Sometimes our patients get put into these huge boots, sort of a cam boot, that they sort of get immobilized and it’s excessive and not necessary. But obviously depending on your circumstances, your doctor may sometimes prescribe a -what we call- a cam boot which is a very bulky thing that fits up from your toe that covers your toes up to right below your knee. And it kinda feels like you’ve got a log and you’re just kind of dragging that feet along. And what we’ve seen is that if you have a grade one, which is more of a sprain, you don’t necessarily need to be protected that much. It will probably cause you more harm than good when you’re logging around that heavy stuff. So protection is the first thing to prevent it from further damage.

The second thing to do, which is more of a compression. Ice, Compression, Elevation. ‘I C E’ so ice; most people probably are aware of the fact that they need to ice that ankle if they sprained it. The second thing that most people don’t tend to do is compression and elevation. One of the things that we have in use in the clinic is we have a cold compression ankle brace that we use for someone who just had an ankle sprain and their ankle is swollen. Because it’s got ice and compression, that’s going to help to get the fluid out of the ankle and the sooner we get the fluid out of the ankle, the faster we can start doing the strengthening things.

The next thing is Elevation. What I mean by that is what you could do at home is to lie on the floor, put your foot either on the couch or a chair. Elevate that foot so that it is above your heart, and gravity could help drain the fluid back into the lymphatic system which is essentially a drainage system that we have. Because if you think about it, where does the drainage go the moment you stand up? Gravity is always going to win every time…every time, the moment you stand up. So Ice, Compress, Elevate above your heart.