All new injury whether a fall and twist of an ankle or a high speed car accident,the following is the standard protocol for all my patients.
1. Ice the area of injury 15 min/hour and repeat as frequent as possible from injury onset up to the 72 hours.
2. Rest the area. Try to modify activities so not to put additional stressors on the area of injury.
3. Compress the area of injury. Eg. Ankle sprain use an ace bandage to wrap the ice over the area of injury.
4. Elevate the injured area above the level of the heart.
5. Gentle range of motion is helpful to initiate some level of function and to assist in improved fluid exchange.
After 72 hours we begin to transition from ice and move toward heating the area and increasing the range of motion. Moist heat is preferred as this will penetrate the area of injury better than dry heat applications. The goal of care from this point moving forward is to reduce pain and to put the body in the best position possible for a full correction avoiding chronic pain and scar tissue formation. Simple sprain/strain injury will take 2-4 weeks for pain relief. Severe sprain/strain injury will take longer and full recovery for disc sprains and or herniations can take months up to 1-2 years.
2343 West Silvernail Road Pewaukee, WI, 53072 USA
frontdesk@shepherd-chiro.com • 262-548-9000
