Are Plasters The Only Acceptable Way To Treat Sprains?

Your ligaments are strong, elastic-resembling strips that link bone to keep your joints at their right place. When we say sprain, it is a condition of damage or injury to a ligament resulting from tearing the ligament’s threads. They can have a partial tear or be fully torn apart.

If we talk about ankle sprains, they are the most common sprain. Knee, wrist, and thumb sprains are also a few common sprains. Sprained ligaments usually swell easily and are extremely painful. Typically, the more the inflammation and pain, the more acute the injury are. For minor sprains, you should begin initial treatment for damage at home. When it comes to the question “Are Plasters the only acceptable way to treat sprains” the answer is no. Plasters are not the only way to treat and heal sprains. The best option to treat sprains is to seek chiropractic help. 

Follow The Instructions For RICE

If you are experiencing minor sprains, you need to consider treating them first at home with the help of the RICE concept:

1. Rest: Give rest to your injured limb. Your healthcare provider or doctor may recommend you not to put any weight or strain on the damaged site for 48 to 72 hours, so you may require using crutches. A brace or splint also may be useful at first. But don’t avoid all regular activity. Even if you are experiencing an ankle sprain, you can still do some exercises with other muscles to reduce deconditioning. For instance, you can use an exercise bicycle with arm movement handles, moving both your uninjured leg and the arms while giving the rest to the injured ankle on another portion of the bike. You can get three-limb movement exercises to keep up your cardiovascular conditioning.
2. Ice: Apply ice to the injured area. Use a cold pack. You can also use a compression sleeve filled with cold water or a slush bath to limit inflammation after a sprain or injury. You should ice the injured site as soon as possible post the damage and keep icing it for 15 to 20 minutes, four to ten times a day, for the first 48 hours or until inflammation improves. If you use ice, be cautious with it. You should not apply it too long, as this could lead to tissue damage.
3. Compress: After applying ice on the injured area, you can compress the site with an elastic bandage or wrap. Compressive sleeves or wraps made from neoprene or elastic are best.
4. Elevate the damaged or injured limb above your heart to prevent or limit inflammation.

Arm or leg sprains can take weeks to months to heal. As the swelling and pain improve, gently start moving the injured area. You should experience a progressive or gradual improvement. Over-the-counter painkillers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), may be useful to control pain during the recovering process.

It is necessary to restore stability and strength to the bruised limb before returning to fitness sports activities. A chiropractor or physical therapist, or other sports healthcare provider can offer you the proper stability and strength exercises to optimize recovery and reduce the possibility of a recurring injury or sprain.

The injuries and damages that led to sprains can also lead to acute injuries, including fractures. See a doctor or professional chiropractor if your injury or sprain isn’t recovering after two or three days.

Seek Emergency Medical Help If 

• You cannot tolerate weight on the bruised leg, the joint experiences unstable or numbness, or you cannot move the joint. If you feel so, it means your ligament has been torn completely. When you decide to go to the doctor’s clinic, consider applying an ice or cold pack.
• You build red streaks or redness that spread out from the bruised site. It means you have an infection.
• You are experiencing pain straightly over the bones of a bruised joint.
• You have a recurring injury in an area that has been bruised or injured several times.
• You have an acute sprain. Inappropriate or delayed sprain treatment may accompany long-term chronic pain or joint instability.

How Do They Happen?

Sprains strains and fractures can occur due to many events, physical activities, car accidents, incorrect landings or falls, and even damaging stretches. As per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports, the most typical sports injuries include sprains, shin splints, strains, swollen muscles, knee injuries, fractures, and dislocations. One common neck injury is ill-famed for causing neck sprains and strains.

A few of the top reasons for sprains and strains include:

• Sports Injuries
• Falling or twisting the wrong way
• Improper Movement/Exercise
• Car Accidents
• Overexertion & Repetitive Motions

Injury or damage from a car accident can lead to strains and sprains to the passengers and driver, which may exacerbate over time if not treated properly. One of the most common bruises that patients take with the help of chiropractic care after being met with a car accident is soreness and muscle pain. Accompanied with muscle soreness, sprains, and strains are two general injuries that people feel during a crash that react well to chiropractic treatment.

How A Chiropractor Help To Treat Sprains

When it comes to knowing how to heal a sprained ankle, seeking chiropractic help is the best option. As chiropractic care concentrates on adjusting and aligning the joints, spine, ligaments, muscles, and other sites of the body linked with the nervous system to soothe pain and improve function, it can also remove pain and problems associated with different types of ankle sprains or strains without irrelevant medications or surgery.

Chiropractic adjustments, rehabilitation exercises, physical therapy, targeted acute pain relief techniques, targeted massage, and stretching are all techniques in which chiropractic care can assist in naturally treating sprains and strains. Hence, you recover quicker and execute at peak level. Chiropractic care encourages healing of the injured site and lets you recover even powerfully to minimize future injuries.

The following are common sprain treatment techniques that professional chiropractors utilize to aid patients with strains and strains to relieve pain and heal:

• Soft Tissue Massage
• Chiropractic Adjustments
• Cold & Heat Therapy
• Targeted Stretches & Exercise
• Electronic Muscle Stimulation
• Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation

Benign chiropractic adjustment treatment can assist relieve pain and make sure sprain and strain bruises heal properly, decreasing the time it takes for you to return to your daily routine and leverage an active and better lifestyle. Chiropractic adjustments and manipulations improved functionality and symptoms in the latest study of patients with acute ankle instability from recurring sprains. If you are experiencing chronic ankle sprains and strains, consider visiting Realign Spine to avail of the best chiropractic treatment and ensure a fast recovery.