How to reduce swelling after spraining your ankle? This is the correct way to handle it

Some small accidents are inevitable in life, such as sprained ankle. Emergency treatment after sprained ankle is also particularly important. You can choose cold compress within 24 hours, raise the affected limb, apply hot compress after the swelling subsides, massage, and pay attention to rest.

1. Apply ice to the injured area as soon as possible after a sprain, preferably no more than 24 hours. Use an ice pack to apply to the injured area. If there is no ice, a bag of tap water can be used instead. It is recommended to apply cold compresses for the first 3 days of injury. Because of the rapid swelling caused by the tearing of blood vessels in the soft tissue after an injury, applying cold compresses can reduce the swelling and relieve your pain.

2. While applying cold compress, elevate the affected limb and place a thick quilt or other cotton pad under the affected calf to elevate the affected limb. This will help blood return and speed up the reduction of swelling. Also, keep the affected limb elevated when you rest or sleep to reduce swelling.

3. Fix the injured limb. If the sprain is severe, use a long bandage to fix the sprained ankle joint to prevent frequent ankle movement from aggravating pain and swelling, which is not conducive to the recovery of the sprain. Regardless of how severe the sprain is, try to reduce the number of times you move the injured area.

4. After three days of hot compress, when the swelling of the injured area has subsided, you can use a hot water bottle or hot towel to apply hot compress to improve blood circulation in the affected area and accelerate recovery of the sprain. 5. Apply plaster. In order to make your injured area heal faster, you can use Chinese medicine plaster for external application for treatment. Just buy some ordinary blood-activating plasters at the pharmacy and apply them to the affected area. The blood-activating plaster can penetrate the skin to produce anti-inflammatory, analgesic, blood circulation and blood stasis, promote local blood circulation, improve the nutrition of surrounding tissues, and achieve the purpose of reducing swelling, anti-inflammation and analgesia.

6. Tips: After spraining your ankle, you should pay attention to rest. Do not move around or carry heavy weights too early. Even if you do move around, do not put your center of gravity on the injured foot to avoid hindering its functional recovery. Generally, it takes 7 to 10 days for the sprain to basically improve before you can gradually resume normal activities.