A Comparison of Early Mobilization Versus Traditional Treatment for Acute Ankle Sprains.

Acute ankle sprain is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries, accounting for an estimated 2 million injuries per year and 20% of all sports injuries in the United States. Ankle sprains can lead to prolonged periods of pain, difficulty with mobility, and lost work or play time. Current best practice guidelines for treatment of an acute ankle sprain are protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation (PRICE). However recent systematic reviews for ankle sprains call into question this treatment. Two critical components; immobilization and ice, have little or no evidence of efficacy for ankle sprain. Interestingly, mobilization appears to be more effective at reducing the pain, swelling and stiffness of musculoskeletal injuries including ankle sprains. Historically the limitation to early mobilization has been pain. Recently developed stretch bands have been introduced to the therapy market as a tool that allows pain-free active and resisted ankle movement after acute ankle sprain.

The investigators propose a double blind randomized controlled study to compare 2 ankle sprain treatments on their ability to speed recovery and reduce morbidities such as pain, swelling and weakness.