Turned Ankle>>Ouch!..How Long Did it Take You , TO get Well??

[fordy]

............Turned my Old Ankle a week ago Today . I'm taking anti-inflammatory (Naproxen) x 2 aday. Alot of the Swelling has gone Down , but I' still can't walk very well as it still hurts . So , I'm wondering how long is it gonna take ME to get back too Normal? Won't happen very fast for sure . How long has it taken You'll to get over this situation ?? , thanks , fordy..

[deberosa]

It takes a LONG time. I haven't done my ankle but have done both elbows - pulling on brush and blackberry vines. The first was my right elbow - it hurt for a year! To the point I could not even start a lawn mower. I thought I was permanently disabled! The left elbow took about 6 months.

I didn't take any drugs though - don't know how that would help/hurt. Funny thing is that when it finally stops hurting it just simply quits! I all of a sudden one day try to use that arm and I can!

Good luck on getting well soon. Might help if you wrap the ankle to support it so it doesn't continue to get aggravated. Mine got better in the winter time when I was locked inside.

[Freeholder]

I fell on some stairs a couple of years ago, thought at first I'd broken my ankle. It still gives me problems sometimes. I'm afraid I may always have to be a little careful of it. Sorry I can't be more encouraging, but sometimes the damage we do takes a long time to heal, if it ever does completely.

Kathleen

[fordy]

..............Thanks , I appreciate your responses. I guess age directly affects these kinds of situations as well as the initial damage done . fordy..

[whiterock]

A bad sprain can take months to get over. My last time, I got a velcro ankle brace at the drug store and put it on tight, then a pair of lace up boots, laced tight. I used a cane for over a month. When I took the boots and brace off i would get up quick to go to the RR or Kit and when I stepped on that foot I would just plain fall down in the floor.

Fill an old gym sock with rice and microwave it for 2-3 min. if you have a microwave. It makes a good heat source and will mold to fit around your ankle. Just me caareful because it will be hotter than it feels at first.

Good luck and sing the theme to Hopalong Cassidy as you limp around :haha:
Ed

[Little Quacker in OR]

Know just what you mean Fordy! I wracked mine up a number of years ago and the Docs put an "air cast" on it for six weeks. It took a couple of months after that before I could walk well again and several months before I could hike again for over a mile at a time. Bummer!

One plus though, while I was moaning on the couch at night with the leg propped up on five pillows, my dog brought me presents each night. A rock, a ball, a muddy leaf, a marble, a pair of dirty socks, a long handled wooden spoon (Just how did he reach that spoon anyway?LOL). I never caught him at this and he stopped after about 10 days. I'd just wake up with something on my chest or roll over on it! LOL I especially was grateful for the precious "years-old", decaying rawhide that he must have had buried out in the dog yard and sacrificed for me. LOL I think he was hurt that it was thrown away. :waa:

Wishing you a good recovery and a good dog to make you laugh along the way!

LQ

[Jen H]

Last time I sprained my ankle the doctor looked at me and said "you should have broken it. Breaks heal faster". So you might keep that in mind for next time .

Seriously, it was months before I was walking on it without a bit of a limp. A good year before I felt comfortable walking any distance without really good ankle support. Joints just take their own sweet time.

[Terri]

At age 17, it took my brother 4 days and it was a bad sprain.

For me, at age 49, it took me 1 month for a much milder sprain.

I complained to my doctor, and it appears that that is just the difference between a teenager and a middle aged person. Rats.

[sheeplady]

Well, number one: takes usually a month. And keeping it wrapped in an ace bandage or other elastic support and high boots for support will help a lot. Elevate it several times a day. Warm moist heat will help too. We use corn bags. Cloth bags filled with cow corn( not pop corn :haha: ) Put in microwave 2-3 minutes and they stay hot for several hours.
And the above was right, breaks seem to heal quicker and less pain than sprains.
Better now than in summer. Good time to have to be off yur feet!

[mary,tx]

I sprained mine while we were in Colorado, and was on crutches for a full six weeks. Yep, I'm 40-something. Wrapping helps. I still keep the wrap for those days when I start limping a little again. Not so often anymore.
mary

[fordy]

............Thanks for all your responses . The pain comes and goes with no rhyme or reason . I'll just wait it out like they did a hundred years prior . Nothing else I can do really! Appreciate your concern , fordy...

[Dixielee]

You have gotten some good advice so far, so I will add mine. Supporting it IS very important. You can get the "gel splint" at wal mart I think. It is a rigid but comfortble splint that is adjustable and will give you good support. It will be very easy to reinjure it, if you do not give it good support. An ace bandage is good for a minor sprain, but if you are still having trouble bearing weight, you need more support.

A good boot, laced firmly, but not enough to cut off circulation is also a good alternative. Rest with your feet elevated when you can. It is still trying to heal, so "stressing" it is not a good idea. I know that is hard to do sometimes. After the first few days of ice, then heat is the best thing for the discomfort. Anti-inflamatories like Ibuprofen, Aspirin or Aleve do help the healing process and offer pain relief. Don't however, load up on the meds, and when you feel a little better, run out and work hard using your ankle, you will cause more damage than you know.

When your body hurts, listen to it. It needs help, whether that comes in the form of rest, meds or crutches. Good luck, sprains hurt! I don't know if a break really heals faster, but I think from a psychological standpoint, when it is broken and of course you have a cast on it, you can't use your ankle, you get more sympathy, and you rest it. But if it is "only a sprain", you tend to discount it's seriousness, get back on it too soon, don't protect it as well, and expect to get right back to work. Take a few days off, prop it up when you can and good luck!

[debitaber]

I sprang my right ankle years ago. bad, it swelled, and was black and blue for months, had three diffenernt drs look at it, the yall thought it was broken, then exrayed it, and it wasn't broken. it took 2 years to heal. I was 23years old. It still swells once in a while, and yup you guesseed it, sprang it yeaterday, I am hobbling around on it. I think I can sleep tonight, but didn't last night at all. so I just don't know how long it will take this time. but not brusing this time, thank GOD, so maybe it will heal fast, I hope , got does due to kid this week, a bunch of them , so let the fun begin. this is going to be real interesting. good luck and I hope you heal soon. drink lots of milk.

[Jan Doling]

Six months to a year....then years later you'll always know when the weather will change. I figured that would only happen if I broke it, but no, sometimes soft tissue damage can be permanent. Maybe this will give you time to plan the spring garden?

[LisaInN.Idaho]

My husband "sprained" his ankle the day after Thanksgiving bailing out of a cart pulled by a runaway horse. The foot and ankle swelled to twice its normal size and despite great pain, he wouldn't go to the dr. (high deductible). After checking that his toes stayed warm so we knew circulation hadn't been impeded, we iced it, elevated it, rented a crutch, and gave him lots of ibuprofin. A month and a half later, still hobbling, he finally went to a doctor. He didn't sprain it, he broke it, and it should have been casted. Luckily the fracture wasn't displaced, so it had started healing.

[barbarake]

I was in a lot of sports when I was younger and sprained my ankles quite frequently. One advantage to having done that is now my ankles are so loose, it's almost impossible for me to sprain them. I can step on something wrong and my ankle will turn so much that the outside ankle bone hits the ground - it'll hurt for a few minutes and then it's ok.

[Big Sky Country]

I have a very high arches and have twisted my one ankle so many times that I now have arthritis. I can feel the weather change.

The PT and doctor told me to put my ankle in hot water with epsom salt and let it soak for awhile...twice a day. PT told me also to practice writing the alphabet with my ankle (like you are writing it with your big toe) it's important to get strength built back in your ankle.

If you have a rubber hose (you can get them at a medical store) and place it over your big toe and tie it to a dresser drawer handle you can exercise your ankle (or where ever). Make sure there's some resistance. You want to do that twice a day too.

No matter what, keep support on your ankle. ACE bangage or lace-up ankle brace works good. Once you sprain your ankle, you are more than likely to sprain it again.

An air case will work too. That is like a splint. In the future, if you are going to do something that you might twist your ankle again, wear that.

Also, riding boots that are laced up with a good heel is important. I also have to wear a heel support in my one shoe because of all the damage I've done.

Sprains take a long time to heal, they are no fun.

They had to test me to see if I had nerve damage running down my leg because of the numerous sprains I've had. Talk about pain. OMG, it hurt so bad that I wanted to cry.

Hope this helps,

Leslie

[agmantoo]

I do not know how long it will take for the ankle to heal. I do know you need to take care of it and to follow the advice of a competent doctor. I shattered my heel bone in 1990 and being hardheaded did not adhere to the doc's advise. Now my left leg is 1/2 inch shorter than the right. The heel still hurts like heck and will never be as it was.

[fordy]

..........Again I just want to THANK each person who has taken the time to reply and I am listening to all this great advise I've received . Agmantoo and Leslie I know I didn't break anything. My local GP physican has bumped his office visits to $80 a visit . I had to let my health ins. expire four years previously so i'm on MY own when it comes to gittin' things fixed . Depending upon future events i may schedule a visit with the Doc . I'm going to wait another week and See how the ankle feels and if most of the swelling has gone down . I did call his office and asked them to phone in a prescription for Anti-inflammatory and mild pain killer which they did . I think I understand why alot of the OLD Timers just "Kicked the Bucket" when they got real sick with a lot of pain , because it was just easier to DIE than it was to Suffer . Of course , they Didn't have much to look forward too ....Even After they had been to the Doc. Atleast today , we have the Expectation of Strong Pain Killers being prescribed IF we can afford a Doctor Visit . Sometimes it seems the Capitalistic System of Allocation of Resources and Services is a Very Cold Blooded situation but Efficiency\Profitability must Always be achieved No Matter under our current Medical System ! fordy..

[Big Sky Country]

Also, to tell the difference between a sprain and a break...A break will be cold where it is broken. A sprain will be all hot.