Sprained Ankle

BlackPantherChick123

During my last day in New York, I end up stepping/falling into a hole with one of those sewage hole things was half poking out and with a hole on the otherside and end up twisting my ankle. I thought I broke it at first because I didn't even see the hole because I was carrying a huge shopping bag with both hands and I was walking in a crowd in Times Square. It hurt pretty bad the first few minutes but I managed to walk back to my hotel without anymore problems. That let me know it wasn't broken. I did sprained it and it was swollen and still is. I been doing a lot of walking especially that day afterwards and up until today (sprained it 3 days ago). It's sore when I let it sit still for awhile because it gets stiff but once I start walking, the pain goes away but not the swelling. It's also bruised and I can't twist it too quickly to my left (I sprained my left ankle). Is it a bad idea to continue to walk on it even when I'm not very sore anymore? I go home tomorrow and want to start back my regular workout routine day after which includes cardio and then day after my strength training. Is this a bad idea? I'm pretty tough if I can walk on it all day but I never sprung (or sprained, however it is) an ankle before.

88olds

Ice? Can you get it checked by your Dr when you get home?

A good thing about an exercise program is once your hooked you don’t want to stop. That’s also a bad thing about an exercise program.

I don’t really know anything about your ankle. But I know that people keep at their routines when it’s better to rest their injury. You can’t really push through an injury. You say you do cardio but you don’t say what. It’s not a question of toughness, it’s a question of healing. That and proper function. You may think you’re working through an injury. But if you start changing your body mechanics to protect your ankle, you can throw something else out of whack.

All that said, don’t let the injury take over your head. The choice is not between your current program and sitting on the couch. Go on YouTube and figure out a program that works around your ankle until it’s properly healed.

tinkerbellang83

Yes it's a bad idea to just get back into your normal routine, I have sprained my ankle a couple of times and tried to just do that and it's never been right since as a result. You need to let it rest, get it elevated and probably ice/heat treat it, especially if you've continued to walk on it whilst it's still injured and let your body heal.

You can still do some exercise (stuff that won't put too much weight on it - maybe swimming or chair/floor based strength training) but you would be best speaking to a doctor or a physio before you start about doing your normal routine. There is some general guidance here on rehab https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/te7604