How to treat a sprained foot

Sprained feet are a very common injury and something that many people have probably experienced, ranging from a minor sprain with a slight limp and pain some day to what you almost thought was a broken ankle.

A foot sprain occurs when the ligament is overstretched and thus damaged. The damage can be anything from microscopic damage up to the entire ligament breaking off. In addition to the ligament itself being damaged, the vessels that supply the ligament with blood are also usually affected, with microscopic bleeding as a result. This leads to local inflammation and hemorrhage. The inflammation creates more pain and the bloodshed makes it an unfavorable environment for healing. The treatment consists of applying compression over the injury as quickly as possible in order to prevent further bleeding and to stabilize the injury. Ideally, the dressing should be applied within one minute to prevent bleeding.

How to treat a sprained foot

1. Begin by quickly laying the victim down and placing the foot high.
2. Use an elastic bandage with good compression. Start far down the foot. Wrap so that the injury is "contracted". The most common is an injury on the outside of the foot, then you should wrap from the sole of the foot, around the outer side of the photo and over the back of the foot. The bandage should fit tightly, to prevent bleeding and stabilize the ankle.
3. Leave the linden on for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes it hurts so much that it has to be removed to let the blood flow to and from the foot for a short time. Repeat this three times. If it is not unbearable after 20 minutes, the dressing is too loose.
4. Apply the elastic bandage again but now with less pressure. Let it sit for a few days while placing the foot in a high position (heart level or higher) as often as possible.

Could the foot be broken?

It absolutely can be. Fortunately, there is a way to tell for sure that it is not. It is called the Ottawa foot rule. By squeezing a number of points on the foot and ankle and if these don't hurt, you can definitely say that nothing is broken. If you wait a long time to do this, it will probably hurt at these points anyway, as inflammation makes it difficult to localize the pain. It may be good to know that pain at these points does not necessarily mean that the ankle is broken, but then you cannot know for sure without taking an X-ray. A common sign that something is actually broken is a lot of bleeding in the area and of course if there is an obvious misalignment. Then you should treat the fracture instead.