Roughly 3 weeks ago, during a dry land training session with
a group of young swimmers, I had to administer first aid. In the midst of
handling the situation as best I could, what I didn’t foresee was that I,
myself, would ultimately be the one with the worst injury.
During a group game held outside on a football pitch, two of
my athletes collided. I promptly stopped the game and assessed the injured
swimmer who appeared, on a brief first examination, to have either sustained at
best a painful dead leg and at worst a broken femur. Thankfully, it soon became
obvious that it was the former! We iced the affected area before myself and
another member of staff helped her back towards the changing rooms.
On our way to the building I realised that I’d left my key
fob for the door back on the grass, so jogged back across the car park to grab
it. I reached the end of the car park and my ankle buckled and gave way. You’ve
probably done the same before and can appreciate how painful it is. Two things
then made this situation even worse for me: 1) The momentum of my jog took me
down a steep slope off the side of the car park and onto the grass, meaning
that I was forced to carry on running and 2) I then had to pretend I was
absolutely fine and continue administering first aid!
 |
| My poor swollen ankle :( |
Three weeks later and I’m still in pain. I haven’t been able
to exercise as I would normally and I’ve had to be very careful at work.
Unfortunately being injured as a self-employed Personal Trainer isn’t ideal, as
I’m sure you can imagine!
So, based on my experience I thought I’d list a few basic
things that should be done if you ever decide to go over on your ankle.
1)
Stop what you’re doing immediately – movement at
this point is probably going to further inflame the area.
2)
Elevate – raising the ankle above the level of
your heart will help to reduce swelling (lie down, don’t try to stand up and do
this!)
3)
Ice – grab a trusty bag of frozen peas or one of
those ice packs from the first aid box and apply it to the affected area. Most
ankle twists result in soft tissue injuries from inversion (going over on the
outside of the ankle). In this case, expect most pain and swelling to be on the
outside of the foot. A less common but equally painful eversion injury will
lead to pain on the inside of the ankle. Icing for 20 minutes 4 or more times a
day is optimal. Continue this indefinitely.
4)
See a doctor – most doctors will probably send
you to A&E for an X-Ray just to make sure that there’s no fracture. I cut
out the middle man and went straight to the hospital myself and managed to be
in and out in a very respectable 1.5 hours.
5)
Compression – everyone should own a flexible
bandage. These are great for providing support and limiting swelling.
6)
Movement – if you’re lucky and haven’t broken
anything, you’ll be advised to keep it moving but not to bear too much weight
on it for too long. Resting it for long periods of time will stop the vital
blood flow through the tissues and will slow your recovery.
7)
Sort your nutrition – eat as many
anti-inflammatory foods as possible and steer clear of processed foods. Vitamin
C from leafy green veg, Bromelain from pineapples, Omega-3 from oily fish, curcumin
from turmeric, and garlic are all fantastic inclusions.
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