I sprained my ankle and it hurts REALLY REALLY badly. lt looks like someone attached a golf ball to my ankle!!
Can anyone please suggest natural ways to relieve the pain and help this heal!! My job requires a lot of standing / walking and I am commission only, so no work, so $$.
I remember from childhood about wrapping an ace bandage around it and icing it. Is this still the best method? Is there something more I can do to speed the healing process? What should I NOT be doing?
the best medicine for sprains is RICE r - rest i - ice c - compression e - elevation
icing in the first 24 hours is ABSOLUTELY KEY, you MUST rest and ice as much as possible the first day of the injury, continuing to use it will only cause it to be worse and prolong the healing process, get off your feet and ice it.
after the first 24 hours you can then do alternating heat and ice heat and ice. this flushes the area out and brings in much needed fresh blood and nutrients. keep that up. use a heating pad, but not one with wires that go thru it. a hot water bottle is best.
you can also try comfrey poultices. comfrey is the bone and tissue mender, an old and reliable remedy in these situations. put the comfrey leaf in a bowl and add enough apple cider vinegar to soak the comfrey, but not enough to for it to be sloppy. apply the comfrey to the injury then put a plastic bag over, then wrap that with an ace bandeage. you can leave that on while you sleep. the enzymes from the vinegar (use quality unpastueraized vinegar like Bragg's or Edens, don't use white vinegar, thats worthless) will help to activate the healing properties of the comfrey.
you may also want ot take extra minerals during this time, also some MSM and glucosamine and condroitin would be good. calcium and magnesium also important. take minerals with lemon juice on an empty stomach, this allows the body to make full use of them.
Unfortunately I have a lot of experience with sprained ankles. Here are the best things I've found. The single most important thing is to stay off of it for the first day or two. I've found if I can just do that then it heals up much faster. Secondly, soak in a hot bath with two cups of Epsom Salts and a cup of baking soda. Aim for a full hour but even a half hour is great. It heals everything, but is especially good for sprained ankles.
Send someone up to the drugstore for something called an air cast. It's sold in the same area as bandages and wrist and knee braces. It's a plastic airfilled splint that goes on either side of the ankle with straps to hold it together. This thing is a godsend! It works so much better than the old Ace bandage because it stops all side to side movement. It's great for sleeping in for that reason too. With the air cast you can go to work by the third or fourth day. And you can hide it with pants and usually wear regular shoes. I usually wear the air cast for a full month after the sprain just to make sure I don't reinjure it.
Some people recommend arnica cream but I don't keep any on hand and so I've never tried that. Also, I've always followed the RICE protocol but I recently read that the Ice part of that is not recommended any longer. The Rest, Compression, and Elevation I still do.
Hope you feel better soon, I know it hurts like a son-of-a-gun.
Thank you for your first hand experience at healing a sprained ankle. This happened on Friday AM and it is now Sun AM and the pain is getting better. I have crutches, so I have been able to stay off of it almost completely. I agree with you; I believe that is why it is getting better.
I was not happy that I didn't get to ice it the first 24 hours; from your comments maybe this wasn't so bad. It is still VERY swollen, so I am working on the elevation / compression. I will also try the bath today.
I will have someone look for the aircast. That sounds like a great idea since my biggest concern is the pain will go away and then I will do some stupid move again and re-injure.
Google herbhealthonline FASTT patch for detail on herbal remedy.
Hope the following testimonial can help you make right decision.
Testimonial: FASTT Patch Healed a 2nd Degree Ankle Sprain in 4 Days
James Guetzkow, MD FP, Los Gatos, California
This is a narrative of the case of a vigorous, healthy, young triathlon athlete, who was running as per his usual custom on December 12, 2001, when he suffered a lateral inversion sprain of the right lateral ankle. He was seen at the ambulatory care center of Kaiser Hospital on Kiely Blvd, Santa Clara, the following day, where an x-ray was taken and a second degree sprain documented. The x-rays were negative for fracture. He was given a walking boot brace and told to wear it for six weeks.
He was seen in my office on December 17, as he had learned of the FASTT Patch, and hoped this would help him to an early cure. On examination of the right lateral ankle it was ecchymotic and swollen both above and below the right lateral malleolus. The FASTT Patch was applied. The patient was given extra patches to continue application of new patches on alternate days.
He returned to the office on December 21, 2001, and reported that he had been able to resume his exercise and, in fact, earlier today had bicycled for 45 minutes without any pain. He has noticed that the swelling has gone away and the pain has virtually cleared. He is no longer using a boot brace. He reports there is some residual swelling in the supralateral malleolar area; however, this is not where the medicine patch had been applied. On examination the area of application no longer has any swelling, and there was no laxity of effusion of the ankle joint noticed. There is a slight residual ecchymosis covering most of the lateral foot. The bony prominences were nontender. He is walking without a limp. He states that he has been active throughout the week in his usual way, with his usual work, and has not spent time with the foot elevated.
My impression was that this was a severe sprain with soft-tissue injury, partial tear of the lateral collateral ligaments, and a joint effusion. I was extremely impressed by the rapidity of clearing and return of function that occurred in just four days under the FASTT Patch treatment.
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Please help! I sprained my ankle 
