Fitness health centre

Introduction

A sprained ankle can be painful and swollen at first. You may find it hard to walk. But getting the right treatment quickly can mean you get back to normal quite soon.

We've brought together the best research about ankle sprains and weighed up the evidence about how to treat them. You can use our information to talk to your doctor and decide which treatments are best for you.

A sprain damages the bands of tissue (known as ligaments) that connect your bones together at the ankle joint. Your sprained ankle might only be mild, or you could have a more serious injury.

Most ankle sprains happen when your foot suddenly twists inwards as you run, turn or fall. You sometimes hear a pop or a tear.

How bad your injury is depends on how much damage you've done to the ligaments around your ankle joint.

There are several ligaments in your ankle. You may have injured one or more of them. Doctors sometimes decide how seriously you've sprained your ankle using these different grades:^[1]

• Grade 1 is a mild sprain when the ligaments have stretched too far

• Grade 2 is a moderate sprain when the ligaments are partly torn

• Grade 3 is a severe sprain when the ligaments are completely torn.

People who have a high-arched foot or bow legs are more at risk of spraining their ankle. You're also more likely to get a sprained ankle if you've had one before. You can also get an injury known as a strain. This is different to a sprain. A strain happens when you stretch or pull a muscle rather than a ligament.

Citations