sprained ankle Tues--Wedding is this Sunday...

[eks6426]

I slipped on the marble stairs at work on Tuesday...fell and sprained my ankle. Now, I can barely walk. My wedding is Sunday. Does anyone know any tricks to make this heal faster? I am supposed to walk down 32 stairs for my walk down the aisle....I know that''s not going to happen, but I''m concerned at walking down even the flat part of the aisle.

This really stinks!

 

[widget]

How awful!!!

I''ll really be interested to hear what people suggest. Does your doctor have any suggestions? Walk on it a lot in the days before? Walk on it less? Wrap it? Ice it up to the last minute??

One obvious thought is to have your Dad (or whoever is walking you down the aisle) walk on the side that lends the most support.

Hopefully it isn''t a bad sprain, and will feel better by Sunday...

Good luck!
widget

 

[eks6426]

The doctor said it could take 8 weeks before I can walk normally....up to 18 months before it is full healed.......


My 8 year old son is walking me down the aisle so he doesn''t exactly lend much support.....

 

[jellybean]

I''m not a physician but a pharmacist. What we learned in school for sprained ankles is RICE -- Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

Rest -- Obviously if you can stay off your ankle as much as you can it definitely helps b/c the muscles are resting.

Compression -- Wrap your ankle in something like an ACE bandage. Helps keep the swelling down.

Ice -- As a general rule, ice for the first 24-48 hours then heat. Ice brings the swelling down. After the ice the heat causes more blood flow to the area thus bringing more healing components with it. Plus the heat also relaxes the muscles.

Elevation -- When you sit keep your ankle on an ottomon or coffee table.

If you can tolerate over the counter NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs), try something like Motrin or Aleve. Follow the directions and use them around the clock (you don''t have to wake up in the middle of the night to take them though) for the first few days. Make sure you take them with food. Pain killers like Tylenol are OK but they won''t have the added benefit of taking the swelling down like the NSAIDs do.

I''m so sorry this happened so close to your wedding! I know you probably have a lot to do the next few days but the key is to rest the ankle and take anti-inflammatories.

Hope you feel better quickly!

 

[njc]

Okay, im no expert, but from being a clumsy athletic person, i always made friends with the athletic trainers!

Stay off of it!!!
Get crutches or a cane--dramatic i know, but every little bit counts. The less weight/pressure you apply to it, the better! Since you should be sitting as much as possible, keep it proped up (above your heart preferably) and ice for 20-30 min 3 or 4 times a day.

The ice will help the swelling but YOU HAVE TO put it directly on your ankle... dont wrap it in a towel or anything. It hurts like a b*t%h for about 2 min then you cant feel a thing. Athletic trainers i had in HS and college used to make us dunk whatever was ailing us (ankles, arms, etc) into buckets of ice water... talk about being cold!!!

Another tip is to use bags of frozen veggies (peas especially) instead of ice in plastic bags. They wont leak and will conform to the shape of your ankle better. When you are done, toss it back into the freezer, but mark so you know not to eat it!

Staying off of it will help the legiments start to heal and keeping it proped up will also help with the swelling.

Did the doctor give you a brace or anything? If not, wrap your ankle in an ACE bandage to offer some support and avoid twisting or turning your ankle. Wear flat shoes that offer some support as well, like tennis shoes, which i know can be hard if you are working. The more babying you do, hopefully the better off you will be on Saturday!

*Wrapping an ankle with an ACE bandage:
You need to wrap it in a figure 8 (see picture below--not the best, but what i could find).
*DONT WRAP IT REALLY TIGHT--YOU WILL ONLY LOOSE CIRCULATION!!!*

1. Make a circle with bandage above your ankle (on like your lower leg) to hold the end in place. Go around once or twice
2. Take bandage and run it along your ankle and wrap it around the bottom of your foot, coming up on the other side of your ankle.
3. Wrap around leg and repeat the figure 8 until all the bandage is used.

The tape in the picture is just used to hold the ends of the bandage i believe. You can do that or use the little clip thingys.

Hope you can get to walking on it!!!

STAY OFF YOUR ANKLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jellybean]

NJC -- some great advice!

I had forgotten to mention the frozen peas thing. And yes, apply it to the skin; much more effective than buffering it with a towel.

Most local pharmacies (well, at least mine does

) will rent crutches out to you. I second that advice.

 

[Rube]

I think the advice you got is good! So, STAY OFF YOUR ANKLE! (Just had to second what everyone else said...

)

Just take your time down the aisle.

 

[njc]

OOOooo!!! Good point Rube!!! It will make you walk slower, which is a good thing!

I know from being in weddings before that you think you are walking soooooooo sloooooooow, but in reality its pretty fast.

This way you can make sure EVERY LAST GUEST see you!!!

What kinds of shoes do you have? Is yours a beach affair? I cant remember...

 

[MelissaSue]

I think you got a lot of good suggestions.. but my only good suggestion is to just take lots of advil an hour or so before the wedding.. Because no matter what you do, you''re still gonna be hurting on sunday! Good luck!

 

[elephant]

Definitely RICE -- I would also like to 2nd the idea of crutches. Not only will it help you stay off your foot, but it will give you super buff arms. I sprained my ankle and had to use crutches and by the time my ankle healed I had Jennifer Aniston arms! It was GREAT! Plus, it works your stomach.

My BIG suggestion to you would be to go to a Sports Medicine Dr. I did that when I sprained my ankle and I mean my ankle was a DISASTER! And it helped a lot. They did electrostim and then this boot thing that reduced the swelling, etc. I don''t remember where you are located. I thought you might be in the Chicagoland area. That''s where I grew up and I actually worked for Dr. Fiala at Downers Grove Sports Medicine. I would highly recommend him. He''s pretty well-known. If you are far away from DG, then perhaps you could call him for a recommendation closer to you!

 

[ame]

Keep it propped, ice and heat it and take a gob of Ibuprofen.

I have done a few great idiotic things in the last couple days, including today. I have papercuts all over, a big zit on my forehead and my lip tends to split in my sleep when it gets dried out, that''s a kicker right now too....

 

[flopkins]

ID- I can''t add much to everyone else''s treatment advice, but I do want to add that you might want to consider having someone else walk you down the aisle in addition to your son, perhaps one of the groomsmen? Or a parent? Depending on how your ankle is, i would have someone lined up just in case, so you have someone to lean on...
And also, to have a chair up at the altar, so if you need it, you might be able to sit down. I don''t know how long your ceremony''s gonna be, but it might be tough, even for 30 minutes to stand.

So sorry to hear about your ankle though!!!!! I would be so bummed. I hope you can still enjoy your wedding day and laugh about it later on!!!

 

[elepri]

Oh no! I''m sorry that really stinks! I also don''t have much to add to all the advice but I hope you feel better by the wedding day. And I agree, it''s a good idea to have someone you can lean on walk you down the aisle.

 

[IrishEyes]

My advice is to stay off it and get a prescription of vicodin! ok, joke. Seriously, stay off it and take lots of Ibprofruin. I''m sorry this happened to you! Don''t panic though, everything will work out I''m sure!

 

[jenwill]

OK- last May I tore two ligaments in my ankle and could barely walk..plus it was swollen to the size of a grapefruit. SO the above suggestions are good , but I would also look into finding a brace for the wedding day. The one that I got was from a sports medicine store, and consisted of two molded hard plastic strips that went on either side of my ankle, that had velcro that wrapped under my foot and around it low and high on my calf to keep them in place.

This helped greatly, as it provided stability, and transferred some of the weight to my calf when i took a step. Hopefully you can find something like that to help on your day.

Good luck, and even if you have a limp I am sure you will make a beautiful bride.

 

[pyramid]

Just wanted to say I am very sorry to hear that this has happened to you just before your big day.

 

[Kaili]

Island,
I''m soooo sorry that happened to you!!!
I think you have gotten some great advice.
Is there any way you can wear an ace bandage to get you down the stairs and through your ceremony? What kind of shoes are you planning on wearing?

Definitley hit the advil or tylenol before the ceremony, but just be careful that you don''t take too much.

I recently saw something on the news about a woman who was taken out on a stretcher from her reception because she became sick. She was on morphine or some kind of pain drug, and she gave the longest goodbye to her guests ever! Everyone was laughing.

Thank god you aren''t in her shoes!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

What a business!! So sorry for your troubles--hope you can manage (slowly) on your big day! Rely on people to help!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[drk]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about the accident! You''ve gotten lots of good advice already, and I hope the swelling is going down. Ice it frequently (every 4h or so) for 20 min at a time for the first couple days. Take ibuprofen, and keep that foot up! I wouldn''t wear heels for a while, because I doubt a freshly sprained ankle is be stable enough to handle it. At the hospital, we make sure there''s no fracture, wrap the ankle in a tensor bandage for support and compression, and recommend exactly what everyone else has said in terms of RICE.

I sprained my ankle badly a number of years ago. Saw an ortho guy to make sure it wasn''t broken, and he ended up strapping it really well with that 1.5" cloth tape. If you know anyone who can do that, once you get the swelling down, the tape shouldn''t be that bulky and can really help to stabilize your ankle. If I could remember how he taped it, I''d tell you, but I don''t! It did a good enough job for me to go on a week long bike tour in Tuscany a few days later, though I did borrow some crutches for when I had to do a lot of walking.

I did look on google and found some sites that might help in terms of taping:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=sportsmedicine&zu=http://www.csuchico.edu/~sbarker/injury/ankle/ - good video of a taping job, and a link to rehab exercises to start later on.
http://www.emedicine.com/sports/topic143.htm - gives a good explanation about how to tape like they did in the video
http://www.sportstek.net/ankle_taping.htm
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/ankle/sprained_ankle/taping.php - a bit less sophisticated tape job

See how you feel Sunday, but I would bet if you''ve taken it easy and not strained your ankle by then that you''ll be able to walk at least down the flat part of the aisle, stand through the ceremony (putting most of your weight on your other foot of course!), and have a first dance with your husband later on that day.

Good luck, and let us all know how it turned out!
Drk

 

[drk]

Oh yeah. The max safe dose of ibuprofen for adults is supposed to be 2400mg/24 hours (if you don''t have gastritis or ulcers), and it should work for 6-8h. For tylenol it''s 4000mg/24 h if your liver''s all right (lasts 3-4h). Not good to take the max doses for long though!

Take care,
Drk
PS. Check with your pharmacist or doctor if you have any questions or concerns. You can''t give real medical advice without knowing all about the patient!

 

[jellybean]

Actually, ibuprofen lasts a max of 6 hours. You can take it as soon as 4 hours, but you are correct that the max dose is 2400mg/24 hours. Naprosen (Aleve) can last up to 8 hours which is why some prefer it over ibuprofen.

The max dose of tylenol is 4000mg/24 hours but it really shouldn''t be taken sooner than 4 hours. You can get to that max dose quickly if you''re taking two extra strength tablets at a time.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Hey IslandDreams - first let me say I am so sorry about this - what a bad time to have an accident.

I had a number of sprained ankles as an adolescent/ballet dancer, and I second all the advice about icing with frozen veggies, NSAIDS, elevation, compression, etc...especially Melissa''s advice about dosing with Advil shortly before the ceremony - we used to do this in ballet when we had especially bad blisters or whatever but still had to put on our pointe shoes for rehearsal or class...I recommend 600 mg

One thing that might also help for walking is something called an aircast - I wore one when I sprained my ankle but was going to Europe and so couldn''t use crutches - its similar to what someone here described with plastic on either side of the ankle, and then it has little inflatable air pockets inside the plastic, and velcro to hold it all together. It provides a lot of stability and support. If you can''t find that definitely wrap it with something to help give it stability - hopefully it won''t show under your dress. Good luck and I will be sending you feel-better thoughts

 

[eks6426]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I have mostly followed the RICE program and it has helped some. I went back to the doctor yesterday and it was determined that I tore the arch ligament under my foot. So, they told me to stay off of it & elevate as much as possible but that is really hard when I need to go to work and also have all the last minute wedding stuff. They also said I needed sneakers so I went and bought my first pair in 20 years...they help a lot. The doctor said I should be able to wear my 2 1/2 high sandals for my wedding because the higher heel actually helps the arch issue...I just have to be careful not to fall or twist anything. Flats unless they have good arch support are worse...grrr...

My wedding is outside. I am supposed to walk down stairs for the aisle. We are going to rethink that plan.....The honeymoon is on a Carribbean island so I should be able to sit in a lounge chair quite a bit...just can't walk in sand. I guess my fiance will have to carry me.......

Thanks again everyone. This is my last day on PS until July 18.

 

[MissAva]

Oh that sucks...big time. Buy an aircast it will help you keep things in line so you cant restrain the muscles and follow NJC advice about RICE she is 100% correct. I hope your honeymoon is spiffy, now your new husband just has to carry you everywhere.

 

[icekid]

oh no... just saw this thread. what horrible timing Island!

glad to hear you''ve been resting and icing. that''s really the only thing you can do! i am sure your wedding will be fabulous, regardless.. perhaps with a couple modifications