Skiing and Ankle Sprains

Anyone have any experience?  Rolled the ankle badly playing soccer Sunday morning.  Don’t think anything got broken.  With ankles locked into ski boots I’m hoping some residual pain and instability won’t keep me off the slopes.  Slated for Whiteface Jan 20/21, giving me 10 more days for this to reduce enough for me to shove it in a ski boot!



Hoping to tack 3 days of Western skiing on the end of a Jan 24/25 business trip to LA.  If I have to forego skiing at Whiteface to heal up for that I will.

You look fucked..
did you get a xray?

Not yet.  I’ll have it looked at Thursday if there’s no improvement or it gets worse.  I can bear full weight without pain, and other than range of motion I can walk pretty well.  It’s really not that achy.  All that wouldn’t be the case it it were broken, most likely.  Just hoping this isn’t something that will sideline me for 4 to 6 weeks....

Ouch, that looks painful.

I'd be taking some anti-inflammataries.  I'm no doc....

that's rough. you got to get the swelling down. fill a 5 gal bucket with ice and water. submerge that thing for 20 minutes. it will go numb after a few minutes, don't be a skirt. once swelling goes crank down the ski boot and your off and ripping.

used to happen to me all the time from basketball. once I grew up and switched to golf and spinning no more sprained ankles. I'm bored as hell but can still ski.

good luck

I have a Chinese herbal medicine that I would be taking ASAP.  It's called Yunnan Baiyao.  There are capsules and external sticky sheets available.  PM me if you want to know more.

Tape it up and run on it.  It will break up all the toxins and get them to disperse. No kidding

Maybe try the chinese cure first?

Now I'm outta here until we get to page two!

Back in high school, I was taught to ice it as long as I could stand and then alternate cold and heat.

My knee injury happened while I was on vacation in China (snapped an ACL in June) visiting relatives.  I followed the Chinese medicine approach.  Ice the first 24-48 hours, then heat or at least warmth afterwards.  The thinking is that swelling is the body's natural way to heal.  Icing to reduce swelling only makes pain go away temporarily and slows the healing process.  All I know is that a few days after the injury there wasn't that much swelling and no pain.

If you want to read something about not icing:

http://stoneathleticmedicine.com/2015/02/10-reasons-icing-injuries-is-wrong/comment-page-1/

someone call the navy seals and let them know about this. a big part of there training is in cold water. the theory is it allows the muscles to heal before the next day's training. ice and elevation, been hearing that for ever

sig wrote

that's rough. you got to get the swelling down. fill a 5 gal bucket with ice and water. submerge that thing for 20 minutes. it will go numb after a few minutes, don't be a skirt. once swelling goes crank down the ski boot and your off and ripping.

used to happen to me all the time from basketball. once I grew up and switched to golf and spinning no more sprained ankles. I'm bored as hell but can still ski.

good luck

Yep --- during my college hoop days I tore every single ligament in my right ankle. Trainer had me do the above everyday for what seemed like eternity. It hurts like a bitch doing it but as sig says it's time to cowboy up,

I could roll my ankle on a quarter if I stepped on it wrong but after doing the ice bucket that too soon went away.

tjf1967 wrote

Tape it up and run on it.  It will break up all the toxins and get them to disperse. No kidding

Geezus TJ!

I hit a stump skiing under the lift at west on a powder day a few years ago and my ankle looked the same. It was likely broken. Should have gone to a doc but I was heading out west the following week and didn't want to cancel the trip. Biggest thing you want to do is get the swelling down. I'd get an ankle brace that you can crank down on (either a tie up one or a wrap) or a tight neoprene one and wear that thing 24/7 along with advil and ice.

First day out west I tried to ski with a brace on in my boot and damn near killed myself because of the pain and pinch points. I didn't try that again but I did keep the brace on when I didn't have my boots on. I just cranked my boots on tight and the pain wasn't too bad. Good luck.

Different circumstances, I think.  There’s also a reason big league pitchers hit an ice bath after an outing.  Strenuous activity will cause “damage” to muscle fiber and whatnot.  Navy Seals and MLB pitchers can recover from those stresses quicker through icing regimens.

Actual, severe injury to specific structures (torn muscles/ligaments) is a little different, given the body’s response of quickly rushing blood to the specific injury site (causing the associated swelling).

So apples and oranges, I think.

The problem with the injury scenario, and the swelling that occurs, is how to dissipate the swelling once the injury that caused it begins to heal.  This is a particular problem with lower leg injuries because it’s hard for the body to pump the excess fluid (swelling) out of the area.  Heat may help promote blood flow, and TJ’s taping and running suggestion would also serve to “break things up” and help get them moving, perhaps.

Heck, my foot looks a lot now like it did when I tore my calf muscle.  Swollen, black and blue in the foot below the ankle, and in the toes, because that’s where the bleeding from the initial injury settles.  Injury-wise, the ligaments already seem to be healing as I can already walk better and I have more strength/stability just a couple days out.....but damn it looks ugly!  The foot is responding better to the hot tub now than to ice, as the heat makes it less stiff.

I ain’t no doc, so that was probably all BS.....but I’ve recovered from a lot of injuries in my days.

Ouch, Danzilla!  Yeah, would seem difficult to sprain an ankle that is locked in a ski boot.  The foot just can’t move in a way that would cause a sprain, I wouldn’t think.

Skiing with a broken ankle to preserve the ski trip out west.  That’s badass, and probably other things.  How did the healing process work after that?

Thanks for the advice.

Old school college sports training room treatment: Get a 5 gallon pail, fill with ice and water, submerge ankle and foot in bucket for 20 minutes. Alternate 20 minutes in, 20 minutes out x 3. Elevate, stay off it. If you can get to a pool or hot tub, hang the ankle in the water and spell out the Alphabet with you big toe. First upper case then lower case. Repeat x 3 or more. If swelling or bruising continues to get worse over a few days  see a doctor, get X-rays.

(I’m an idiot and didn’t read sig’s post until after I wrote this.)