Ankle Taping

[AJM]

Hi ladies, hoping someone has a magic bullet for my ankle.
In amongst all the other injuries I sustained last year I also sprained all the tendons in my ankle on the lateral side which is giving me a lot of pain now I'm back skiing.

On the advise of my bootfitter and PT I taped it today but its still feels loose and painful.
After going through a whole roll of tape practising I still dont seen to have got it right.

I've done all the anchors, stirrups, 6's etc using rigid tape to no avail ..... ankle still hurts

Am I missing something ???

 

[BlizzardBabe]

Drugs.

Seriously, though, I've been through my fair share of ankle injuries and they are very slow to heal. Unfortunately, they are just stubborn that way. It sounds like you are doing the right things (I assume you are also icing post-ski). I would ask your PT to teach you the best way to tape it. They have tricks up their sleeves and taping can be very effective.

 

[scandium]

Have you tried K-tape or a more elastic tape?

 

[Jilly]

I have a mild sprain on my left ankle/foot. It's a little swollen, but I can walk it. Sort of get shoes. I bought a Neoprene compression braced. Waste of $20. Wrapped with a tensor bandage yesterday and felt a lot better. But I know it's going to take awhile. And I'm so impatience about it. Good thing it wasn't anything worst.

Thinking of getting my massage therapist to K-tape it for me. He did a great job year ago with my knee.

 

[BlizzardBabe]

K-Tape is a godsend. It got me through my calf injury last season.

 

[Amie H]

@Jilly maybe before bed, apply some Voltaren to the foot (unless you are already taking a lot of NSAIDs?)

It's my go-to for any joint-area injury/pain.

 

[WaterGirl]

@AJM sorry about the ankle issues -- curious how is your footbed support? is there anything in your boot that may be making the ankle strain a bit while in skiing stance/while trying to initiate a turn? Does your ankle only hurt in while skiing? I had a pair of new boots that were canted the wrong way first time out and it made my perineal tendon scream.

I had a bad lateral ankle sprain about 25 years ago and while it is flexible its 'different'.I actually just started PT yesterday b/c I wanted to assess and address what I perceived to be a current weakness. It is also my front foot while surfing and I'm noticing some stiffness/ soreness depending on what board I ride.

FWIW I have used KT tape surfing to support that ankle and I do use Voltaren as I do not take oral NSAIDs. For taping I tend to play around with what 'feels' best for support - some times the 'suggested' taping patterns are too much.

 

[AJM]

Well gals I've found the culprit !!!
So some of you may know that I've always had alignment issues in my right leg and I've previously had canting plates in my ski boots with disasterous results , so my bootfitter suggested I use a shim on the inside of my ski boot to try and gently move me into a more aligned position and there lies the issue.
The shim combined with my dodgy ankle are NOT a good mix !!
I removed the shim today and bingo my ankle felt fine !!! So my alignment might not be great but at this stage I really dont care

I'm still using the tape and that minus the shim seems to be the recipe xx

 

[AJM]

@AJM sorry about the ankle issues -- curious how is your footbed support? is there anything in your boot that may be making the ankle strain a bit while in skiing stance/while trying to initiate a turn? Does your ankle only hurt in while skiing? I had a pair of new boots that were canted the wrong way first time out and it made my perineal tendon scream.

I had a bad lateral ankle sprain about 25 years ago and while it is flexible its 'different'.I actually just started PT yesterday b/c I wanted to assess and address what I perceived to be a current weakness. It is also my front foot while surfing and I'm noticing some stiffness/ soreness depending on what board I ride.

FWIW I have used KT tape surfing to support that ankle and I do use Voltaren as I do not take oral NSAIDs. For taping I tend to play around with what 'feels' best for support - some times the 'suggested' taping patterns are too much.

I know stupid ankle !! To be honest the ankle has given me a lot more grief than the actual knee injury.
I've got a fantastic bootfitter who is also a very good friend so I get the best advise and service you could ask for and any tweaks or issues are fixed pronto so my footbeds are in top notch condition. We thought we'd try the shim to see if it helped my alignment and yes it did but it also caused my ankle to scream. I might just give it a try on the outside rather than the inside and just see how that goes.

I've got a friend who is a L3 instructor (I mentioned him in another thread last year) and he is great, if he see's me skiing he'll call me over and give me just one tip to help me and todays was that I'm looking great but to try and roll the ankles more .... my answer was "I cant!!!" I gave it a go and he yelled out "thats better" but it hurt like heck. I'm slowly finding my limits in my recovery and rolling the ankles is one of them !!

The ankle just hasn't come right despite months of PT but I've been told they take ages to heal and I might give the KT tape a go and see how it differs from the rigid tape but now minus the shim and with the rigid tape it seems happier.

 

[AJM]

Have you tried K-tape or a more elastic tape?

It seems the shim was the main culprit and once I got rid of that things were much better. I'll still need to strap it and I'm going to give the KT tape a go and see what the difference is. My PT did say to use rigid tape as it gives more support but I always like to experiment !!

 

[AJM]

I have a mild sprain on my left ankle/foot. It's a little swollen, but I can walk it. Sort of get shoes. I bought a Neoprene compression braced. Waste of $20. Wrapped with a tensor bandage yesterday and felt a lot better. But I know it's going to take awhile. And I'm so impatience about it. Good thing it wasn't anything worst.

Thinking of getting my massage therapist to K-tape it for me. He did a great job year ago with my knee.

Oh no, ankles sprains are so painful and in my case take a long time to come right. I'd be seeing if that therapist can work their magic on it xx

 

[AJM]

Drugs.

Seriously, though, I've been through my fair share of ankle injuries and they are very slow to heal. Unfortunately, they are just stubborn that way. It sounds like you are doing the right things (I assume you are also icing post-ski). I would ask your PT to teach you the best way to tape it. They have tricks up their sleeves and taping can be very effective.

The drugs are definitely in my arsenal
Its amazing how many people I know who ski and have had an injury do what we call over here "pre loading" on the iboprufen and painkillers before they go skiing !!!

 

[BlizzardBabe]

LOL, @AJM . I work in the commercial explosives industry and we "pre-load" blast holes over here.

 

[Jenny]

The drugs are definitely in my arsenal
Its amazing how many people I know who ski and have had an injury do what we call over here "pre loading" on the iboprufen and painkillers before they go skiing !!!

My friend group referred to it as sports candy, and there was a time where the pill bottle was getting passed around quite a bit as we all got dressed/braced/etc.

 

[scandium]

The drugs are definitely in my arsenal
Its amazing how many people I know who ski and have had an injury do what we call over here "pre loading" on the iboprufen and painkillers before they go skiing !!!

I mostly do that after I have been boarding; despite knee pads and impact shorts, I still fall on things fairly hard!

 

[fgor]

The ankle just hasn't come right despite months of PT but I've been told they take ages to heal and I might give the KT tape a go and see how it differs from the rigid tape but now minus the shim and with the rigid tape it seems happier.

Keep going!!!! It'll get there!

Had an unpleasant ankle injury a few years back, some partially torn and fully torn ligaments, the bulk of my recovery came in the first 6-7 months but it took a long time to come all the way right. My sports med doc told me early on that eventually I wouldn't even remember which ankle i injured. It was hard to believe him as i was very aware of the ankle for maybe 2-3 years... then it really did come right. I do have to think about which ankle it was now!!