3 worst things to do for Ankle Pain
Hello
This week I am going to tell you the 3 of the worst ways to manage Ankle pain. Some of them might even be very common advice that is doing the opposite of what it meant to.
Rest more
I know. The first thing everyone does for ankle pain is to find a comfortable position and rest or try to walk it as little as possible. As we hope that will help make it better.
This makes perfect sense for the first time you had ankle pain. Even more so when there was a specific event that caused the pain. Like falling funny or spraining it.
However, when your ankle pain keeps on coming back out of the blue. Nothing seems to have caused it this time, and every time it comes back it gets worse is different. Or maybe there the whole time. You also find yourself wearing the ankle guard more than you aren’t.
More rest will cause more issues. It’ll make you weaker, less able to do things like walk barefoot or on uneven ground.
You may reach the point where your ankle becomes so weak that you will feel it will give way at any moment.
Taking more anti-inflammatories
When your ankle is hurt taking an anti-inflammatory for a short while would make sense. To decrease the “inflammation”.
The problem with that idea is that inflammation is actually a good thing. It is the natural process by which the body heals itself. Inflammation is the medical term for the whole process. IF you have been injured, taking anti-inflammatories is like blocking the fire trucks on their way to put out a burning building.
It impairs our body’s ability to heal effectively.
There are many studies that show that taking anti-inflammatories after an ankle sprain makes the ligaments heal weaker and more prone to spraining again.
If your pain came out of nowhere, no injury or anything, taking an anti-inflammatory will do nothing for you other than exposing yourself to the side effects of this medication without any potential upside. As there is no inflammation because there is no injury.
These types of medications have very serious side effects. That is why it is only supposed to be taken for a short time.
If you keep taking it, when you don’t need to, you will end up with severe problems like bleeding stomach ulcers.
Having surgery
It is no secret that I am against people having surgery for ankle pain. Often only the consequences of the ankle pain are addressed but not what caused it. Worse still, even in the most severe ankle sprains, the ankle ligaments will heal on their own if we just leave them.
I have so many examples of people coming to me after their ankle operations where their pain is now worse, they struggle to bend it. Climbing stairs is almost impossible.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone if there is literally any other options.
Wait another week to see if it’ll get better.
This is definitely the right move when it is the first time you had knee pain. If your pain keeps coming back, again and again, getting worse every time it does. Waiting another week before you get professional help will not work.
Did waiting longer to clean out that 5-week-old leftovers in the fridge make the smell better?
I didn’t think so.
Jason
