Imagine you’re playing basketball; you jump up for a lay up and as you watch the ball fly towards the hoop, your foot lands awkwardly on the court and you twist you ankle inwards. Ouch!

A lot of us have experienced a similar situation that resulted in a sprained ankle.

Have you ever wondered what a sprain actually is or what goes on in your body after it happens?

A sprain is a stretch or tear that happens in a ligament. A ligament is fibrous connective tissue between two bones. On the outside of our ankle, we have several main ligaments including the anterior talofibular ligament, the posterior talofibular ligament, and the calcaneofibular ligament.

Luckily our bodies are masters at healing and are able to get us back up and moving relatively quickly. How quickly depends on the degree of sprain, which can be graded as mild (Grade 1), moderate (Grade 2), and severe (Grade 3).

A Grade 1 tear includes mild stretching and slight tearing of the ligament.

A Grade 2 tear includes partial tearing of the ligament with an increase in joint motion.

A Grade 3 tear includes a full tear of the ligament with an increase in the joint motion.

So you’ve had a sprain…. where does our body go from there?

There are 3 phases of tissue healing that our bodies go through to repair the ligament:

  1. Inflammatory: A blood clot is formed and inflammatory agents are released. An initial scar is created (0-14 days)

  2. Proliferative: Immature collagen production starts to fill in (week 2-4)

  3. Remodeling (week 3-26): Scar matures and forms dense connective tissue, the initial weaker collagen is replaced by another stronger form

What can you do during this process?

You can do all the basics to help your body heal. The simple things like getting adequate hydration, nutrition, sleep, and rest.

Depending on the degree of sprain, and how long it’s been since it happened, gentle motion and walking are encouraged.

For detailed instructions from there, you should seek help from your local PT :o)