Last week I sprained my ankle in a spectacularly mundane fashion. It was during a test, and I was demonstrating a drill where the subject is attacked by surprise by one of several attackers. It went really well, just about flawlessly in fact. After a few go-arounds I said the fateful words,”Okay, now you try”, and stepped aside.
As I stepped aside, I rolled my ankle with a crunching sound reminiscent of many knuckles in symphony. I managed to get my weight off of it quickly, averting total disaster, but I knew it wasn’t going to be my day.
It’s a couple days later, and the swelling has gone down mostly, and I’m ready for the next phase. The first few days I used the R.I.C.E. protocol – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation – and it worked well. For my classes the next day, I did my best taping job (with the help of my six-year-old) and it held up nicely.
Now that the swelling has gone down and weight-bearing is no problem, I’m ready for M.I.C.E.
In this protocol, you replace Rest with Movement. The classic example is drawing the alphabet with my toe. It forces the ankle through its range of motion at every angle and prevents long-term stiffness. I’ve got this nifty purple stripe along the outside of my foot, but I can now walk with no discomfort, and can now focus on rehabilitation.
There are a few factors I’m going to try to address in the process:
