Stretching and tearing of the ankle ligaments.

The most common trauma to date is the sprain or rupture of the ankle ligaments. The most common case is the rupture of the fibular-talant ligaments that are located on the outer part of the ankle. Usually, this trauma is received by falling, having pushed the foot inside. Quite often it happens in sports in the process of various sports games. Immediately, a strong swelling of the foot is formed, subcutaneous hematoma develops. Because of this movement in a person become very limited, it hurts to move around. When getting such an injury, you urgently need to contact a traumatologist, and to make an x-ray to identify bone damage.

There are different degrees of damage to the ligament of the ankle joint. The first degree of damage is the sprain of the ligaments. The second is an ankle tear. And the third, the most difficult, is the rupture of ligaments. The lowest level of damage involves damage to twenty-five percent of fibers, the second - up to seventy-five percent, and the third - the absolute rupture of ligaments.

Depending on the severity of injury, a person may have different symptoms of ankle ligament rupture. The first degree of severity involves a slight swelling of the foot and a small subcutaneous hematoma. At the second degree of damage there is a strong edema, a large hematoma, poor mobility of the foot, difficulty in walking. The third degree is characterized by the total inability to rely on the leg, the instability of the ankle.

If you have damaged the ankle, you urgently need to go to a trauma center. Treatment of ankle ligament rupture involves simple procedures. The first days are necessary to observe peace - more to lie, walk only with the help of a cane or crutches, and only around the house. If the patient has a third degree of damage, he needs to install a special ankle brace - a device that provides protection and unloading of the ankle. You should rest in a supine position, while the leg should lie on a small elevation (for example, on a pillow under it).

In order to reduce edema and hematoma, in the first days use the cold - several times a day, lower your foot into a bucket filled with cold water with ice. Keep the foot in it for five to ten minutes until you feel a slight numbness in the foot. You can also wrap the ice in a wet piece of cloth and hold every hour over the lower leg for fifteen to twenty minutes. The use of heat is contraindicated, as it will increase swelling and bleeding, so that the injured place will hurt even more.

If you have an ankle ligament rupture, you need to put a pressure bandage on your leg, preferably it's an elastic bandage. It must be wound in the form of a so-called "eight" - from the toes to the shin. First, the bandage is wound with tension, then freely. The dressing is applied after the person has slept or rested in a supine position. It is then that the puffiness decreases, and you can impose a bandage.

When the day passes after receiving the injury, you should start rubbing a special ointment on the shin - for example, "Troxevasin". In order to reduce the hematoma that occurs under the skin, in a place where the ankle ligament rupture, you need to use the gel "Traumeel", "Fastum gel", voltarenovuyu ointment and so on. The ointment is rubbed into the leg for several minutes, a day two or three times. Do this should be extremely accurate, carefully, without stretching and rubbing your leg - this will have a bad effect on the damaged ankle. At night, compress on your leg, using a medicinal ointment or alcohol.

In a couple of days, when the swelling is almost gone, and the pain will not be so strong, you can start to do a shin massage. It should be carried out only in those areas that are close to the damage, and the place where the rupture of the ankle joints can be massaged only in a week.