Sprain is a rather insidious injury, which, without proper treatment, can seriously complicate your life. What could be causing this injury? Falling, prolonged and increased load on the ankle and carpal ligaments, a sharp movement when the leg tucks, and much more.
If you have a sprain, its symptoms are as follows (it is better to know the signs of a sprain for sure, so as not to confuse with a fracture).
At first, although there is a sharp pain, it quickly passes. But after some time, this place where the sprain of the ligaments occurred, begins to hurt and swell, hematoma may even occur (colloquially bruise). This hemorrhage occurred in small damaged vessels. The pulling, but quite tolerable pain in the ankle or wrist increases with an increase in load and is almost not felt at rest. If you do not take any action to relieve pain and swelling symptoms, it is possible that soon you will not be able to stand on this leg, and you will not be able to perform any movements with your injured hand.
If you really have a sprain, you need to get home faster to give the place you damaged a little rest. The ideal option is when immediately after a ligament injury you will be taken home or to a health care institution by road, because the less the injured limb is loaded (this is about the leg), the easier the treatment will go. If you still get home on your own, go on the way home to the pharmacy to purchase an elastic bandage (if it is not at home). Of course, you should have a leg and bandage in the pharmacy, if you, of course, are not too shy and your shoes allow you to move around with a dressing. After all, health is, after all, more important than the opinions of other people.
How to treat sprain at home? Sit comfortably and place your foot higher, so you can easily apply an elastic bandage to it. It is superimposed eightfold. First, we make tight turns of the bandage around the leg a couple of times, then we overlap it in the area of the sore spot to fix the bandage more tightly. Then we go to the shin, and from there - again to the foot and so on until the end of the bandage. If you have a sprain in your wrist, bandage should be done in the same way.
In the absence of an elastic bandage, you can use the usual one or purchase a special fixing bandage in a specialized store or pharmacy.
Having bandaged a leg or an arm, care must be taken to give the limbs rest. The best position for an injured foot will be an elevated position, so build a roller from the blanket or slip a pillow under the ankle. For the wrist, the main thing is not to bother her and give rest.
Do not forget to put a heating pad with cold water or ice over the dressing. When a person has a sprain, the cold is put on the damaged place for the first two days for forty minutes with interruptions. The use of cold compresses can reduce edema and subcutaneous hemorrhage, since when they are applied, there is a narrowing of blood vessels that were damaged during an injury.
The driver’s first aid kits have special packages for cooling injured surfaces in the event of an accident. They are also sold in pharmacies. They are called their hypothermic packages. If you have the opportunity to use them as a cold, use this type of medical care to relieve swelling and reduce bruising.
The main thing in the case of such cooling methods is not to overdo it so as not to cause frostbite.
Starting on the third day, the compresses become warm in order to accelerate the resorption of swelling and removal of the hematoma. When warm, the blood quickly rushes to the damaged tissues, which from this are better restored. In addition to warm compresses, apply for the treatment of sprains in the bath tub with warm water, applying iodine mesh to an injured place. Fixing bandages are removed when even the smallest pain during ligament loading ceases to be felt.
From the very first day, the bandages are unwound only for the time of a night's sleep, while the limo leg should still lie higher. When waking up, without getting up, the bandage must be applied again. From the third day, a traumatologist can prescribe an ointment in which you have troxovasin to rub into an injured place.
To prevent sprain, it is recommended to observe the home regimen and the facilitated motor regimen of the injured limb from a week to ten days. Of course, women should refuse to wear heels, at least until the full restoration of the ankle ligaments.
When the elasticity of your ligaments is fully restored, do not hesitate to begin to strengthen them. This can be done with the help of special exercises, which are aimed at increasing the elasticity of ligaments and muscles and their stretching.
In the case of severe pain, blueness, or extensive swelling, you should immediately contact a traumatologist, as these are signs of a more serious injury than sprain.