Today started out well enough; walked the dog, it’s a nice cool dry am, so I get my shoes on and go for an easy run. At the 1 mile mark, I check my watch, I’m cruising along comfortably, then a few steps later I inexplicably rolled my ankle and did a face plant. I don’t know how or why I managed to do this on flat, level, paved ground, but I did.
To add stupidity to injury, I attempted to “walk it off”, and jogged another half mile out, and back, then walked the last 3/4 mile home. Probably not the smartest move…
Anyway, it’s swelled up pretty good now, mostly on the upper outside, and I megadosed on Aleve and Vitamin I, iced it, and now have it wrapped tight w/ ace bandage and elevated. (My griping about it here constitutes the Complain part of the RICE - Rest Ice Complain Elevate - protocol The swelling seems to have gone down a tad since wrapping it and elevating it.
It’s pretty much a given that my Oly this weekend has gotten the kaibosh. RATS.
Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can either recover more quickly, and/or keep some fitness (if possible) so I can still stay reasonably on track for doing Timberman next month???
well, you’re not the first person to have fallen down. i did that last year and was bleeding. a lady stopped and asked me if i needed a ride home…the whole thing made me shuffle home in tears. happens to all of us at one time or antoher so don’t feel bad
about the swelling…can you get some perscription anti inflams? they are more powerful than just ibuprofen alone…
secondly, once the swelling is down a bit, you might be able to deep water run with it in an ace bandage. this will help you keep your running fitness. probably might be able to swim with in in a bandage as well, but you can do open turns and kick off the wall with just one foot…no heavy/hard kicking in your sets.
as for the bike–i don’t know what to say there. if your race is that important to you, can you get into your sports doc right away to see what he/she recommends? the doc can also get you a script for anti inflams…possibly get you a TENS unit, etc…
the way you describe it, things don’t sound overly serious…but you don’t want to make an iffy situation into a bad situation, especially with this big race in 4 weeks. i believe if you play your cards right you’ll be just fine…seeking the doc’s advice is worth it.
Murphy: I did the same thing last year on a build up to my A-race. A month out I rolled an ankle, bad. Snap, crackle, and pop bad ! Fortunately I was able to get to the Boulder Center for Sports Med in Boulder and they helped me out to be able to race in a month - an PR in a Half BTW.
They put me on a very aggressive schedule of E-Stim, Ice, elevation, fluids, and Anti-Inflammatories. The most important part of that equation was the E-stim program. I don’t think I would have been able to walk in a month, much less race if they had not jumped on that.
My $.02 is that if you want to race, go to a Sports Center, or Doctor to get that treatment.
And as was mentioned. When the soreness has started to subside, (about a week), I got in the pool to water run for about a week. Don’t do it if it is painful. And don’t do it to set a PR, just get in the pool and work on the mobility.
Lay off the anti inflammatories ofr the first 48 hours, they tend to make the injury bleed more. In turn that can lead to secondary hypoxic injury, making you much worse 5 days after the injury than 2 days after.
Listen to the other Kevin. Ice and elevate now. Lay off the Vitamin I for a while. Contain and minimize the swelling as best you can for the first 48 or so.
I did something similar last Nov…I knew I would have to get a docs opinion so I opted for my sports med guy…he prescribed a brace, some PT (one legged balance drills, range of motion drills and ankle strengthening work), and activity that I could bear. I was able to ride my bike pretty early on but had to be super careful clicking out of my pedals. I recovered nicely by spring and with the rides I was putting in combined with swimming, my fitness didn’t suffer that much.
Now the bad news…it takes time to get “really healthy”. Dependant on the severity of your sprain and which ligaments are involved, it could take a month or more before you get back to feeling close to normal on that ankle. My one caution is that the ankle is going to benefit from constant rehab…I slacked off a bit this spring and summer from the exercises and found that my ankle was getting sore on long runs…back to the exercises and it feels strong again!
Also, be aware that if you can’t run “comfortably” you might be setting yourself up for problems down the line by rushing back. Things such as tendonitis, IT issues and other various aches and pains can develop while you work your way back all due to the soreness in your ankle changing your gait, etc… Be Careful now and you will be better off in the long run…(no pun intended)
I had a nearly identical experience last year (although I actually blame the sidewalk on the Tuesday before the Sunday Eagleman HIM. To make matters worse, I was 800 miles from home on a business trip, couldn’t ice it until after my meeting & flight back home, and therefore had only Wed-Sat to get the swelling down.
The three things I did that enabled me to run were: (1) ice with compression, and I used a Cryo/Cuff by Aircast that I had from past injuries (http://www.buyaircast.com); (2) got two ART treatments on the muscle on the outside of the affected lower leg (6-12" above the ankle); and (3) wore a racing flat that was cut low enough to avoid putting added pressure on any residual swelling.
Ran better than expected and had a nice race, so you can be confident that there is enough time to get ready for your Oly if you are diligent about your rehab.
They put me on a very aggressive schedule of E-Stim, Ice, elevation, fluids, and Anti-Inflammatories. The most important part of that equation was the E-stim program. I don’t think I would have been able to walk in a month, much less race if they had not jumped on that.
I’ll bet the E-Stim was on the outside lower leg, just above the ankle, right? That’s exactly where my DC did the ART treatments, and I totally agree that this was the most important part of the rehab. My ankle was crushed on Tues, and I managed to race hard on Sunday. Wouldn’t have believed it could heal that fast if I hadn’t experienced it myself.
MPL201: If I can remember correctly, the electrode pads were above and below the injury. So above the ankle, on the outside and then on the foot. While the stimulation proceedure was going on, the whole foot was wrapped in ice. I had that done every other day for a week (or so). Then water running/walking for a week after that.
I was not quite up to running on it in a week, but I was happy to be able to run on it in 2 weeks and then continue training for a HIM that was 4 weeks out from the injury.
FWIW, that was almost exactly a year ago, and I can still feel the injury after a hard training weekend, like now… (120 miles bike Sat- 10,000 feet climing, 10 mile run Sun.)
E-Stim and ART are a couple of the best kept secrets in sport performance. If you are an athlete and your PT/orthopod/yoda can’t steer you in this direction, keep asking people until you get access.
Truly the difference between waiting to see what happens and doing something constructive to return to structural integrity.
I would stress REST! Don’t rush back because depending on the severity of the sprain it can creep back on you. I sprained the same ankle numerous times back in the day because I didn’t let it heal properly during the season based on bad advice and thinking that it was better (plus I was young and stubborn). What finally helped was water running, stretching, and strengthening. Don’t rush back to the pounding. These are some of the things that come to memory once you are able to do so (take it easy with the heal walking - read: that shit hurts):
Thanks for the advice all. RICE has been helping a bit, the swelling is down so it now is only like an egg on the side of my ankle vs. a baseball like it first was.
(Fish - I musta been imagining the hottie. At least this way she didn’t see me go splat
So - quick q here - what kinda doc should I go see?
My wife has been going to a great PT lately for back problems, but I’d need a prescription before I can see her. I don’t really have a doc, since I’m rarely in need of one, and when I am, I get to see the ER doc then. (D’OH!!!)
General Practitioner, or Orthopedic, or Other?
I would love to be able to get access to E-stim and/or ART, to supplement the RICE’ing I will continue to do. So, I guess I need to also do a search for those sorta practitioners in my area.
The swelling seems to have gone down a tad since wrapping it and elevating it.