Rolled ankle, wanting to run

July 10, 2016 1:08 PM

Before leaving for vacation last week (9 days ago), I rolled my ankle playing football. Details are inside, but I probably didn't rest as much as I should've. I'd like to start my Couch to 5K running regimen back up, but I'm obviously nervous about prolonging or re-injuring. When can I feel secure in getting back to running?

Ankle twisted landing a jump catch, leg continued in previous direction. I put a wrap on it, walked it (on advice of a trainer friend who was there), and then did Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate for that night, and then the next night of vacation (that is - first two nights of injury). Got lax with RICE over the next week or so, but swelling gradually decreased along with pain.

Ankle is still a little swollen, and gets tender if I'm walking for a while. Is this sort of normal for 9 days out? If not would it be a good idea to see a doctor?

I'd like to restart my running program (since I missed a week at vacation), but I'm not sure when a good time to do that would be. What condition should I be in before I start my regular running program (I'm 2 miles, about half on, half off at this point)?

posted by codacorolla to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Hi, I was you about a month ago! Except I actually turned my ankle while I was about to start one of the running intervals for my Couch-to-5-K. I walked on it a couple steps and the pain was going away, then jogged a couple tentative steps and it was continuing to go away, and so I went on with my run like usual. But the next day it was feeling stiff. I did the same kind of treatment you did, but then after a week I went camping and did some hiking, which pushed my ankle a bit; and it started feeling stiff again. So I rested for a few days, and then went on another major hike on the weekend. And it started feeling stiff again. So I took a week in which I did absolutely no running and took it easy on the weekend, and only after that full week of rest did it finally heal enough.

So -

1. Yeah, unfortunately it can sometimes take a while for a mild sprain to get better. And it sounds like a mild sprain is what you've got, if it's still a little swollen; and walking around too much is probably slowing the healing down. You're better off taking it easy for a while - I don't think you're at "see a doctor" point now, just take it easy; rest and elevation at night, don't walk around too much, ice or take ibuprofen if it's feeling stiff or swollen.

2. I took the whole week off my running program before I tried again, and I would suggest you do the same. My problem was that i was only taking a few days off and my ankle was only getting half the way better, and then I'd get super-active and undo all the healing I'd just done. I would wait at least another week; or, at least until your ankle isn't swollen. When you start again, I'd actually re-do your last week, or even go back a week, to sort of ease back into it.

Good luck. I can attest that you will get better quickly.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:25 PM on July 10, 2016

As a runner my advice is always to wait as long as you can possibly bear. The absolute worst thing you can do is re-injure yourself and further derail your training. I've had to take long breaks for various injuries in the past where I did not wait long enough and it is simply the worst. I have since developed a far more cautious approach to rest and recovery - you have your whole life to run. No need to rush recoveries.

Also if you are restarting, restart from further back than your current progress so you can ease back into it. Stop at the first sign of ankle pain and wait longer.

Look into doing other things in the meantime like exercycle, easy walking or something that is less hard on your ankle.
posted by srboisvert at 1:41 PM on July 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Did you fly somewhere on your vacation? The extra pressure changes can prolong healing for a muscle injury, in my experience. And you may have walked more than you usually do while sightseeing. So, yeah, give it a full week of real rest, and I second the advice to redo the last week you completed before you re-start: it may give you additional confidence when you restart as well. I find the hardest part of getting back into running when I take some time off is just getting started.

If you, like me, often roll or sprain your ankle, try to go to the sort of running store where they will film your stride and make suggestions on what sort of shoe you need based on that. I wear stability running shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) and while my ankle can just nope out on me over nothing on a regular city street, I have never had problems while running (knock wood).
posted by mishaps at 1:46 PM on July 10, 2016

Also swollen after 9 days I'd recommend a doctor (assuming you have decent insurance). That seems worse than a mild sprain to me. You might have torn a ligament.
posted by srboisvert at 1:48 PM on July 10, 2016

Definitely don't run if it's still swollen.
posted by smoke at 2:49 PM on July 10, 2016

My experience with this kind of thing is that if you experience any kind of sensation while walking, your ankle is still injured enough that running on it is not tenable. I would wait until your ankle seems completely normal when walking for at least a few days before even trying to run, and then be cautious and stop at the earliest sign of trouble. It's very easy, I've found, to try to push through and makes things worse.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 6:41 PM on July 10, 2016

Recently sprained my ankle doing the 30 day shred. Landed weird during a jumping jack. When my foot was still swollen 6 days later, I went to the doctor, who flexed it a bit, confirmed that it was sprained, and told me to keep up with RICE and take ibuprofen come back after 6-8 weeks if it was still bad and we'd investigate further. She said that 6-8 weeks of swelling and pain are to be expected from an ankle sprain.

I would definitely wait longer to start running. It's been about three weeks for me, and mine still swells if I'm on it too much--and we're talking normal daily walking, not running.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:31 PM on July 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

First, your trainer friend is extremely wrong (idiotically so) to advise you to "walk off" a sprained ankle. You want to walk on it as little as possible until you have a diagnosis. And then you're likely to be told to keep off it for a while.

Second, RICE only needs to be done in the beginning. 48 or 72 hours are often quoted, but really it's based on when the swelling goes down, so you're out of the woods as far as secondary tissue damage from the swelling.

RICE this far out won't do anything positive and may delay healing.

Third, you should have seen a doctor in the first place. Ankle injuries are nothing to be casual about. Once you have one sprain, the probability of a second...third...fourth...increases substantially. Get it treated and do not rush the process of healing. If you like running, then let your ankle truly heal before you put that kind of stress on it again.

Ankle sprains are nothing to take lightly. Don't give yourself a long-term problem by not taking this seriously enough.
posted by mysterious_stranger at 11:51 PM on July 10, 2016