Healing Swollen Ankles?
By Pigglies
@Pigglies (9329)
United States
August 8, 2009 11:42pm CST
I just had to try that trail today to see if I would like to run a race on it at the end of this month. Turns out it was very soft dirt, which didn't seem bad. Except that apparently since my feet sunk into the ground several times, my ankles have now swollen right up! It's the outside part, equally swollen on both ankles (guess I finally cured myself of favoring one side).
Is there anything that will heal them quickly? They don't hurt too badly, although I do have a high pain tolerance. I won't be running that trail race, since I think that type of thing isn't really for me anyway. But I have that 5K coming up next month.
When I got tendonitis before that took a couple weeks to heal. I'm hoping the ankles won't take as long, since I need to do more training still. Maybe there is some type of exercise that will improve ankle strength?
4 people like this
4 responses
@GardenGerty (169453)
• United States
9 Aug 09
Only thing I know is to rock from your tiptoes to your heels. Walk around either tip toe or flexed. Put ice on them and elevate them for now and take NSAID's.It is the best I can tell you. You can wrap them as well. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
9 Aug 09
Thanks. I tried elevating them while I slept less night, and the swelling has gone down quite a bit. I still don't have normal ankles, but they're not as big. Luckily just standing on them doesn't seem to hurt. Walking is okay too. Just as long as I'm not walking down stairs. Today I'm stuck standing all day, but I won't be restraining any sea lions since I won't be able to catch them without running after them.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10978)
• United States
9 Aug 09
Get the swelling down before attempting strengthening exercises. Try alternating ice, and then soaking in warm water this should help. I am also a big fan of Aspercream. Aspercream always helps any type of foot pain I am having.
For ankle stregthening try calve lifs. By standing on a board or even a sturdy book. Place your feet on the board or book having your ankles hang slightly over the edge, and lift up on to your toes and down. Do this until you feel a burn in your calves. You can hold on to something for balance.
Also standin on one foot point the toe of the other foot then pull it back and then point, and repeat for 2 sets of 12 on each foot. Also if before running while standing or sitting do several rotatations of the foot at the ankle in each direction before running. Warm the ankles up like you do other body parts.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
11 Aug 09
I'm always afraid to take anything that will make the pain go away. If the pain is gone, I will just end up hurting myself more by overusing the ankles. But there really isn't that much pain, mostly just swelling. I attached a photo so that you can see how bad the swelling is. Keep in mind those are men's sandals so they are much wider to accommodate my huge ankle. I normally have a tiny ankle so that you can actually see the bone sticking out.
I definitely need to learn some ankle warm ups. I do stretches for my tendons before and after I run, but I never thought about my ankles being such a problem. I'll definitely have to add those in immediately. The swelling has gone down a bit, but I'm still not sure if I'm running tomorrow or not.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Thankfully the swelling is finally down. I think my ankles might still not be back to normal size, but the bone shows through once again and I'm no longer in pain. So this week I'll be running for two days out of the week again. I'll wait awhile to add in the third day a week that I used to run.
@syndibee (799)
• United States
12 Aug 09
Darn. One day you will be an ox as you seem to be going through all the possible pains associated with running. I suggest icing the ankles and raising them. And take that extra recovery day. I do agree with doing the ankle circles to warm them up before your runs and the calf raises to help strengthen them. When I'm sitting during the day I'm always wiggling my feet around. Flexing them all the way up then all the way down. I've always done this just out of boredom of sitting still but maybe they have helped strengthen my feet. I also circle my feet a lot or tip them from one side to the other. As I've previously mentioned, I'm bare foot 99% of the time so wiggling them and rolling them on toys that happen to be under my desk isn't uncommon.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
13 Aug 09
LOL! I hope I'll be as strong as an ox eventually. Someone in the running group tried to convince me that what didn't kill me would just make me stronger.
I am barefoot most of the time too. Even at work now because I usually just take off my shoes under my desk. And now I have dress socks with toes! So I even wiggle my toes around. Despite moving my ankles around a lot though, apparently they weren't as strong as I had hoped. I'm thinking once they get a bit better, the Wii will help them out too though, it has balance board activities. But for now, I'll stick to the ice and raised ankles.
Tomorrow I'm going swimming for awhile just to do something. But with me, swimming is more like flopping around a bit in the pool. I can only barely swim.
@dorianna (509)
• United States
16 Nov 15
For the past few years I have had problem with my ankles swelling. It started when I vacation in Maui, I thought it might be the climate. Whatever the cause, they swelled rather large, my children were teasing me. They weren't painful but my vanity was crushed because they looked terrible.
My daughter turned me on to turmeric supplements. Turmeric is good for inflammation among other things. Being an naturalist, I gave it a try. I take one Turmeric (no additives) and it keeps my ankles from swelling, for that matter any swelling at all. Might be something to check out.
