If a child injures an ankle during practice or competition:
It is important in all but mild cases for a medical doctor to evaluate the injury and establish a treatment and rehabilitation plan.
You and your child should treat any ankle sprain, but especially the first one, seriously. An athlete who fails to allow an ankle sprain to properly heal is at risk for developing chronic ankle instability [4]. Indeed, once an ankle sprain occurs, up to 80% will suffer recurrent sprains, and up to 72% develop recurrent symptoms or chronic instability. (2) Basketball players are 5 times more likely to injure an ankle after a prior ankle injury, with a recurrence rate of 73%. Recurrence most strongly correlates with a premature return to play and a prior ankle injury.
Sports medicine experts, like Dr. Lyle J. Micheli of Children's Hospital Boston, recommend that the rehabilitation process be supervised by a qualified physical therapist, and that a child not be allowed to return to sports until:
When your child is ready to return to sports:
Finally, your child needs to demonstrate psychological readiness [7] to return to play. (2) This is because athletes who demonstrate apprehension, fear, or anxiety are at a much greater risk of reinjury, and their athletic performance is also likely to suffer.
1. Swenson D, Collins C, Fields S, Comstock R. Epidemiology of US High School Sports-Related Ligamentous Ankle Injuries, 2005/06-2010-11. Clin J Sport Med 2013;23(3):190-196
2. Clanton TO, Matheny LM, Jarvis HC, Jeronimus AB. Return to Play in Athletes Following Ankle Injuries. Sports Health: A Mulidisplinary Approach 2012;20(10). DOI 10.1177/1941738112463347 (published on line October 11, 2012 ahead of print)(accessed October 12, 2012).
3. Kaminski TW, Hertel J, Amendola N, Docherty CL, Dolan MG, Hopkins TJ, Nussbaum E, Poppy W, Richie D. National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Conservative Management and Prevention of Ankle Sprains in Athletes. J Athl Tr 2013;48(4):528-545.
Updated March 29, 2015
Links:
[1] https://www.momsteam.com/node/6126
[2] https://www.momsteam.com/node/798
[3] https://www.momsteam.com/node/284
[4] https://www.momsteam.com/node/287
[5] https://www.momsteam.com/node/4164
[6] https://www.momsteam.com/node/532
[7] https://www.momsteam.com/node/2581
[8] https://www.momsteam.com/users/keithjcronin
[9] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/muscles-joints-bones/ankle-foot/ankle-sprains-recognition-and-treatment
[10] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/muscles-joints-bones/ankle-foot/ankle-sprains-are-most-common-injury-high-school-sports
[11] https://www.momsteam.com/sports/soccer/preventing-ankle-sprains-in-soccer
[12] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/general-safety/injury-prevention/preventing-sprains-in-youth-sports
[13] https://www.momsteam.com/range-motion/physical-therapy-restoring-range-motion-critical-to-avoiding-re-injury-athletic-performance
[14] https://www.momsteam.com/team-experts/physical-therapy-injured-athlete-body-symmetry
[15] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/reducing-risk-posterior-tibialis-tendonitis-from-ankle-sprains
[16] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/foot-positioning-during-walking-running-may-affect-risk-ankle-sprains-study
[17] https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/sprained-ankles-are-complicated-often-misdiagnosed