Exercise:

Exercise is an ongoing home treatment that will serve as pain relief and prevention. To prevent future ankle injuries, and to strengthen an ankle that is already injured, range-of-motion exercises and stretches provide the most benefit. Only stretch or exercise the ankle once the pain has subsided.

Range-of-motion exercises will increase the flexibility of tendons and ligaments that have tightened during an injury.

• Trace the alphabet with your toes, moving the ankle as much as possible throughout.
• Repeat at least ten times per day to strengthen your ankle and improve your flexibility.

While Sitting on a Chair,

• Place the foot with the injured ankle flat on the floor.
• Slowly move your knee from side-to-side without lifting your foot off of the ground.
• Repeat this exercise at least ten times per day to enhance lateral movement.

The pain level of these exercises should never move into moderate or severe levels. Experiencing a small amount of pain is common when beginning range-of-motion exercises, however, discontinue the exercise if the pain becomes severe.

Your doctor or therapist also will provide a list of ankle exercises to do. This will help strengthen your muscles and prevent future sprains.

Try The Following Exercises:

I. Ankle Circles:

• Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you.
• Move your ankle from side to side, up and down, and around in circles.
• Do 5 to 10 circles in each direction at least 3 times per day.

II. Alphabet Letters: 

• Using your big toe as a “pencil,” write the letters of the alphabet in the air.
• Do the entire alphabet 2 or 3 times.

III. Toe Raises:

•  Flex your toes back toward you while keeping your knee as straight as you can.
• Hold for 15 seconds.
• Do this 10 times.

IV. Heel Raises: 

• Point your toes away from you while keeping your knees as straight as you can.
• Hold for 15 seconds.
• Do this 10 times.

V. In and Out: 

• Turn your injured foot inward until you can’t turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds.
• Straighten your foot again.
• Turn it outward until you can’t turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds.
• Do this 10 times in both directions.

VI. Resistance in and Out:

• Sit on a chair with your leg straight in front of you.
• Tie the ends of a large elastic exercise band together to make a knot.
• Wrap the end of the band around the chair leg.
• Wrap the other end around the bottom of your injured foot.
• Keep your heel on the ground and slide your foot outward and hold for 10 seconds.
• Put your foot in front of you again.
• Slide your foot inward and hold for 10 seconds.
• Repeat at least 10 times each direction 2 or 3 times per day.

VII. Step Up:

• Put your injured foot on the first step of a staircase and your other foot on the ground.
• Slowly straighten the knee of your injured leg while lifting your other foot off the ground.
• Return to your starting position.
• Do this 3 to 5 times at least 3 times per day.

VIII. Sitting and Standing Raises: 

• Sit in a chair with your feet on the ground.
• Slowly raise your heels while keeping your toes on the ground.
• Return your heels to the floor.
• Repeat 10 times at least 2 or 3 times per day.
• As you get stronger, you can stand on your feet instead of sitting in a chair and raise your heels.

IX. Balance Exercises: 

• Stand and place a chair next to your uninjured leg to balance you.
• To start, stand on your injured foot for 30 seconds.
• You can slowly increase this to up to 3 minutes at a time.
• Repeat at least 3 times a day.
• To increase the difficulty, repeat with your eyes closed.

6. Herbal Remedies: 

I. Home remedies such as coconut and garlic oil help reduce pain and swelling when they soak directly into the skin.

Method:

• Mix 3 tablespoon of coconut and garlic oil into a container.
• Heat in the microwave for ten seconds.
• Slightly warming the mixture.
• Generously massage the oil directly onto your ankle for ten minutes.
• allowing the oils to soak into your skin.

II. Cabbage contains minerals and vitamins that are useful when ingested, as well as when they’re applied externally.

Method:

• Gather the outer layers, or leaves, of the cabbage plant.
• Blanch the leaves by boiling them in water.
• and then immediately placing the leaves into a container of ice-cold water.
• Once the leaves have been blanched.
• wrap your entire foot and ankle, and allow them to rest for 30 minutes before removing.

7. Dieting:

Changing your diet to relieve knee pain can be effective over a longer term. If you are heavy, you may experience poor circulation and heightened stress in the ankles and other weight-bearing joints. If you are overweight and suffer from frequent strains or bone degeneration, losing weight can permanently end your ankle pain.

Adding a joint supplement to your diets, such as glucosamine or chondroitin, may also help some people by protecting the ankle joint and surrounding tissue.

8. Superfoods For Recovery:

• Salmon (omega-3’s).
• Almonds (fat/protein, zinc).
• Olive oil (Anti-inflammatory – works like ibuprofen).
• Broccoli (vitamin C, fiber, antibacterial).
• Apples (flavanoids – protect cells from oxygen damage, prevent inflammation.
• Curry (anti-inflammatory).
• Pineapple (bromelain – analgesic).
• Garlic (allicin – anti-inflammatory, improves macrophage function).
• Grass fed beef (protein, vitamin, minerals).
• Papaya (vitamins A, C, and papain – the enzyme that increases immune function) 

9. Orthopedics Treatment:

Seek for medical support if your ankle sprain still persists after trying out the suggested remedies. It is advisable to seek for professional help if your ankle sprain is giving you symptoms that can be interpreted as serious health issues.

How to Prevent Sprains?

The following tips can help you prevent a sprained ankle or a recurring sprain:

• Warm up before you exercise or play sports.
• Be careful when walking, running or working on an uneven surface.
• Use an ankle support brace or tape on a weak or previously injured ankle.
• Wear shoes that fit well and are made for your activity.
• Minimize wearing high-heeled shoes.
• Don’t play sports or participate in activities for which you are not conditioned.
• Maintain good muscle strength and flexibility.
• Practice stability training, including balance exercises.

 

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Disclaimer: “Nothing in this article makes any claim to offer cures or treatment of any disease or illness. If you are sick please consult with your doctor.”

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Best Effective Eight Ways to Get Relief From Knee Pain Naturally!

 

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