Physical Therapy for a Sprained Ankle
Sprained ankles are extremely common. It’s also very common for individuals who have experienced this type of injury to let it heal with minimal effort, meaning they often let the injury heal “on its own”, without the assistance of physical therapy or other forms of rehabilitation. It is unfortunate that this happens as often as it does, because poor rehabilitation methods, and/or a lack of any rehab significantly increases the risk of spraining the same ankle again, or injuring another part of your ankle or leg because the original injury didn’t heal properly.
Do I Need Surgery for a Sprained Ankle?
Whether or not you need surgery for your ankle sprain depends on a few factors: if you have recurring sprains in the same location, the severity of the sprain, and whether or not the sprain continues to cause pain and immobility long after the injury should have healed. No matter the reason for surgery, surgeries for ankle sprains are minimally invasive. Recovery from such an operation can have recovery times as small as several weeks to as long as a few months. It all depends on the individual and the severity of their injury.
Recurrent sprains
Recurrent sprains are sprains that continue to happen more than once in the spot of a previous injury. Recurrent sprains are most often caused by poor rehabilitation and healing. When a sprain does not heal properly, or a patient has not utilized physical therapy, they often have inadequate ankle posture, or poor ankle balance even if they don’t realize it. This often leads to continued stretching and strain of the injured ligaments, resulting in recurrent sprains. If you experience this problem, you may require surgery.
A physical therapist will help the patient recover from surgery properly by employing exercises and techniques that strengthen the joints, muscles, and ligaments around the site of the injury to improve balance and mobility, as well as drastically decrease the chance of recurrent injury.
Long-lasting pain and immobility
If your injury has continued to cause pain and mobility long after the recovery window, you may be a candidate for ankle surgery. However, this is not always the case. Oftentimes, pain and immobility caused by an ankle sprain can be solved with physical therapy. Talk to your doctor or a licensed physical therapist to see what your best option is. It is likely that they will suggest trying physical therapy as a conservative treatment first.
Severity of the sprain
The severity of the ankle sprain is obviously a determining factor in whether or not you need surgery, or the injury can be solved with physical therapy. For example, if you have a mild sprain that involves stretching or microscopic tearing of the ligament fibers, physical therapy will likely be the only action required. However, if you have a complete tear of the ligament, ankle surgery will be required. After your surgery, be sure to employ recovery exercises and techniques with the help of a physical therapist.
Best Physical Therapist in Reading, PA
At Wyomissing Physical Therapy, we put our patients first 100% of the time. Our physical therapist, Joe Miller, has spent the last thirty years helping the residents of Wyomissing and Berks county recover from injuries and surgeries with great success. For each patient, he devises an individually tailored exercise and stretching program to provide them with smooth, and effective results. If you are experiencing pain, there’s no reason to accept it. Schedule an appointment at our office to start feeling the relief you deserve.
