Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Sprained Ankle

Unluckiness has befallen once again... This time, my ankle kena. For someone as active as I am, sprained ankle is one of the worst (if not THE worst) thing that can happen... Means a long long time of 'confinement', cannot do any forms of cardio exercises (like run, cycle, steps, play tennis etc). Yes, I do still go to the gym to do strengthening exercises, but for me, I believe in getting a real workout, if you don't perspire, pant or be out of breathe, it doesnt quite equal a workout. NOT SHIOK in short.

So i shall not elaborate about how the accident happened, let's just say it was stupid mistake by me. Yes, every now & then, i recall what happened and lecture myself on how stupid I was to make that fatefull step & mistake which resulted in a sprained ankle. Damn, If only I could turn back time.....

So after examination, it is diagnosed as a ligament tear, which is not the normal simple sprain. Sprained ankle is categorized into 3 degrees:

1st degree is normal sprain where the ligament is just overstretched. This means you get swelling but recovery is faster. Maybe within 1mth u can move n jump.

2nd degree is partial ligament tear. More time required for recovery cos u need to train your ankle muscle for better mobility. Maybe 1-2mths of recovery b4 u can do slightly vigorous exercise

3rd degree is complete ligament tear. Serious case, may need to cast your ankle to let it heal & prevent movement. Takes even longer to recover.

So my case is 2nd degree, partial ligament tear. Sad case. Means i have to NOT move around for another 1-2months for complete recovery. meanwhile, need to do physio to train ankle muscles so that the injury will NOT recur again. Cos once you've sprained ur ankle, it's easy to do it again...

Lest you think that after recovery period, your ligament will somehow 'grow' back. WRONG!! Ligament, once stretched or torn, will NEVER grow back. It's non-regenerative. Not like your flesh where it grows back after a cut. Once torn or stretched, it stays that way. So actually a ligament tear is somewhat a permanent disability, cos it cannot grow back! Insurance should take this into account, but unfortch, alot of insurances only allow for 'fractures'.

FYI, it's my right ankle that has been sprained. Yes, my poor right ankle, seems to be so damn weathered and mistreated. Every single accident seems to happen to my right ankle. The doc asked if i had sprained my right ankle b4, & i seriously can't remember! I rem i sprained my foot in 2005/2006 when i was in EY. I got 1 wk MC for that but i don't think i sprained the ankle. I think it was the front foot though... Eh ex-EYians and SAT auditors, if you all rem pls let me know. Then i banged my right toe with the door, dropped a heavy weight on my right little toe, pain in the 2nd right toe due to stress..So on & so forth.. All right foot kena. Only thing my left foot kena was bruised toe, but then again, my right toe also kena...

So now the more serious case of sprained ankle. Wah I didnt even get MC for it this time lor. Stupid doc..Even tho i went to see doc on sunday, i think i shld still get MC for Mon mah..sprained leh, & swelling..serious!!!

Luckily (unluckily??) i had a scheduled physio session on the Mon, so went for assessment by my physio therapist, who diagnosed it as ligament tear. So means my ankle will be rather loose now, and weaker cos no more ligament support. The plan is to do physio exercises to strengthen the ankle muscles so that they help to support rather than relyin on the ligament.

Then went for ultrasound therapy! That's the fun & interesting part. Nope it's not those for pregnant ladies, you don do scanning.. rather, u apply a special gel & using the ultrasound hand-held equpiment, massage the affected area for about 15mins. The feeling is abit cool cool cos of the gel, then will feel abit of heat. The purpose is to use ultrasound waves to stimulate the blood flow & to speed up the healing process. By healing i mean the inflammation & the swelling, bear in mind ligament WILL NOT grow back. Quite effective. Thinking of actually buying one (portable one of cos) for investment and can use at home for other purposes (like pain in shoulder or knee etc). They sell it on ebay & US, but cannot find locally...

I even went to Sinseh to see to the injury & they sorta cracked my foot back into alignment. Apparently, due to the sprain, my right ankle was so loose that it somehow became longer than my left ankle. But now that's realigned & i have equal length now... But then again, with ligament tear, not even sinseh can miraculously cure you! They can only place your ankle back in alignment if it was out of alignment. Other than that, nothing much they can do... But if it's a normal sprain, they should be more helpful! But my suggestion is wait for the swelling & pain to subside abit b4 gg. Don't go immediately cos if it's broken, DO NOT go sinseh for massage cos it'll be worse! Even ligament tear, better get a diagnosis first... Sinseh is not wizard or magician...

So now, 6weeks have passed. Been working really really hard @ physio to train the muscles. The trick is to move ur ankle & do resistance exercises to build the muscles. OF cos with the help of an elastic exercise band for best results! Doing at least twice a day, with lots of repetition. Feeling much better, at least the pain has subsided & the ankle is feeling stronger... But still a long way to recovery... Have to keep working hard. Giving myself another month to be able to fully work my ankle. I still wana play tennis & run & etc etc....

Something i learnt from my physio.. My walking posture is wrong & places alot of stress on my knee & ankle. So now gota re-train myself to walk properly. Pelvis out alittle, foot abit more arched...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi

Looks like both of us are on the same boat. For over 2 months i did not even know that mine was a ligament tear on my right ankle and thought it was just a normal sprain. Later i had put on my foot on cast for over 3 weeks. Now, it has been over 3 weeks since i took off the cast but looks like it has not made much difference. I was asked to do some light physiotherapy at home. But it still aches quite a bit and i am finally thinking of changing my doctor and check out ultrasound therapy. i really hope that this will help. My ankle is still swollen.

Well, hope you get well soon.. i know how it feels not to be able to walk around properly.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Chanced upon your blog while looking for remedy on ankle sprain. I think I had the same situation as yours. Its been a month plus, I still have a bit of swell and pain when rotating my ankle at a certain angle. May I ask if almost your whole foot was bruised even to your toes (after 2 days) and swelled? Do you have any tips to share for strengthening the ankle? My email address in case you would like to reply, linzz_25@hotmail.com. :) Thank you.