I'm a big ice fan, and always have been. I was so sold on ice that I rolled my eye when people would add compression and elevation. Well, I had this kid who sprained her ring finger and was told by the doc no bars for three weeks or until the swelling and pain could be managed. I had her just ice it as many times as she could find time for during her own time away from the gym, and then every 40 minutes while at the gym.
She felt she could try some bars as the second week began, but it started to puff up after a few skills. The worst of it is that icing it didn't get her back to where she was before trying bars, so I had to come up with some way of controlling the swelling. That's when I figured maybe an elastic bandage would slowly squeeze the swelling down. It and was so effective combined with ice that she was able to get a little bar work done two days later, and a little more each day. She'd work until it started to get painful and swollen, and then she'd use the bandage (ace wrap) combined with ice while warming up for beam and working single elements that were feet to feet without hand support.
The swelling always went down and it hurt a lot less, so we kept at it through the first half of the third week before taking off for her last meet of the season, and kept icing it up to, and after bar warmups, and then again after she competed bars.
Give it a try. Use a wet ace wrap to put slight pressure on all parts of your ankle and foot, pack ice around it and wrap that up as well. then lay down and prop your foot up on something so gravity can help out too.
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