how long did your ankle sprain take to heal completely?

balconywriternb

I'm just curious. I sprained mine almost 2 months ago. It didn't swell/bruise. It was a mild sprain according to my doctor. But I'm still dealing with pain and stiffness. And I hate the fact that I cannot run anymore! Swimming is great, but I miss my running.

So how long did it take for your sprain to heal? And how did you deal with exercise?

curiousmissclay

i tore a ligament in my right ankle in march and im still suffering with stiffness and pain but im now able to jog which is lovely lol
Mine was a very severe injury so maybe doing some strength excercises might improve things.x

hm_day

Sprains are weird. They never completely heal (ask mine!) and become weaker each time you sprain it. However, a good way to strengthen ankles, as weird as this sounds, is to trace the alphabet with your foot. It will release the stiffness and will strengthen the ankle. In the meantime, take ibuprofen to reduce pain before exercise.

jamiealdridge02

Sprains are weird. They never completely heal (ask mine!) and become weaker each time you sprain it. However, a good way to strengthen ankles, as weird as this sounds, is to trace the alphabet with your foot. It will release the stiffness and will strengthen the ankle. In the meantime, take ibuprofen to reduce pain before exercise.

Exactly. I sprained mne as a high school student and it still bothers me to this day with stiffness and popping. I have found the alphabet tracing and slowly rising up on your toes really helps. Also, overall strength training seems to help. If it is still really bad there a are soft braces and air casts that you can wear when working out.

youngmomtaz

I sprained my ankle one summer(fairly severly, possible torn ligament) and it took a full 6 months before it was pain free again. And that was with lots of icing and rehab. A year later I was back to my regular runnig schedule, but mine was pretty bad.

UpEarly

It took me a full year to heal from my ankle sprain. I had a grade 2 sprain, so mine was probably quite a bit worse than yours. I had significant swelling and bruising.

I actually did physical therapy/rehab using a program used for athletes. It was rigorous and took a lot more of my time, but I was able to walk again a lot sooner than I would have if I had just followed RICE. (rest, ice, elevation, etc).

For about a year, the ankle was stiff and sore, but it got less over time. I still do lots of extra stretching and balance board work to keep my ankles flexible and strong.

alucard75

12 years two surgeries and still counting...Mine has never been right. I deal with the pain, however I can still run I just take some motrin about 30 minutes before I run. Good luck and listen to your doc, I don't think i completely listened to mine..

Brannock8

I've broken and/or sprained my right ankle 6 times, mostly pretty severe. 2 months should be plenty for a mild sprain. The pain and stiffness might remain until you do run on it again for a while. Have you been doing any PT for it?

bluebelle00

As others said, sprains don't completely heal, and your ankle gets weaker each time it happens. I got several sprains playing sports through high school/college. Now I wear ankle braces EVERY time I play sports to prevent any more injuries. I use Active Ankles & they're wonderful.

fitb4forty

I severely sprained my ankle doing Zumba back in early January, to the point where I thought I tore something or broke it but x-ray's proved otherwise, it was just a very bad sprain. Mine was swollen for several months to some extent and only now, 8 months later, does it really look normal and is to the point where I no longer have pain in it daily. I too was given the advice of tracing the alphabet with my foot to help it heal and it did work, especially with keeping the flexibility. I don't do Zumba anymore because I have been back twice since my injury but I now am trying so hard to not hurt myself that I am overthinking it and feel like that is going to cause me to re-injure myself. For cardio I now run on the treadmill, which has not given me any pain, do the elliptical, walk briskly, do strength training and take a core strengthening class. The first few months after the sprain were tough for sure and I mainly just did the elliptical for cardio because that was the least impact and I could do it without pain. I wish you fast healing!

liftingbro

I took a bad fall on ice a few years ago. I thought for sure I broke it because I couldn't put weight on it for a few days and it swelled up bad and turned black and blue but two sets of X-Rays say it wasn't borken. It took about 3 weeks to walk with out crutches and I wasn't totally comfortable walking on it for about 2.5 months and couldn't ride a bike or run for probably 3.5-4 months.

Sometimes a sprain takes longer to health than a break.

balconywriternb

My foot doctor gave me physical therapy exercises to do. I like tracing the alphabet, though that gets boring after awhile so I try to spell really hard words to not only strengthen my ankle but strengthen my brain :-)

hm_day

My foot doctor gave me physical therapy exercises to do. I like tracing the alphabet, though that gets boring after awhile so I try to spell really hard words to not only strengthen my ankle but strengthen my brain :-)

Good idea! The alphabet is definitely for those times where you're just sitting down doing nothing But it's always good to strengthen the brain too