I was taking my daily walk, as usual, and happened to mis-place a step. My lovely ankle, with this slight mis-placement, collapsed and twisted to the side. Instant pain, instant swelling and a welcoming into a sprained ankle.
This tends to be a problem for athletes and anyone who is in charge of mobility and misplaces a step. The only thing that can be done if you twist or sprain your ankle is to ice it so the swelling goes down.
The ankle spraining phenomena is one that has a complete link to how your body works. The ankle is incredibly important to the mobility of your body, which is probably why – if it is a little out of balance – it overreacts.
Your ankle contains a major hinge that allows your legs to move forward when walking. This starts with your skeletal system, which has cartilage in the area. The cartilage connects as a hinge, which is what gives your ankle the well rounded range of motion on the foot and the legs. Unlike other types of hinges, this one provides you with a circular range of motion that can move in almost any way possible.
The ankle also contains tendons that connect the skeletal system to the legs. This is what allows mobility to occur. The skeletal system controls the motion that is occurring, and the muscles react by following the range of motion that the skeletal system has.
Typically, if you have a sprained ankle, it is because the tendon is unable to move in an effective way to allow the muscle to move forward. Instead, it over compensates to complete the range of motion and stops short of the range that is occurring or bends to the side as an over reaction. To compensate, the muscle and tendons snap out of place, which then causes the swelling to try to protect the area that has become imbalanced.
Of course, knowing this won’t stop the pain of the stretched, pulled and strained tendon. Only the ice with elevation of the foot will. Or, you could take my new advice and watch how you walk.
I’ve had my share of sprained ankles in the past, either from sports or from hiking. I have found that shoe inserts help me a lot to avoid them. I think some of the sprains, and also strains to the Achilles, can happen when the foot is not aligned/supported properly during exercise.