“Maybe I should go to a doctor, but I will wait and see”: it’s a comment often heard from those who have recently suffered injuries. Doctors advise immediate injury care, but their recommendations are often ignored by those hoping that the body will heal itself without professional assistance.
As Jane E. Brody of the New York Times reports, the medical community is correct: fast action is essential to recovery. Brody uses the example of ankle sprains to make the point that it’s critical to treat an injury soon after it occurs.
Stats & tips from athletic trainers
Brody reports that Americans experience a whopping 10 million ankle injuries per year, primarily through exercise and athletics. We often think of chronic pain in terms of the knees or lower back (especially since the latter is the number one cause of global disability), but the ankle is the site of more than 50% of sports injuries, with the highest risk occurring in these sports:
- field hockey
- volleyball
- football
- basketball
- cheerleading.
Sports and workouts can cause damage, but your health will deteriorate if you sit on the couch. Prevent chronic pain with high-quality footwear and proper injury care. In other words, don’t “play through the pain.” Even top athletes have ended their careers with that approach, and anyone who ignores the need for a pain management plan is susceptible to reinjury and arthritis.
Although the argument for immediate rest and treatment is compelling, an analysis released by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association in 2013 demonstrates that people often forgo proper injury care, especially with their ankles.
RICE & “walking it off”
Brody mentions that the NATA position paper doesn’t offer a silver bullet. It notes that RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) has proven ineffective in studies. The primary author of the paper, Dr. Thomas W. Kaminski, said simply, “There’s not a whole lot of good evidence out there to support it.” Nonetheless, the athletic training community still considers RICE the best option, especially when compared to the timeworn idea that you can help your ankle by walking around and shaking your leg.
Beyond temporarily getting off your ankle and reducing the swelling with RICE, you also want to avoid NSAIDs such as naproxen or ibuprofen for the first two days. Take acetaminophen instead, says Kaminski, so that NSAIDs don’t interrupt your body’s natural healing response.
Above all, Dr. Kaminski notes that you should get a diagnosis from a pain management practice for the right therapeutic approach to your situation. For immediate and long-term relief, contact a practice that specializes in sports injury rehabilitation: Weston Medical.
