If your feet are swollen, should you apply hot or cold compress? What should you pay attention to?

Most boys who play basketball have experienced the pain of a sprained ankle. In fact, in addition to the common occurrence of ankle sprains in sports such as basketball, football, and volleyball, ankle sprains can also be caused by situations in daily life such as stepping on empty stairs. So if you sprain your ankle, should you apply hot or cold compress?

Determining the severity of the injury

Once the ankle is sprained, you should stop moving immediately and check the location of the sprain and the extent of the injury before taking any action.

1. Obvious tenderness on the inner or outer side of the ankle joint, especially below the inner or outer ankle. The pain worsens when the ankle joint is passively flexed and the injured collateral ligament is pulled. Local swelling and even bruising and cyanosis appear rapidly. It should be a sprain.

2. If deformity occurs, or even bone friction sound or feeling, a fracture should be considered and medical attention should be sought as soon as possible.

3. In a few severe cases, soft tissue damage and bleeding may occur, and even the broken ends of the bones may be connected to the outside world, forming an open fracture.

Emergency treatment

1. Let the injured person sit facing forward or lie on his back, and use items such as a backpack to elevate the feet to facilitate venous return, thereby reducing swelling and pain.

Apply ice packs or cold towels to the injured area as soon as possible to contract the capillaries, reduce bleeding and exudation, and thus reduce swelling and pain. If you can wet a towel with cold spring water, it will be the simplest ice compress. Control the frequency of cold compress according to the specific situation. It can be done for twenty minutes every hour, but be careful to avoid frostbite.

2. While or after cold compressing, use a triangular bandage, headscarf, clothing or any other cloth item to apply pressure to the ankle joint and its surrounding area. You can also use several strips of wide tape to stick from the sole of the foot to the ankle joint and the dorsum of the foot to fix the ankle joint and reduce the range of motion. Whether applying pressure bandage or fixing with adhesive tape, the injured lateral malleolus should be turned outward or the injured medial malleolus should be turned inward. This can not only reduce swelling, but also reduce or prevent further stretching of the injured collateral ligament or muscle, thereby reducing or preventing aggravation of injury and pain.

3. If a fracture has occurred or is suspected, choose a wooden board or cardboard about 30 cm long and place it on both sides of the injured ankle joint, and add cotton pads, towels or clothes to the injured area. Then use bandages or triangular bandages to firmly fix the upper and lower ends of the two wooden boards or cardboards.

【Taboo】

1. Rub the swollen area vigorously to loosen the blood.

When local small blood vessels rupture and bleed, a hematoma will form. It usually takes about 24 hours to recover and stop bleeding. If you rub vigorously, apply heat, or force yourself to move immediately after a sprain, it will inevitably accelerate bleeding and exudation while loosening some of the blood stasis, and even aggravate the rupture of blood vessels and form a larger hematoma.

2. Use a hot towel to promote blood circulation and reduce swelling

Heat will increase blood flow and may increase bleeding and swelling. Applying hot compress after the bleeding stops can speed up the dissipation of blood stasis around the injury. Generally speaking, heat is not applied until 24 to 48 hours after an injury.

3. Forcing yourself to walk and move despite the pain, and not wanting to "save the tendons"

What people often call "tendon retention" is actually the adhesion of soft tissue after injury, and this situation occurs in the middle and late stages of injury.

4. Apply the plaster immediately

Do not use the patch too quickly as it may make symptoms worse. The specific use can be controlled within a certain range according to the severity. Persistent pain should not be ignored and the painful muscles should be rested.

It is said that it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. Never underestimate a sprain. After emergency treatment, you still need to seek medical attention in time and receive treatment and recuperation under the guidance of a doctor. However, the most important thing is to protect yourself during exercise and avoid getting hurt.