Yesterday I was in the field by my apartment playing Frisbee with a friend when I twisted my ankle. It was a pretty bad twist, I heard it pop and went down in searing pain. Today I got to thinking about how to treat it and how to deal with it during a survival situation. I’ll share my pain induced ramblings along with some tried and true wisdom on the issue.
Treatment
The traditional treatment of a sprained ankle that everyone knows is the nmeonic R.I.C.E, which stands for Rest Ice Compression and elevation. Which is exactly what I did as soon as Iimped back into my apartment. I grabbed my ice pack from the freezer and got my foot elevated and wrapped. The rest part though might be more difficult. I’m supposed to go back to work tomorrow and today I have a lot to do as well. In a survival situation, such as twisting your ankle while hiking, you will not have the luxury of rest. In addition to that I used some Aspirin for the pain and swelling and some Tiger Balm for the pain as well. I looked through some of my alternative and wilderness medical books for other treatments and found nothing.
Getting Around
I realized I didn’t have crutches and wished I had some. They would be really useful for getting around. In the woods making some makeshift ones wouldn’t be too difficult even with the limited mobility. Not having crutches is one hole in my prep’s that will be adjusted today. Other than that you can try hopping around on one leg, which I really don’t recommend. Hopping on one foot leave you open for coming down wrong on your good foot and twisting that one as well. Crawling is another option that can work, albeit a slow means of travel it is much safer. Lastly you can limp along, which is what I’ve been doing. If you chose this way I recommended a good boot on your injured foot. I used some combat boots I have and tightened the laces around the ankle as tight as I could for support and compression. It’s not perfect but I could limp pretty good this way.
Prevention
No one plans on having a twisted ankle but there is still some measure you can take to prevent it. I was playing in a really bad field. They had recently taken a backhoe through it and there was choppy, rocky ground everywhere. It was a combination of this rocky field and my foot ware choice that led to the injury. I wore out my Vibram Five Fingers to the field, which have no ankle support. I love those shoes but they were not the best choice for running around in that crappy field. I’ve hiked in them through some rough terrain but in those situations I’m watching my footing not running after a Frisbee.
What plans do you have for sprained ankles? Do you know an old folk remedy for them? How do you treat twisted ankles? Let me know in the comments!
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