Poor Mia. About two weeks ago she was playing around with the soccer ball after a practice, and she somehow lost her balance, landed funny, and turned her ankle. I ended up carrying her out to the car it hurt so much.X-rays revealed that there was nothing broken, but she did have a severe sprain. The doctor said to recuperate she should simply use a warm compress regularly and rest it well.
She's been resting, and we do treat it while she does homework or watches TV -- using a tube sock filled with microwaved dry rice. (Now that's a yummy smell!) It's been two weeks, and she's only now trying to hobble or shuffle around without the crutches. The swelling has gone down some, yet the bruising still mottles all the way up her calf, looking pretty tragic.
This whole experience poses many difficulties for Mia: she has trouble getting around at school, which confounds her sense of easy competence. She absolutely hates asking for help, but she really has no choice. The worst part -- at least for the rest of us in the family -- is that she is so dependent for her psychological well-being upon those endorphins that vigorous exercise produces. No exercise, no endorphins = a remarkably less sunny daughter. Actually, she's been very brave about it all.
Of course, none of us are feeling very sunny here in Michigan. March is here but spring is nowhere to be seen. According to the AccuWeather people, there is a "fast-moving Alberta Clipper system" bringing 3-5 inches of snow to the area tonight. And plenty more clouds. Maybe by the time Mia's ankle is better we'll again be familiar with that golden orb in the sky.
Anyone with experience rehabbing an ankle successfully is welcome to post suggestions and advice.
Or bringing spring any sooner.
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2 comments:
Whoa, she really did a number on that ankle! There's always the good old standby RICE for sprains: rest, ice, compression, elevation. But as I found out with my 13-year-old brother playing volleyball with a broken arm, the "rest" thing is a little hard to implement.
How is that ankle doing now? I hope well.
I would really encourage some physical therapy specific to lateral stability. If just you guys, you might consider getting a "vestibular disc" for her to stand (and balance, and squat, etc) on. This helps engage stability muslces & tissue needed to keep the ankel from rolling again in the future on the field. See http://www.tartangroup.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1506&DEPARTMENT_ID=132
for example.
When you have a major sprain, you stretch and damage ligaments. After swelling and such, they may be left damaged still. Running in straight lines and getting back into shape will not do that much to rehab her ankle. She'll have to do specific stability and lateral rehab as well to lower her chances of having another major ankle sprain.
With a sprain that bad, I may have recommended you try to get a referral from your MD to get physical therapy. Not because she won't be able to hop back out there and run around in a month and have fun and be fine. Because she probably will. And she'll probably be okay. But to strengthen that ankle (because now it is notably weakend) in order to lessen the liklihood of a similar future injury to the same ankle.
Ryan White
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