Anatomy of a leg injury

By Ed Piper

6:55 a.m., Mon., 12/23

I missed the bottom two steps of the stairs down to the second level (three-floor townhouse), and landed on the toes of my left leg, bracing for the fall.

I kept my balance, didn't fall down, but the pain shot up through the back of my leg--a pain like I don't remember with any of my not-infrequent ankle sprains during my basketball-playing days.

I couldn't stand or put weight on the leg, as I shuffled short-step during the down.

7:15 p.m.

Ice 25 minutes or so three times during the day. I still couldn't really walk, but after the third icing 6:46-7:15 p.m., I knew--I could sense--that my leg had taken a leap forward (figuratively) toward healing. The limb felt much better.

Tues.,12/24, Christmas Eve

Encouraged by the improvement in my condition and wanting to stay on my regimen (one I learned well while playing basketball ages 13-38, during which I later bought two containers just big enough for my then size-14 feet for hot-and-cold treatments with ice and the hottest water I could stand, hanging my affected ankle over the tub to immerse my leg), I iced again three times on day 2.

By later in the day, I could simulate walking, with a tiny-bit-longer stride with my left leg. I'd get the occasional wince as I'd extend too far, or turn on the stairs or flat surface in a manner that my leg met me know I couldn't yet do.

Wed., 12/25, Christmas Day

Time to ice and massage. We opened some presents, but then I sat and pressed the re-frozen Zip Loc baggie of ice against the rear of my leg. Hard work, so after 10 minutes, I moved down to the bottom level of the townhome and stretched my leg out on the couch, ice bag underneath, towel under that to keep the furniture from getting two damp (vinyl).

2:30 p.m.; 3:00 p.m.

I used the fingers of my right hand as forcefully as I could in short spells to massage the knot in the back of the calf. Break it down as much as I could. I had trainers do this in sports therapy. Strong hands really make the difference. At this point, pressing against the knotted muscle is as important or more important than icing.

I've even done ice massage, using the bag of ice or blue ice to force the unrelaxed knot of muscle to break down.

Right now (3:30 p.m.), I'm walking much better, with marked improvement even in the past 45 minutes. I walked outside a short stretch as I felt how pain-free my calf was, to gauge where I was, and then do  more pressing massage against the skin with my fingers. Take a breath, do something else for a short time (clean the garage), then go back to a short massaging.

A month ago, I witnessed a teacher I sub for hobbling on her leg. I went up and said hi, and asked how her leg was doing. She had never had a sprained ankle before, and it had occurred one month previous! Both of which were amazing for me to hear.

I told her, "Ice the ankle 20-30 minutes at a time, as many times as you can, and you can be walking freely by tomorrow."

She apparently didn't have a sports background, and why her husband didn't encourage her and help by getting her to ice the injury, is a little beyond me. Not that everyone needs to know the I-C-E (ice-compression-elevation) approach, but it sure helps, and is such common knowledge now in sports circles.

I read yesterday or Monday where the coiner of the R-I-C-E acronym (rest-ice-compression-elevation) later renounced it, saying that he had come to understand that the inflammation was part of the healing process. I don't know how exactly that happens. I have always had quick, effective results by early-and-often icing of injuries.