🚀 go-pugleaf

In my experience, most doctors and most runners don't take severe ankle sprains
seriously enough.  With most sprains, you partially tear ligaments.  If you go
back to walking on it too soon, and even worse running on it, the ligament heals
back longer than it was.  This means the joint is looser, and more prone to
rolling over in the future.  Severe sprains take six weeks to heal.  Running on
them before that dooms you to more sprains in the future.  The best treatment
is to put the ankle in a cast with the foot held in a position such that the
ligament heals back the right length.  However, most doctors take the attitude
of no break, no cast.

I had a series of sprains which were taken too lightly.  Then I had a major one
that completely severed the ligament on the outside of the ankle.  I was given
the choice of surgery or physical therapy.  I chose to avoid the knife.  That
ankle is now fine for running.  It is stable front to back but completely floppy
side to side.  It rolls over easily, but since the ligament is gone, there is
no pain; I just fall.  Sometimes I fall down just talking to someone; I shift
my weight, the ankle rolls over, and down I go.  If I wanted to continue playing
basketball, I would have had to have the surgery, but running is enough for me
at this point in my life.

So, try to talk the doctor into casting a sprained ankle.  If you can't, follow
the R.I.C.E religiosly and use your crutches; no weight at all on it for a couple
weeks at least.  And then, don't try to go back to running on it for 6 weeks.
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Thomas W. Page, Jr.			email:   page@ficus.cs.ucla.edu
3531 Boelter Hall			day:     310 206-8696
Department of Computer Science	
University of California
Los Angeles, 90024-1596