Exact Answer: Up to 6 months
An ankle sprain is a type of musculoskeletal injury that can happen very easily. Ankle sprain would be quite tough as people may have to give up doing physical activity. The intensity of ankle pain would not be the same for all people. People with severe ankle pain would have to suffer for around 2 to 6 months.
If the person has a minor ankle injury or sprain, then the person may get recover in just 3 to 4 weeks. Sometimes, the person may get cured in 15 days of an ankle sprain. The type of treatment provided to the person would affect the lasting time of sprained ankles.
Taking proper rest is another big factor that would make the person recover from the ankle injury faster. The first-degree ankle sprain would last for around 3 to 4 weeks. People with second-degree ankle sprain would have to take treatment and rest for around 4 to 5 weeks.
People with a severe ankle sprain or third-degree ankle sprain would have to take rest and treatment for around 2 months or more.
How Long Do Sprained Ankles Last?
| Sprained Ankles | Time |
| In months | 6 months |
| In weeks | 24 weeks |
The lasting time of sprained ankles would depend on the following conditions and factors. These includes:
Type of Injury- The type of injury would make a very big impact on the lasting time of sprained ankles. The people with less intensity of sprained injury would take a few days to recover. The people with severe ankle sprain would stay the symptoms of ankle sprain to stay for months together.
This is because the ankle would take some time to return back to its normal position. The tearing of the ankle ligament would take more time to get treated and the timing would differ in every one. The people can check with the doctor for knowing the exact time required for healing of the sprain ankles.
Rest- Rest and rehabilitation are quite vital when it comes to recovery from ankle injuries. People need to rest till they see improvement in their symptoms. The doctors would ask the patient to rest for the whole day as walking with sprained ankles would cause chronic arthritis if not treated during the initial stage.
After the patient is diagnosed with an ankle sprain, then the patient is required to skip doing any work or physical activity. No patient should do any physical exercise if not suggested by the doctor. As physical activity would not allow the stretched or tear muscles of the ligament to heal.
Treatment- The treatment for the sprained ankle is very important as they would not heal on their own. People can also get cured of sprain ankles problems if they try the treatment method RICE. In RICE, people need to start with taking the proper amount of rest as suggested by the doctor or professional.
Icing comes as the second step for the treatment of ankle sprain. People need to do ice application on the injured part for around 20 minutes. The ice application should be done around 2 to 3 times every day. The next step is to apply compression if required or prescribed by the doctors.
Foot elevation is vital to help the ankle injury get treated at the earliest. The last step is to elevate the feet all the time to not let the ankle sprain get worse.
Why Do Sprained Ankles Last For This Long?
The sprained ankles would take some time to heal. As the ankles are supposed to get back to their normal position for allowing the person to do all the activities properly. If anybody skips treating the sprained ankles, then it would cause major injury and may not stop paining.
For restoring the range of motion, people have to go for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation would make the recovery phase quite faster. Some people may take more time to balance their bodies after an ankle sprain. The person’s ability and confidence would play huge roles in predicting how long the recovery of an ankle sprain would take.
People should avoid loads or weights on the injured ankles. Pressurizing the ankles would cause pain and would make the injury more severe. Some doctors may suggest physical therapy for faster recovery. The patients can recover from the ankle injury with no surgery or high dosage medication if they follow all the suggestions given by the doctor.
Conclusion
Sprained ankles are quite serious injuries that may bring many other health problems such as arthritis. The people can take all the precautions to not get the ankle sprained. If anybody gets a sprained ankle, then taking rest and rehabilitation would work. People should run to the doctor for diagnosis of the intensity of sprain injury.
The sprained ankle would get recover in a few days if the person takes proper care of it.
References
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200737010-00006
- https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/28/2/112.short
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