Skip to content

How a Sprained Ankle Affects the Rest of Your Body

Almost everyone gets a sprained ankle at some point in their life. It’s a very easy mistake to make—you could slip on ice, trip over an object, twist incorrectly while playing sports or merely take a wrong step, and suddenly, you’ve injured the tissues around your ankle.

Although sprains are extremely common and can heal relatively quickly, too many people try to rush the healing process and walk on their injured leg. Not only can this prevent the ankle from healing properly or even injure it more, but it can also cause problems throughout the rest of your body.

Instead of walking on an injured ankle, rely on physical therapy in Brampton to help heal your injury and prevent other health problems.

The bodily effects of an ankle injury

Immediately after an ankle injury, your body’s natural immune response will kick in, resulting in inflammation that floods the area with nutrients designed to help it heal. This response is what causes redness and swelling in an injury. The injured area and its surroundings may begin to swell and become painful to the touch as the body works to heal the injury.

Additionally, a sprained ankle can cause injuries or pain to the knees, hips, lower back and even the neck! While this seems implausible, it often happens because of the way the body reacts to pain and compensates for instability in the injured foot.

The body naturally finds ways to compensate for pain, which often results in putting more pressure on other muscles and ligaments to make up for the lack of strength in the ankle. Usually, this means that other body parts are forced to carry more weight or move in unnatural ways, all so the body avoids pain or discomfort.

When it becomes difficult to stand on your injured foot, you may lean to one side without realizing it in order to maintain balance while avoiding pain. When this lean happens, you’re putting stress on many other parts of your body, including both knees, hips and the spine.

The long-term effects of this compensation may manifest as knee, hip or back pain, limited mobility, unnatural posture and even neck and shoulder tension or pain. This pain may be even worse if you attempt to walk, run or play sports on an injured or unstable ankle.

Additionally, ankle sprains can take months to fully heal, and it can take even longer for you to regain strength and flexibility. This means that your ankle is susceptible to re-injury and, by extension, so is your entire body. A fall due to ankle instability could lead to a more serious injury throughout the body, in addition to a re-injured ankle.

Seek physical therapy in Brampton for ankle injury treatment

If you’ve recently sprained your ankle, visit Paramount Physiotherapy & Sports Injuries Clinic. Our registered physiotherapists will work with you on an individual basis to help heal and rehabilitate your injuries using a combination of education, exercise, manual therapy, modalities and acupuncture. Call today to schedule an appointment!

