Opinion and brief insight into my experience - Nabihah Plaatjes
I'm not a medical professional, at all, and there's only a few things that I've remembered from doing First Aid, 9 or 10 years ago.
Treating Strains and Sprains is one of them.
This is probably because of the acronym RICE - anything with food seems to be something worth remembering!
R - Rest (Do Not use the injured body part and Do Not put pressure on it at all!)
I - Ice (ice pack on the injury for 15-20 minutes immediately)
C - Compress (preferably with a bandage)
E - Elevate (the injured part higher than your heart)
However there is quite a big difference between treating someone else, and trying to remember how to treat yourself when you are in shock, and in an excruciating amount of pain (like I was), so trying to remember how to treat my injured ankle, went out the window. I was also trying my best not to cry and scream in a public place with strangers around.
So I've written this, in the off chance that if you do happen to be around someone who has sprained any part of their body, you will be able to assist them, because chances are, even if they are aware of what to do, the pain might be too much for them to bear and remembering anything becomes difficult.
My husband and I were generously gifted a couples massage voucher that was valid for a month, and since we had not had a massage in what feels like ages, and it was absolutely needed, we made an appointment to have the treatment times split, so that one of us could look after our son whilst the other was having the massage.
We arranged the treatments to be for last week Wednesday, and my husband had his appointment, first.
Whilst it was nearing to the time that his treatment would end, my son and I wandered around the property looking for a bathroom. Not wanting to be a bother to anyone and asking directions to the nearest bathroom, we remembered that there was one behind the ladies praying facilities, so we made our way towards that direction, and this where my traumatic experience began.
So what happens the minute you fall and feel like you've twisted your ankle and you can feel that the ligaments at the back of your foot are torn ?
You howl, of course. It is agonising!!
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While my son and I were on our way to the bathroom from the praying facility,
I took a step down from a raised platform (where it was just one step and the ground) and whilst one foot landed on the ground, the other seemed to have twisted as gravity pulled me down, thus releasing a stabbing, stinging surge through me. I glanced back and noticed that the ground was uneven and the realisation hit, that I had injured my foot.
As I screamed "ow" several times, a worker, while walking past, said "sorry mummy" and carried on with his work, I turned to look at my son who stood there, not knowing what to do who also tried to comfort with me with his words. That's when I thought I should get up and move and not just sit there in pain.
Therein lied my first mistake: I got up. I put pressure on my leg that I had just injured, and continued to do so, by walking whilst it was aching.
What I should have done was:
I should have stayed where I was.
When you injure your ligaments, you shouldn't put extra pressure on it, as that could do more damage, and make the healing time a lot longer.
I could have called from where I fell (or even emailed) the lady at the spa, and told her what happened and that I cannot walk, and when my husband comes out of his treatment to please tell him to come to me, and I should have asked to reschedule my appointment ...
Actually, if we're playing "shoulda woulda coulda", I should have not even wandered around, to look for a bathroom in the first place.
Next up on the list of things that should have happened but didn't due to my lack of thinking whilst in pain...
After I limped and hopped whilst in pain, with my son next to me, we still hadn't gone to the bathroom, so once I've mentioned that to the lady at the spa front desk, she showed me to their bathrooms. Only after relieving ourselves, I went to sit down and asked if I could put my foot on a pillow.
What needed to happen immediately after getting up from falling and injuring my foot, was sitting down to rest and lifting my foot up, higher than my heart. This is to prevent fluids from reaching the injured part of your body, which could prolong the healing process, or could possibly cause complications later.
Thereafter, a cold compress needed to be placed immediately on the sprained ankle / foot for at least 15-20 minutes. The ice pack on the injury will reduce the swelling and inflammation, also assisting in the recovery time. So that means for at least 20 minutes I needed to sit like that with my foot elevated, and an ice pack on it.
But it was 11am, time for my massage appointment and I was really looking forward to this as I can't remember the last time I had a massage. This was a gift for both Ziyaad and myself, and the voucher said that it would expire in a month, and after finally making an appointment and being there, not having a massage was the last thing on my mind.
My husband came out of the room looking completely dosed off and relaxed. He was still surfacing and hadn't fully grasped what exactly happened to me as yet - safe to say that he at least enjoyed his massage!
I did ask the lady at the front desk of the spa if it's fine to have a massage, and she said it might be a good idea. The lady who did my treatment, rubbed an ointment on my foot, and thereafter ushered me to the room where I was to have my massage.
But again, I'm not in the medical profession, so I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I don't think that me having a massage straight after spraining my ankle, was a good idea!
It's a week later, and when I put my foot down to try and walk, it feels incredibly unstable, not to mention the aching as well, and since I have to use my other leg to try and hop around to get somewhere, my other legs feels a great deal of discomfort. The throbbing continues to my knees and other parts of my body and I don't even remember the treatment that I received last week Wednesday. I keep trying to replay the incident, wishing I did things differently so that my healing time was not compromised.
Most of you would go to a doctor after something like this happens. If you are able to, this is a good idea just to make sure that you don't have a fracture. It's also a good thing to know whether your sprain is a Grade 1 (mild), Grade 2 (moderate), or Grade 3 (severe) Sprain - because that determines your healing time, etc. The doctor might give you crutches and/or a boot and would also prescribe you something stronger than a panado!
Please remember that your healing time depends on the severity of the injury, on your age and ability, and of course since we're all different, we're already going to have different healing times for our own bodies so if you managed to heal in 1 week as opposed to 2 weeks... good for you.
If a sprain is not treated properly, it could have long term effects.
I still cannot walk on my injured foot and besides being extremely painful, and the pain shooting upwards, it's also a huge inconvenience. The strain is also being placed on my other leg, as I have to use that one to hop around with, so I suggest that if you do have or are able to afford a wheelie chair, make use of it!
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* Please Note: These are entirely my thoughts, opinions and experiences and do not necessarily reflect those of iloveza.com's
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