Although twisting your ankle will not lead to a life-threatening injury, this situation can still be challenging to deal with and manage. As a joint that supports nearly all of your body weight and allows for movements such as walking and running, any damage sustained to the ankle can quickly drag down your quality of life. Fortunately, our team at Free Body Physical Therapy can help with this situation. If you’ve recently twisted your ankle, we can schedule the physical therapy sessions needed to help you make a full recovery.
What Is A Sprained Ankle?
When you twist your ankle, the most likely injury you will sustain is a sprain. The bones in your ankle are connected by ligaments, which allows for movement in this area. However, twisting your ankle forces these ligaments outside of their normal range of motion, leading to the sprain taking place. Sprains leave the joint in a destabilized state, making it challenging to move around and put pressure on the affected area.
Symptoms Of An Ankle Sprain
While ankle sprains are a common injury among athletes, the truth is that anybody can suffer from this injury. And while it may be tempting to try and power through this sprain without receiving treatment, that will ultimately do more harm than good. Failing to seek out care will allow the injury to worsen, meaning you’ll spend more time in pain. To help prevent this from happening, our team recommends seeking out physical therapy when any of the below symptoms are present:
- Pain in the affected ankle, especially when trying to bear weight.
- The ankle is tender to the touch.
- Swelling and bruising.
- Limited range of motion in the affected ankle.
- Experiencing a popping sensation during the initial twisting.
What Is Physical Therapy?
Depending on the severity of the injury after twisting your ankle, different treatment routes should be taken. And while resting the damaged joint will play a role in the recovery process, so will physical activity. This is where physical therapy comes into play. Physical therapy is an activity-based form of treatment that focuses on therapeutic stretches and strengthening exercises to promote healing. Our team will perform a full evaluation of your ankle before determining what level of physical output you can safely handle. Once this is done, we’ll move forward with teaching you the stretches and exercises needed to get you back on your feet.
Why Consider Physical Therapy For A Twisted Ankle?
After sustaining any joint injury, one of the first options doctors will recommend is physical therapy. Twisted ankles are no exception to this rule of thumb. That is because physical therapy brings with it a plethora of benefits. If you’ve twisted your ankle, you should not hesitate to schedule physical therapy sessions with our team. A few benefits that can be reaped by doing so can include the following:
- Stabilization of the joint.
- Elimination of pain and swelling.
- Improved flexibility and range of motion.
- It helps to avoid the need for invasive surgery.
- Mitigates the chances of the injury recurring.
Additional Modalities
Physical activity plays a large role in each session of physical therapy. However, when it comes to treating twisted ankles, it is not all that will take place. The use of additional modalities will also be beneficial to the healing process. To get the most out of each session, our team may also incorporate any of the below:
- Massage therapy.
- Electronic muscle stimulation.
- Heat and cold therapy.
Schedule Your Appointment
After you’ve twisted your ankle, you shouldn’t wait to have the injury checked out. Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal, waiting too long for care will only prolong the recovery process. Here at Free Body Physical Therapy, we don’t want to see this happen to you. By allowing us to administer physical therapy sessions, you’ll find that your condition will likely become significantly improved. To schedule your first appointment with us, be sure to contact our team today!