Sprained Ankle Advice Please!

**Nemo** · 05-01-2011 04:16 PM

Hi, I am fifteen years old and I have been a competitive cheerleader since I was 6 and I was in gymnastics 2 years before that. If you don't know what competitive cheerleading is, well you should know that it takes a lot of hard work and practice and it puts a lot of strain on your body. On February first 2010 I had surgery on my right ankle to get rid of scar tissue and to drill holes in the bone to grow new cartilage in my ankle. A little over a year later I was at a competition and at the beginning of the routine I twisted my ankle pretty bad. I finished the routine doing everything I needed to do (including jumping and tumbling) but I had to be carried off the stage. I was wearing an ankle brace from my previous ankle injury but it didn't help at all. I was on crutches for a week afterwards and went to two different doctors 10 days after the injury. The first doctor did no help at all so we went to see the doctor who did my surgery a year ago. He said it was a sprain and told me to wear my boot from my surgery for a few weeks until it felt better then stop using the boot and use the brace. So, I did that and my ankle seemed to be progressing very well. But it was not completely healed. I had another competition three weeks ago (seven weeks after the injury) and it was my last competition, so even though I knew my ankle wasn't healed completely I still competed (I know, it was a stupid choice). Well after that competition I was in my boot for a week and have been on my brace for two weeks. At this point I am taking ibuprofen 3 times a day to keep the swelling and pain down and I put as little stress on it as possible. But I am an athlete and have been my whole life so not being active is really hard on me and my body. Does anyone have and advice on what I should do? I exercise what I can without using my ankle, but now my ankle has no mucsle in it. I don't know what to do at this point and I'm tired of being hurt. I am stretching my ankle to keep it's flexibility and I doesn't hurt but it hurts to put weight on it without the brace and I am restricted to only walking. And advice on what I can do to get healed so I can go back to my regular workouts? Please??? Thank you very much (:

**WildChild** · 05-01-2011 04:21 PM

A true sprain can take longer to heal than a break.
Are you icing?
Do you compete for your school? Do they have a trainer? If so he or she should be able to help you with what you need to do to recover and to regain your strength. Don't push it too soon or too fast.

**Nemo** · 05-01-2011 04:24 PM

My doctor told me it could take a week to 6 moths to fully heal. I am icing at least 3 times a day (morning, after school, before bed). No, I don't cheer for the school. I tried seeing the trainer at school but I was told that he can't help because I don't have a physical on file.

**ItsASecret** · 05-01-2011 04:30 PM

Sprains can easily take several months to heal. Each time you go back out to jump around and injure it again you can add another 2 or 3 months of healing because the same muscles and tendons that were almost healed are now messed up again. It is an annoying and unfortunate process for athletes because they just want to be out and about again. You will likely need to see a doctor again to see the extent of the damage and possibly get an xray or MRI to see how things are. Trainers or physiotherapists often need to see a history of your medical records, and your doctor could actually give you a referral to a sports injury doctor and have him/her as your primary sports related doctor. They know far more about sprains and such than a regular GP doc.