how soon to go back after a sprained ankle

[kaci]

My daughter sprained her foot last wednesday at practice. the dr. said no practice for a week, but her coach said she would be fine to practice on monday,even if she was a little sore. Her foot is still swollen. Should I follow her coach's advice,who i know would never do anything to hurt her) or listen to the dr., who was giving me a text book answer? Help!!!

 

[cher062]

My daughter sprained her foot last wednesday at practice. the dr. said no practice for a week, but her coach said she would be fine to practice on monday,even if she was a little sore. Her foot is still swollen. Should I follow her coach's advice,who i know would never do anything to hurt her) or listen to the dr., who was giving me a text book answer? Help!!!

Follow the doctors advice there is a reason that is the text book answer - because that is the time it takes to heal. I assume you trust your doctor too and feel they would never give advice to hurt your daughter either. If there is still pain then she should be off the foot and give it a chance to heal. It's just a week and in the big scheme of things that isn't alot of time. I would bring her back but no running or tumbling stuff give it a chance to heal so the injury doesn't grow to something more. Any time they have an injury that hurts they will compensate somehow and you run the risk of more injury. Let it heal.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

DON'T GO BACK TO PRACTICE!!!! My DD suffered an ankle sprain last December. She missed practice for just a week, went back and struggled with pain for the next 3 months before we finally ended up at a physical therapist (for the next TWO months).

It's just not worth it. DD had a horrible season due to this nagging injury and if we had just let it heal properly in the first place... well, they say hindsight is 20/20!!!

We also have a girl at the gym right now who has been struggling with HER ankle injury for at least the last 4 months. She just keeps wearing a wrap on it and working through the pain of it.

The bottom line is now Katy is 100% back to normal, no pain at all w/everything she's doing.

Let her body heal. It's not a long time in the grand scheme of things!

 

[ryantroop]

For my 2c...

You can look at this two ways:

One, it's only a week. A week of rest will let her body heal, and she will actually probably come back better than when she left. If she was working on a few skills, her brain will have that time to figure them out. The negative side, though, is that she is missing a week of work-outs: which could be introduction to new skills (etc...). However, it's only a week...

On the other hand.. she can still go to the gym, and do only upper body/core work. Swings on bars, handstands, positioning drills, etc.. As long as she is staying off her affected foot she should be fine. After a week, depending on her and how fast she heals, she may still be "hurting" after a week, and need a few more days. What you don't want to do is make a simple injury worse.

In my opinion, talk to her coach and see what his game plan is. If he wants her to vault or tumble right away, I would say keep her out. If he is going to ease her back in, and just keep her in for conditioning etc... she should be there, especially if she is part of a team.

Generally, I side with parents (unless they go against my judgement to keep the kids safe).

 

[mbphoto]

Follow Dr.'s advice for sure. My DD always tries to push a healing injury. Even when we have the choice of a splint, wrap or cast, I always choose cast as I know that it is impossible to keep those little flippers off of their injures. In the long run, staying off of them will get them back to full healthy status sooner. They will drive you nuts during their time off but rest is best.

 

[gym law mom]

Since the coach does not have MD after her name, then I would side on keeping her out for the week suggested by the person that does---especially since there is still some swelling.

Several who suggested talking with the coach about having her come in and do some upper body work have a good idea, but the coach has to understand she's there for conditioning only. Let the foot heal and then she's good to go. You'll find trying to push through some of these injuries just makes the overal recovery time longer or causes another injury because she's compensating for the one she already has.

If the foot is still swollen/painful after 1 week of rest, then I would take her back to the doc for a follow up.

 

[gymfan4ever95]

Well, if it is just for one week, missing practice is probably okay. But (as a gymnast) i would want to go! lol. If she does end up going, i am sure she could do things that don't even require to walk on her injured foot. She could do simple things on bars over a pit, such as free-hips (but i don't know what level she is...). Or she could just do conditioning and flexibility. What one girl at my gym does who was injured is she comes for half of the practice and does bars, conditioning, and flexibility, and then leaves so she doesn't get to tired. But only missing one week isn't that bad i guess. I hope this will help!

 

[gracefulone]

Ankle sprains can be tricky, and depending on the severity, different for everyone. I agree with what was said, but also check with your DD. I had a severe ankle sprain this winter (pole vaulting) and 1 week after the injury, I was attempting to practice pole runs and couldn't do that; I had to go from my short step and even that was not too pleasant. A week later, it was still nagging, but I was being extremely stubborn and refused to just sit out. Then we get to the actual season 2 weeks after that and first day of practice...we had an eay 20 minute run outside and the pavement dominated me. All throughout the season I was icing my ankle and taking iBprofen. Even now after my long run days (10-12 miles), it has some aches. So an injury that should have probably taken a week and a half maybe 2 weeks has stayed with me for months. Athletes are incredibly stubborn...especially those with high pain tolerances. I definitely wish I would have been smarter in February...here we are in July and I did a long run for the first time 100% pain free just 2 weeks ago. Lesson learned.