Contents
No one is immune from such accidents, but there are methods that will allow you to avoid the serious consequences of this trouble.
Symptoms of a Sprained Ankle
So the man sprained his leg. In addition to sharp pain, at this moment he can hear a crackling, crunching (or it may seem to him). From sudden and severe pain, even dizziness and nausea, a desire to sink to the floor are possible. After the first shock, the victim, as a rule, finds that it hurts to step on his leg, and often sees that the leg “swells before his eyes” – the swelling spreads very quickly. In addition, if a vessel was also injured during an injury, a hematoma or, simply, a bruise may appear on the leg. However, if none of this is observed, this is not a reason to forget about the incident. Pain when resting on the leg, when trying to twist the foot, is a good reason for contacting a traumatologist.
Sprained Ankle Treatment
As a rule, dislocations are treated in an emergency room, as doctors will need stationary medical equipment.
Diagnostics
After the initial examination, during which the traumatologist collects an anamnesis and assesses the situation externally, it is necessary to take an x-ray. This will allow you to assess the severity of the dislocation, its exact localization and not miss a fracture or crack. If possible, get to the emergency room should not be on foot and keep your leg at rest. Sports doctors have a RICE formula, that is, rest-ice-compression-elevation, or, in Russian, “rest, ice, compression, lift”. That is, it is better to put your foot on the car seat, for example, and not keep it on the floor, and press something cold against it on the way to get help.
Modern treatments
If the examination shows that the injury is not severe enough to require surgery, the doctor will anesthetize the patient, adjust the dislocation if necessary, and apply a splint or elastic bandage, scheduling the next visit.
In addition, he will advise modern non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are used for bone and muscle pain, are more effective than their predecessors, and irritate the gastric mucosa much less – this is important if you have to drink drugs for several days.
Prevention of sprained ankle
In addition to the obvious advice to be careful, there are specific recommendations.
Dislocation of the ankle joint is a common injury for those who abruptly, “on Monday” decided to start leading a healthy lifestyle and, barely getting out of bed, go to do strength exercises according to a video lesson, or go for a run immediately after leaving the entrance. No serious physical exercises can be done on “cold muscles”, you must first stretch and warm up.
No less important is the choice of shoes for outdoor activities or sports: it is better to run in running shoes than in sneakers, and for a walk in the forest, not sneakers, but high and hard trekking boots would be more appropriate. Trekking shoes will also come in handy in the city: winter models will insure in ice, and summer ones will not let you slip on wet grass during rain.
Popular questions and answers
Why do people, especially the elderly, have a “habitual” dislocation and how to prevent it?
Another reason, closely related to the first one, is the presence of transverse or longitudinal, and often combined forms of flat feet, which is both a consequence and a cause of a violation of the normal biomechanics of the foot and ankle joints.
The third reason may be arthropathy due to metabolic disorders, aggravated in old age. These are gout, various forms of polyarthritis, complications of diabetes mellitus, vascular disorders. That is why it is necessary to carefully examine the lower limbs, not to save on good shoes.