An ankle sprain is an injury caused by strong ligaments that support the ankle stretch beyond their limits and tear. The injury is common among athletes, but it can happen to anyone at any time while walking or running.
Most of the sprains are minor and can be treated at home by applying ice and taking rest. However, if your ankle is swollen and the pain is unbearable, visiting an Urgent Care Center will help you to get immediate treatment without waiting for long hours.
In order to avoid sprained ankles in the future, make sure to follow some tips that would prevent you from lying down on the bed.
Choose Footwear According to the Activity
With so many footwear available on market, make sure to find the right one that is made for the specific purpose. For instance, if you want to participate in a marathon, you need to find the appropriate footwear designed for this purpose. You can’t wear joggers that are made for playing football or baseball.
Moreover, the footwear must fit rightly on your feet and help your ankle accommodate the terrain. If you are running on a rough surface full of rocks and trails creates a greater risk of stress for your ankle. Make sure to take every step carefully.
Exercise and strengthen your legs, Hips, and Core Muscles
When you are running and the moment your foot hits the ground has to do much with your core muscles, legs, and hips. Strong ankle muscles, strengthening hamstrings, core muscles, and quadriceps are essential to avoid strain in the ankle.
Make sure to do exercises regularly so that your muscles are hard enough to bear any kind of fatigue and stress. Weakness in any muscle group results in abnormal forces on the foot, knee, hip, and ankle.
Improve Your Balance
How well you respond to distresses in balance plays a big role in preventing recurring ankle sprains. Proprioceptors are the little sensor in all of your moving parts. The sensors are continuously sending a message to your brain regarding your body’s position in space.
After the brain receives the message, it sends it back to the muscles of your body. The message informs the muscles about how to keep their balance and stay in an upright position. Proprioceptive training is effective in restoring balance reactions and preventing recurring ankle sprains.
Maintain Full Ankle Dorsiflexion
After experiencing recurring ankle sprains, your ankle flexibility changes. Most of the time, you may experience loss of dorsiflexion that may affect how you walk. People who are affected by ankle sprain may not take it seriously which may result in loss of dorsiflexion and swelling on the front of their ankle. After reaching this condition, you may require aggressive stretching to the ankle joint and open up the Achilles and calf with exercises. It will help you in restoring normal dorsiflexion and allow the ankle to sit in the middle. It is very important in avoiding ankle sprains, especially lateral ankle sprains.
Use the Big Toe instead of Pinky Toe
People with ankle strains have one common pattern and that is they walk with their pinky toe of the foot instead of the big toe. It normally puts weight on the outside of the foot when walking.
Take notice of where you feel the weight on the bottom of your foot when walking. The weight should flow through the big toe as your foot rolls off the ground. Learn to use your foot and roll off the big toe side of your foot. It would help prevent recurring ankle sprains.
