How to rehab an ankle

[buc em]

I wore the Kobe V's and VI's to ball in over the last year and a half and didn't have a single problem rolling my ankles, but then finally about 6 months back I came down on this dude's foot and tore my ankle all up. I didn't really rehab it too much at all, I would just ice it for 10 minutes then stick it in warm water for another 10 minutes, plus do some foot excercises like picking things up with my toes, making a circle with my foot, etc.. I'd repeat that cycle probably 3 times a day til the swelling went down, then went right back to playing ball. But my ankle just still hasn't gotten it's stabibility/flexibility back and it feels numb in my foot/toes sometimes time like the bloodflow isn't going through properly. The worst feeling on a basketball court is not being able to do the things you're accustomed to being able to do because of an injury. I have a league I'm playing in starting in November so I'm actually trying to rehab it to get it back where it was by that time. Can anybody give me some good rehabbing ideas?

 

[airjordan jb23]

Im pretty much in the same boat as you... 

sucks.

I wouldn't start playing again until your sure you're close to healthy... Ankle injuries can spark up anytime.

As far as rehabbing... Just keep the movement going. The picking things up (like a towel or something) with your toes is good. Move your foot up & down & side to side a lot as another excercise. Also, get a band or towel & just pull back your foot to stretch out the ankle. Weight shifts are good too...

Look into getting it massaged as well... It does wonders for swelling, which when that goes down your movement gets better, which from there you can strengthen it up more.

 

[MetalMario]

ice it, at the same time lift it above your heart for the blood circulation

 

[dubstyledj]

r-rest
i-ice
c-compress
e-elevate

.......also do the abcs with your ankle a few times throughout the day

 

[buc em]

Originally Posted by DuBsTyLeDj

r-rest
i-ice
c-compress
e-elevate

.......also do the abcs with your ankle a few times throughout the day

Even 6 months after originally hurting it?

 

[dubstyledj]

i mean... R.I.C.E. is the default for a not so serious to a mid-level injury.....

doing the abcs will help strengthen at any point...

but if you're still having the same problems you might want to go get it checked out

sometimes you never fully recover though

 

[thedoc86]

I have pretty bad ankles, before ball practice the trainer gave me a flex band and had me do some exercises with it. It helped out a lot.

 

[everysingletime]

you ask for rehab ideas 6 months after hurting it initially -

you didn't think to see a doctor any time before that? or at least make this post earlier?

your ankle shouldn't still be hurting. it's either - a more serious injury than you think or it's lingering because you never gave it the chance to recover

either scenario, it'd be a hard problem to fix at this point - and it's probably beyond any advice any NTer can give you, and even most doctors.

going to a doctor at this point prolly wouldn't help -

my guess is you don't have any structural tears or instabilities - it's just that the supporting muscles in your bad ankle has grown weak from overcompensating all this time with your strong ankle. he'll take your xray and MRI to see that nothing is broken or torn and will just refer you to a physical therapist.

in my case, the physical therapist didn't help much

what ended up helping was that I blocked out the pain and stiffness and just went to using the ankle completely how I used it before - running on the treadmill, walking without compensating - it took me many months before I could play ball without overthinking my strides - because at first I had to think about how I was running. if I didn't then my body's natural instinct would take over and I would run with more emphasis on my strong leg.

I wouldn't take my word for it - I'd see a doctor.  I'm just telling you what I think it is because my guess is you don't want to see a doctor at all. 

 

[buc em]

I've seen a couple of doctors, I did the day after it happened. I've gotten x-rays twice and all they could say was it was a bad sprain and they referred me to a physical therapist inside of their building. Doctors don't give a *$$$, they just want to make you pay for braces they "give" you and make money off of a physical therapy referral. I think what happened was I rushed back into play too fast and didn't give the ligaments time to heal so now they've just grown back weak. I can wear my LeBron's and go out and play and not worry about it, but it just feels unstable as hell anytime I try and play in the Kobe's again. It seems to feel better when playing with a shoe with softer cushioning. The firmer cushioning seems to put too much pressure on it.

 

[buc em]

........bump.

 

[big j 33]

Originally Posted by Buc Em

I've seen a couple of doctors, I did the day after it happened. I've gotten x-rays twice and all they could say was it was a bad sprain and they referred me to a physical therapist inside of their building. Doctors don't give a *$$$, they just want to make you pay for braces they "give" you and make money off of a physical therapy referral. I think what happened was I rushed back into play too fast and didn't give the ligaments time to heal so now they've just grown back weak. I can wear my LeBron's and go out and play and not worry about it, but it just feels unstable as hell anytime I try and play in the Kobe's again. It seems to feel better when playing with a shoe with softer cushioning. The firmer cushioning seems to put too much pressure on it.

Lebron > Kobe