Last week I won 5 free dance lessons. I had a flasback to college when my swimming carreer nearly ended from a sprained ankle sustained during a dance class.

Then I thought back to when and where my most memorable of many ankle sprains were. The first was at age twelve just before the Junior National Swimming Championships. Another good one was in Paris. The worst one was in Toronto at my Grandfathers house and my only one in Scottsdale was in 2005.

So what could I have done differently not to have so many. The key is immediate treatment. Ankles like shoulders and knees are very flexible which means they are less stable. The are surrounded by ligaments which in turn are filled with pain nerves. In addition ligaments lack blood supply so they heal very slowly.

P.R.I.C.E.
Protect, rest, ice, compression and elevation in the first 24-72 hours. If treatment is rendered in that time, healing can be decreased to weeks. Each passing day and week without therapy can add months. Pain may also start to spread to the calf, knee, hips and lower back due to compensation.

So what does therapy involve? Initial is pulsed ultrasound to move out inflamation, swelling and block pain. After a few days, continuous ultrasound is used to break up scar tissue in the ankle and bring in blood flow with nutrients. Slowly passive then active range of motion and flexibility are introduced follwed by balance, coordination and strengthening after about 2 weeks. We also look for and treat any hip or lower back pain at that time as well.

Our philosophy at Arizona Spinal in the Scottsdale Airpark is to empower our patients with knowledge and chiropractic care in order to help them help themselves and others and to actually keep them out of office.

For more information on this and more conditions we treat and physiotherapies we perform please visit us at on our services page.