We had quite the eventful St. Patrick’s Day, but not in the green beer type of way. We had a volleyball game last night, which was going well until this happened.
The boy unfortunately rolled his ankle while playing and got a pretty nice sprain (Even though it was St. Patrick’s Day, no alcohol was involved). After making sure that it wasn’t broken, we went right into RICE. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. These steps are essential in the first 24-48 hours to prevent further damage to the injured tissue. Rest means trying not to do any extra movement or putting extra pressure on the injury. Ice is fairly self-explanatory, but you want to ice the injury for ~20 minutes on, 1 hour off as possible. Compression will help decrease the swelling and inflammation. Compression can be done through an ACE bandage or a brace. Finally, elevation is lifting the injury above the level of the heart. This also will help with inflammation and circulation. We made sure that we iced the injury multiple times last night and the boy slept with this foot under enough pillows to get above his heart. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs can help with the pain and inflammation during this time.
The biggest thing that people forget is that after the swelling goes down (hopefully around 48 hours) RICE turns into MICE. We want to make sure that we are Moving or Mobilizing the injury to prevent loss of motion. Small range of motion exercises should be completed at this time. The exercises should not cause any extreme pain or discomfort. The ice, compression and elevation should continue as able for at least the first ~5 days following the injury.
Hopefully, the boy’s swelling will decrease in the next day or so and we can get him doing some small exercises and ultimately back to sports in no time!
Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick’s Day with no injuries!
The biggest thing that people forget is that after the swelling goes down (hopefully around 48 hours) RICE turns into MICE. We want to make sure that we are Moving or Mobilizing the injury to prevent loss of motion. Small range of motion exercises should be completed at this time. The exercises should not cause any extreme pain or discomfort. The ice, compression and elevation should continue as able for at least the first ~5 days following the injury.
Hopefully, the boy’s swelling will decrease in the next day or so and we can get him doing some small exercises and ultimately back to sports in no time!
Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick’s Day with no injuries!