how many days should i take off after a rolled ankle?

You can heal "on the run" if you don't re-sprain it. Once you can run on it with minimal discomfort, i'd say you're fine. I sprained my ankle pretty bad a couple of weeks ago and took two days off and came back. It took about a week of running through it for it to feel close to 100% again, but I was able to train normally. Be careful about running on uneven surfaces when you get back because the ankle will be weak and prone to re-injury.

sprained wrote:

Hey guys,

After what felt like a strong meet on saturday, I went for a run sunday morning and turned my ankle when i stepped on a root. I could bear weight on it but i was running/walking with a noticeable limp. It was painful when I got home, iced, elevated, etc. all day sunday and i've been walking around fine today. It's still a bit swollen and has restricted range of motion, so I'm planning on taking today off at the very least. I feel like I'm really starting to get in shape and I'm wondering if taking an extended break (more than a few days) would be more beneficial then rushing back in a day or two.

I've found that my chiropractor is a handy person to know. Apparently things can get out of whack in an ankle sprain, and he was able to get my ankle realigned following a sprain. Unfortunately I waited way too long, and suspect that I've done some permanent damage.

You might consider holding off until the swelling has gone away. You can feel like you're training by doing lots of ab work and eating less. A few days off it and a bit of treatment can save you problems down the road.

Test it out each day. When it feels better, do your runs.

That's it.

you should be fine returning to running as long as you run even ground and don't make sudden turns

The only person who can provide the answer is yourself.

If you hadn't had a raised heel to fall off of, that injury could never have happened. Torque = R x F.

Ice. Feel better soon.

depends on the severity of the sprain. Did you hear a snap or a pop? that's generally not good.

I have had several sprains and generally ran through them without problems but had a couple where I did have to rest for a few days. Stay on flat surfaces though.

You will want to tape before runs so as not to re-injure it at least until the swelling goes down . Ice after every run, contrast baths are nice, too. NSAIDS can also help.

If you aren't a pussy, the right amount of time to take off from an ankle sprain is about 8 minutes.

You run, you aren't a point guard.

this is why not shoes wrote:

If you hadn't had a raised heel to fall off of, that injury could never have happened. Torque = R x F.

Ice. Feel better soon.

Wrong. I've sprained my ankle in racing flats with no heel at all. A raised heel just makes it more likely.

That being said, once you can walk normally running is usually fine. Just stay off the trails for a week or so to make sure it heals.

llllll wrote:

Wrong. I've sprained my ankle in racing flats with no heel at all. A raised heel just makes it more likely.

Racing flats do not have "no heel." They have a minimal heel, and perhaps no heel raise. But that's not the same thing as R = 0.

I do get a very occasional splinter. But I'll never again roll my ankle. Just know what choice you're making.

If you roll another joint, you'll be ready to run again in no time.

I had the same thing after a meet once, but it cleared up after I went to a running store and took a shit in a pair of compression socks.

this is why not shoes wrote:

If you hadn't had a raised heel to fall off of, that injury could never have happened. Torque = R x F.

Ice. Feel better soon.

This blanket statement is why the barefoot people are viewed as idiots. While heels significantly increase the risk of ankle sprains, they do not eliminate it.

dingle wrote:

this is why not shoes wrote:

If you hadn't had a raised heel to fall off of, that injury could never have happened. Torque = R x F.

Ice. Feel better soon.

This blanket statement is why the barefoot people are viewed as idiots. While heels significantly increase the risk of ankle sprains, they do not eliminate it.

I did mine wearing a stupid pair of cowboy boots with the usual angled heel. Turned and fell flat on my face. So much for cowboy boots in the city.

dingle wrote:

this is why not shoes wrote:

If you hadn't had a raised heel to fall off of, that injury could never have happened. Torque = R x F.

Ice. Feel better soon.

This blanket statement is why the barefoot people are viewed as idiots. While heels significantly increase the risk of ankle sprains, they do not eliminate it.

I did mine wearing a stupid pair of cowboy boots with the usual angled heel. Turned and fell flat on my face. So much for cowboy boots in the city.

this is why not shoes wrote:

Wrong. I've sprained my ankle in racing flats with no heel at all. A raised heel just makes it more likely.

Racing flats do not have "no heel." They have a minimal heel, and perhaps no heel raise. But that's not the same thing as R = 0.

I do get a very occasional splinter. But I'll never again roll my ankle. Just know what choice you're making.[/quote]

R in this case would be the distance from your ankle joint to the bottom of your foot. So unless you cut off your foot at the ankle joint, R never is 0...

I measured my foot and R=3.5 when barefoot, about 3.8 in my brooks adrenaline. So the torque is potentially 8.5% higher in shoes.

Yet somehow in 15 years of running, I've never sprained my ankle to the point where I couldn't finish my run. I've sprained it many times playing soccer and other sports to the point where I had to take days or weeks off.

Arguing we evolved to run barefoot and therefor shouldn't wear shoes is like arguing we evolved to have our teeth exactly how they are and therefor should never have braces, impacted teeth removed, etc.

We evolved to have apoptosis at a certain rate, which allows for cancer to be nearly inevitable if we live long enough. Should we therefor also not treat cancer? After all, we evolved to have it.