Because the normal ankle varus angle is much larger than the valgus angle, when you sprain your ankle, your foot is usually varus, and the injured part is on the outside of the ankle. In order not to "save tendons", many people first rub the sore place, then wash their feet with hot water to promote blood circulation and reduce swelling, and finally walk with pain. But practice has proved that it is not appropriate to deal with sprained feet like this.
Because local small blood vessels rupture and bleeding together with oozing tissue fluid will form hematoma, it usually takes about 24 hours to repair bleeding and oozing. If you rub it hard immediately after injury, hot compress and scald, you will inevitably accelerate bleeding and exudation while rubbing off part of the blood stasis, and even aggravate the rupture of blood vessels, resulting in a larger hematoma and swelling and pain in the injured part. People often say that "tendon retention" actually refers to soft tissue adhesion after injury, which affects functional activities. This situation usually occurs in the middle and late stage of injury. Therefore, the activity is limited within a few days after injury, which is generally due to pain, rather than "tendon retention" caused by adhesion.
So, what about sprained ankle?
1. Identify the severity of the injury. Mild ankle sprain is only a soft tissue injury, which may be a fracture of the lateral ankle or the base of the fifth metatarsal, a fracture of both the medial and lateral ankles, or even a fracture of the trimalleolar. The light ones can be handled by themselves, and the heavy ones must go to the hospital for treatment. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish the severity of injury.
Generally speaking, if you don't have severe pain when moving your ankle, you can still barely stand and walk; If the pain is not in the bone but in the muscle, it is mostly a sprain and can be handled by yourself. If you have a sharp pain when moving your ankle, you can't stand and move, the pain is on the bone, or you feel a sound in your foot when you sprain it, and swelling will occur soon after the injury, especially the tender point is in the middle of the outer ankle or the bone protruding from the outer foot. That is a sign of serious injury. You should go to the hospital at once. If you can't go to the hospital for the time being due to conditions, you can also deal with it in the following ways for the time being, and then go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible.
2. Use hot compress and cold compress correctly. Both hot compress and cold compress are physical therapy, but their functions are completely different. Blood is alive when it is hot and coagulated when it is cold. Therefore, when the ruptured blood vessel is still bleeding, cold compress should be carried out to control the development of injury. Hot compress can only be carried out after the bleeding stops to dispel the congestion around the wound.
Careful readers will definitely ask, how can we know if the bleeding has stopped? In principle, it is limited to 24 hours after injury, and the following points can also be referenced: First, the pain and swelling tend to be stable and will not continue to deteriorate; Second, there is little difference in swelling sensation between the affected foot and the lower foot; Thirdly, the skin temperature of the wound has changed from slightly higher than the normal part to quite similar, which can be used as the basis for hemostasis.
3. Appropriate activities. When swelling and pain gradually appear after the injury, don't support yourself to stand or walk. It is best to raise the affected limb and limit any activity. When the condition tends to be stable, the affected limb can be raised for ankle joint active activities, but activities that can cause severe pain are prohibited. Wait until the swelling and pain gradually ease, and then walk around the ground. Time should be shorter first, and then gradually increase after getting used to it.
4. Press and knead correctly. Before the bleeding stops, it is advisable to continuously press and knead the hematoma. The method is to press the thenar of the palm locally. Although it hurts, the pressure should be tolerable. The time is to keep pressing for 2 ~ 3 minutes, then slowly release it, pause for a while and repeat the operation. Repeat every 5 times as a stage, and it is more appropriate to do 3 ~ 4 stages every day. After the bleeding stops, do kneading. Apply some pressure locally with thenar or thumb pulp and knead. The direction is centrifugal compression in all directions around the swelling, 2-3 minutes each time, 3-5 times a day.
5. rational use of drugs. Before the bleeding stops, it is not advisable to take orally or externally use blood-activating drugs. You can spray "hurry up" on the wound and take Yunnan blood-enriching drugs orally. After the bleeding stops, external application of Wuhudan, oral administration of Da Die Pill, Huoxue Zhitong Powder, etc. Later, it can be smoked and washed with Chinese herbal medicine. If you don't have Chinese patent medicine on hand, you can also fry the flour and apply it to the affected area with rice vinegar instead of Wuhudan, and the effect is also very satisfactory. It is also good to use a pinch of pepper and a handful of salty boiled water instead of Chinese herbal medicine.