What is an Ankle Sprain?
Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries, affecting around 1 in 10 people at some point in their lives. An ankle sprain occurs when you twist or turn your foot and ankle too far in one direction, causing damage to the ligaments that hold your bones together.
Ankle sprains can be caused by a variety of things—
- your bodyweight shifting while you’re standing on your feet (for example, slipping off a step),
- landing awkwardly after jumping or falling from something high up like a skateboard ramp;
- stepping off an uneven surface such as stairs; or
- being hit by another person’s foot during sports activities such as football or basketball.
Diagnosis of Ankle Sprain
When a person has an ankle sprain, the doctor will perform a physical examination. The doctor will check for tenderness and swelling around the joint, as well as listen to your description of how you injured yourself.
If there are no other injuries present, this is usually enough to make a diagnosis of an ankle sprain. However, if there are other injuries or if they don’t seem consistent with just an ankle sprain (for example if there is significant bruising), imaging tests like X-rays or MRI scans may be ordered by your doctor so they can get more information about what happened during injury and determine whether anything else needs treatment as well.
Treatment of Ankle Sprain
- Rest and Ice
- Compression
- Elevation
- Physical therapy (PT) is an important part of the recovery process, as it helps to strengthen muscles around your ankle. PT may also include exercises to improve mobility and balance. If you have a severe sprain or multiple sprains, you may need to wear a cast or brace for several weeks while your injury heals.
Non-Surgical Options for Ankle Sprain
- Pain relievers: Pain relievers can be used to reduce pain and swelling. They may also help you relax and sleep better, which will speed up recovery time.
- Padding and taping: Padding helps protect your ankle from further injury while taping supports it during activities such as walking or running. If you have a mild sprain, this method may be all that is needed to restore stability in your ankle joint until it heals completely on its own over time without surgery being required at all!
- Exercises: Exercises are another option for treating an unstable ankle injury since they improve strength around joints by strengthening muscles around them while also improving balance so they don’t become injured again easily in future accidents like tripping over something accidentally (which happens often!).
Surgical Options for Ankle Sprain
- Arthroscopic surgery: This is a minimally invasive procedure, which involves making small incisions in the skin and inserting special instruments through them. The surgeon can then operate on the ankle joint without having to make large cuts on either side of it.
- Open surgery: This type of operation involves making larger cuts in order for them to access all parts of your ankle joint that need attention. It’s usually done if you have severe damage or arthritis in one or both ankles, as well as if there are multiple fractures involved in your injury.
- Osteotomy: An osteotomy (also known as an osteotomy) is when doctors cut into bone so that it can be realigned back into place during recovery time after surgery has been completed
Preventing Ankle Sprain
- Wear comfortable shoes.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Avoid high heels and other types of footwear that can cause you to lose your balance or twist your ankle, such as flip-flops or clogs with a thick sole and no heel support.
Dr Victor Seah is an orthopaedic surgeon whose main area of subspecialty is in are in trauma/fractures and foot and ankle surgeries.
For a comprehensive assessment of your foot and ankle conditions, make an appointment to consult Dr Seah at +65 60258888 now!