After recently suffering a fairly nasty sprained ankle (not for the first time) playing football I did some research in to the best way to treat an injury in order to recover as quickly as possible and start playing again.
This was very important to me as I hate not being able to play because of an injury! My research found a few things including the speed in which you begin the injury can help the recovery time greatly but there are also supplements which I found decreased my recovery time.
The most widely used method of treating injuries is the RICE method, I've just copied this information from good old Wikipedia to save writing it all out again see below extract:
Rest
Rest is a key part of repair. Without rest, continual strain is placed on the area, leading to increased inflammation, pain, and possible further injury. Also, most soft tissue injuries will take far longer to heal. There is also a risk of abnormal repair or chronic inflammation resulting from a failure to rest. In general, the rest should be until the patient is able to use the limb with the majority of function restored and pain essentially gone.
Ice
Ice is excellent at reducing the inflammatory response and the pain from heat generated. Proper usage of ice can reduce the destruction over-response which can result from inflammation. A good method is ice 20 minutes of each hour. Other recommendations are an alternation of ice and no-ice for 15–20 minutes each, for a 24–48 hour period. To prevent localised ischemia or frostbite to the skin, it is recommended that the ice be placed within a towel before wrapping around the area.
Exceeding the recommended time for ice application may be detrimental, as blood flow will be too reduced to allow nutrient delivery and waste removal.
Compression
Compression aims to reduce the edematous swelling that results from the inflammatory process. Although some swelling is inevitable, too much swelling results in significant loss of function, excessive pain and eventual slowing of blood flow through vessel restriction.
An elastic bandage, rather than a firm plastic bandage (such as zinc-oxide tape) is required. Usage of a tight, non-elastic bandage will result in reduction of adequate blood flow, potentially causing ischemia. The fit should be snug so as to not move freely, but still allow expansion for when muscles contract and fill with blood.
Elevation
Elevation aims to reduce swelling by increasing venous return of blood to the systemic circulation. This will not only result in less edema, but also aid in waste product removal from the area.
So - dont ask me what some of the words in that extract mean but I think you get the idea......
I took glucosamine sulphate & chondroitin tablets and they seemed to make my injury heal quicker that when I did it before so I would definately recomend taking those if you have a joint injury of any sort.
I followed the RICE principle and took supplements and was back from quite a severe ankle sprain to playing football in 5 weeks which is very quick for that type of injury, of course the best thing to do is to try and avoid getting injured in the first place!!
