There are multiple ways that you can wrap a sprained ankle.

However, the Sports Medicine techniques are used to

help specifically, athletes recover and return to their sport in a quicker and safer way. Today I am going to explain
how to properly tape a sprained ankle using these techniques and further explain the treatment process to return
healthy. I will discuss how to identify a sprained ankle, RICE treatment,as well as the materials and steps needed to
take when wrapping ankle. It is important to be able to identify and understand what an ankle sprain is and what it
looks like before we begin treating it.

MOI stands for Mechanism of Injury. Injuries occur when an excessive amount of force is applied to the body to a
point that they body is unable to withhold these forces. We use MOI to help determine the nature and severity of
the injury and to determine what type of treatment to go through with. Stated in the Sports Medicine & Science
Council of Saskatchewan Sport Taping Course Manual, “it is better to know what happened versus what hurts!”
When addressing an injury, it is helpful to ask the athlete questions relating to what, when, how, and where the
injury happened. Observations are made by looking at the injury. Is there swelling, discoloration, deformity, etc.?
Palpating an injury is the physical touching of patient to feel for deformity, misplaced
bones/muscles/joints/tendons.

According to a healthline.com article on How to Wrap a Sprained Ankle, “If one or more of the ligaments
supporting the bones in your ankle stretches too far and starts to tear, you have a sprained ankle that will require
treatment. A sprain is simply an abnormal stretching of a ligament. If a ligament tears completely, it’s a much more
serious injury that often requires surgery to repair.” Symptoms of a sprained ankle can include swelling, bruising,
ankle instability, limited range of motion, etc.

Rest-Resting is one of the most effective ways to start your healing process. It allows whatever ligaments or tissue
you have torn to begin healing and rebuilding using scar tissue. It is important that while resting, you still continue
doing small stretching movements to prevent the stiffness of ankle and prepare it for further activity after healing.
Stated in Strand 12 Core Strands and Standards of Sports Medicine, applications that can be used to maintain
resting your injury include “immobilization with braces, crutches, and/or a cane.”
Ice-The benefits of applying ice are greatest within the first day or two after injury. It helps relieve pain and
prevent swelling and decreasing the blood flow to the area. Strand 12 Core Strands and Standards of Sports
Medicine states to “apply ice bag for 15-30 minutes every 1-2 waking hours for first 24-72 hours after injury.” It is
important to never apply ice directly to bare skin to avoid any chance of frost bite.
Compression- Compression is very important in the management of swelling and inflammation. The article at
Healthline.com titled Sports Injury Treatment reminds us “If the bandage causes tingling or numbness, remove it
and rewrap it more loosely. It shouldn’t be so tight that it causes discomfort or interferes with your blood flow.
Even gentle compression can help keep fluid from collecting around the injury.” The taping/wrapping of a sprained
ankle often takes place when an athlete is beginning to return to activity.
Elevation- As much as possible, the injury should be elevated. This is to make sure that blood is not rushing to the
area injured, to reduce pain, swelling, and discoloration. Taping a sprained ankle is more common than just
wrapping it. There are many different important steps to follow when taping to ensure that the injury is secure and
prevent further injury from happening.

There are several benefits to taping. Such as the swelling is controlled, circulation is enhanced, prevents worsening
of initial injury, and allows the body to continue conditioning and strengthening muscle that is often lost during
post-injury inactivity. The Sports Medicine & Science Council at Saskatchewan Sport Taping Course Manuel gives
a section to “Tape Application” and “Common Taping Techniques Positioning of the athlete is very important. The
ankle should be positioned dorsiflexion, which is with toes pointed up towards sky, and should be maintained
throughout whole tape job. When beginning your taping job, you will start with a prewrap from just above the
ankle, all the way around the foot making sure all skin is covered. That is then followed by Anchor strips that are
placed above ankle partially on skin and partially on prewrap. Next is the stirrups which are placed from the side of
your ankle all the way under to the opposing side, followed by another anchor strip. This is to be repeated 3 times.
After that you will preform the heel lock and figure 8 techniques that will focus of the stabilization of the ankle and
heel. To finish up, you want to preform the Hollywood which is simply using anchors and stirrups to cover the
whole foot, leaving the back of ankle open, and make sure that everything is smooth and comfortable. Make sure
to check circulation by pressing thumb above tape job and allow blood to return to pressing point in 2-3 seconds.

Being able to identify and evaluate all injuries is important so you know what you are dealing with. RICE treatment
is used directly after injuries occur to help with the rehabilitation process. There are several materials and
techniques that you will use when taping an ankle. Every person involved in Sports medicine or some type of
athletic training job, learn these different tools and techniques as a part of their everyday tasks. Learning and being
able to practice these techniques in my sports medicine class was so fun to me and helped me realize that I want
to go into the Athletic Training field. So, if you are thinking about Sports Medicine for your future, it will be very
helpful to learn about all the different types of taping and wrapping that you can do.