Have you suffered an ankle injury recently? If so, you may think that you need to start taking prescription medications to overcome it. Fortunately, this is not necessarily the case—especially when your local chiropractor can help you overcome a wide variety of common ankle injuries. With this in mind, it is important to take a look at how ankle injuries happen and what your treatment options are. Then, learn more about how a chiropractor cannot only help you recover but also help you prevent future injuries from taking place.
How Do Ankle Injuries Happen?
Ankle injuries come in many shapes and forms, but the most common type of ankle injury is an ankle sprain. This happens when you roll your ankle too far from the inside of your body to the outside of your body.
If the ball on the outside of your foot touches the ground, there is a good chance that you have rolled your ankle too far. When this happens, you stretch the ligaments too far, and they begin to tear slightly. They may even detach from the bone slightly.
This is how an ankle sprain happens, your ankle may swell up, turn blue, and hurt badly. There are other types of ankle injuries as well, such as an ankle fracture, but an ankle sprain is the most common type of injury.
How Can a Chiropractor Help You?
With this type of ankle injury, there is a good chance that the bones, ligaments, and tendons are no longer properly aligned. This can make it difficult for your body to heal properly.
A chiropractor can examine and x-ray the ankle injury, figure out what damage has been done, then use manual therapy, also known as chiropractic adjustments, as well as rehabilitation modalities to help realign, reposition and restore the damaged tissue. When everything is lined up, your body will have an easier time recovering and healing with less scar tissue. You also might be able to bear weight on the ankle sooner than you expected.
How Do You Prevent Future Ankle Injuries?
Another major advantage of working with a chiropractor is that she can talk to you about how to prevent future ankle injuries from taking place. For example, she may recommend orthotics, balance exercises, and a few stretches that can improve your ankle flexibility, reducing your chances of spraining your ankle again in the future.
Your chiropractor may also talk to you about exercises you can do to strengthen the muscles around your ligaments and tendons in the ankle. With stronger muscles, your ankle will have more support, and you will not be able to injure your ankle as easily. If you think your shoes are not providing the support you need, your chiropractor can talk to you about different types of footwear used in conjunction with orthotics that can help prevent ankle injuries from happening down the road.
Ultimately, there are lots of ankle injuries you may suffer, but one of the most common injuries is an ankle sprain. This happens when you stretch the ligaments in your ankle too far, which can be very painful. Even though it can take weeks to recover from a sprained ankle, a chiropractor can help you shorten the recovery process while also minimizing possible complications and side effects from prescription drugs.