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Around 2 weeks ago, I was playing indoor soccer as I normally. I was watching the clock above me and thinking to myself that I would have to get going soon to make it home on time.

A couple minutes before I decided to call it quits for the night, I anticipated a pass coming my way so I moved forward to receive the ball, but it never made it to me.

It was intercepted, and while I was ending my forward motion, I stepped on top of one of the defender’s feet and rolled off the side of his foot.

This gave me an instant and familiar pain in my ankle and I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. I gingerly put some weight back onto that side of my body and briefly limped around the field in an attempt to “walk it off”.

I was able to play the remaining couple of minutes in my final match and then I headed home. The very first thing I did upon getting home was go to my computer to look for what I should do after rolling my ankle.

I am fully aware of the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) protocol, however, I have taken note over the years that it didn’t feel very effective. So I took this injury as an opportunity to try something new.

What I found online was certainly not what I would’ve expected, but it made perfect sense once I put some of the thinking together and reflected on it for the next few days to come.

So what are you actually supposed to do for a musculoskeletal injury like the common sprained/rolled/twisted ankle?

Active recovery. Not only are you supposed to do active recovery, but it’s the only way to heal this injury in a timely fashion.

Like, hurt yourself on a Tuesday and be playing again two Tuesdays from then or earlier.

I could’ve actually been more attentive with my ankle than I was, but I didn’t learn a lot of the crucial information until over a week later. But now I know that as soon as you know that musculature has been hurt, start recovering it right away. Don’t give it the chance to swell badly and get locked up from inflammation. 

The Reasoning (very important to understand)

Swelling is the body’s natural response to an injury like this one, so we’re not trying to get rid of the swelling, we’re trying to aid the body in it’s already established recovery process.

The logic behind this is just that the body is a self-healing machine, it does everything as effectively and efficiently as it can. We do not know better than our body on how to heal it, so our job is to avoid putting obstacles in its way and help the process along.

One of the obstacles to avoid letting happen is causing further damage. So the muscles that were involved in the initial injury have already been damaged, but we do not want the incoming inflammation to create too much congestion in this area so that it affects otherwise healthy muscles to be damaged as well.

When we allow too much congestion in without clearing any out, it can literally start to suffocate the surrounding musculature by depriving it of good circulation. This is actually why it hurts and why it gets swollen, fluid is being sent to this area to clean up the mess and its not able to get drained out, putting pressure on the surrounding nerves.

What we need to do is very simple, keep on moving. More specifically, maintain as much range of motion as you can in the affected area and continue bearing weight on it as well. This is the ONLY way that the body heals injuries like this.

The muscle activation that you are doing when you keep moving decongests the area. It clears out the stored-up waste from the accident. Your muscles act as pumps for this fluid, also known as lymph, to get literally pumped back into the lymphatic system.

Again, this is the only way that waste like this gets disposed of, through the lymphatic system. So you need to keep activating and using the muscles in and around the injured area because it will speed up the recovery process and allow for your body to dispose of the waste without much trouble.

When you don’t use the muscles around this area, they will begin to atrophy (weaken) along with the already injured muscle tissue. This is why so many people come back from common injuries like this one much weaker than they need to be. 

What I Did

All that I did for this injury was maintain as much range of motion as I could and I didn’t change anything about my daily schedule because resting would just allow the congestion to lock it up.

I practiced reaching my full range of dorsiflexion (pulling the toes back toward you) and plantarflexion (pointing the toes down and flattening the foot) each day, rolled my ankles and feet around often to keep them engaged, and overall just moved like I would on any other normal day.

I made sure that when I was sitting, I used many different positions to keep my ankles active. Squatting is great for this because it brings your ankle to it’s furthest range. Kneeling on one leg at a time with one leg up is good too as well as kneeling on both legs to flatten out the feet.

In addition to this, I used a very light myofascial release technique (if you can even call it that) to make sure the skin around my ankle and foot were still sliding over the muscle as normal.

I did this by pinning a massage ball to a specific area, and hitting it with the other hand using some force. I know it sounds odd, but it’s a wise move to keep your skin sliding appropriately as the inflammation can cause it to get glued down to the underlying muscle tissue.

If you use a massage ball like this one, you can even start by just holding it on a spot and twisting it to pull your skin off that area because the ball has such good grip on it.

You really can’t hurt yourself using these techniques, so don’t worry about creating an injury or making one worse. This will only help you in the long run. 

To continue exercising with your injury, a great way to keep all the necessary muscles active without any impact is by using a balance board or a half medicine ball regularly. These are tools I will use at the gym to practice keeping my balance on an uneven platform, therefore stimulating all of your foot, ankle, and lower leg muscles that will help you stabilize yourself.

The Big Takeaway: Communicate With Your Body

Here’s some extra food for thought: the body is always looking for signals. It wants to know what you’re trying to do and its extremely good at adapting to new things. Your body literally becomes whatever it does most.

If you sit all day and end up with a curve in your back, misaligned hips, and slumped shoulders, that’s just your body trying to adapt to the lifestyle you’re signaling for. It’s preparing you for more of the same.

A lot of people blame old age or general deficiencies with their body when that’s not the case, the body will use all of its available resources to make certain things happen, so you need to show it what you want.

So when you sprain your ankle and want to play soccer again, keep pushing towards playing again. Resting in bed while that thing swells up is only going to sideline you for longer. Send the signals that you want to keep playing.

Related: Are Your Injuries Caused by Tightness or Weakness?