Home and Medical Treatments for an Ankle Sprain

Have you just suffered an ankle sprain and don't know what to do? There are simple steps to insure that you heal the ankle and lessen the pain of the injury.

The first thing to remember after suffering an ankle sprain is the RICE method. RICE stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. Those four simple steps will help to lessen the pain of an injury and to help you heal the ankle.

The first step is to rest the injured part. After spraining your ankle you should put a brace or splint on to rest the ankle joints. You should do this at the first sign of pain.

The second step is to ice the injured part. Putting ice onto your ankle shockingly does more for most people than most medications. If you apply ice shortly after you injured the ankle it will help to reduce swelling, redness, and warmth and will also prevent much of the inflammation that will occur. It is important that you do not apply the ice directly to the skin and you only leave the ice on for 20 minutes at a time. After icing for 20 minutes you should wait at least 20 minutes in between icings or it is possible you will suffer frostbite.

The third step is to compress the injured part. To compress your ankle you should wrap it with compression wraps, such as an Ace bandage. These compression wraps will not provide much support to stop the movement of the ankle but it will help limit swelling. Remember not to apply the wraps to tightly or they will cut off the blood supply.

The final step is to elevate the injured part. Gravity will help to reduce the swelling by allowing blood and fluid to drain into the heart. This can be accomplished by using pillows or a reclining chair.

If the steps above do not do enough or you want to do more to stop the pain and inflammation you can use over-the-counter pain medications. Tylenol and other acetaminophen is helpful but it is recommended you use ibuprofen, such as Advil, because these medications relieve both inflammation.

If you do seek medical treatment a doctor will tell you to do similar steps to the ones above. A doctor may also have your ankle braced or cast in order to reduce the motion of the ankles. A doctor may also have you on crutches so you do not have any weight on your ankles. The doctor may also give you anti-inflammatory pain medication that help control inflammation and help to reduce pain.

If you follow the steps above you should be able to stop the pain of an ankle sprain and help to heal the ankle in the fastest way possible.