ankles
here's doctor timmer's treatment for a sprained ankle. tape it up immobile if you have to use it in an uncontrollable fashion, like say, for a football basketball game, wrestling match, or track meet. you want to keep the injury from getting worse. if possible, shortly after the injury alternate 5 minutes of ice and 5 minutes of light activity. then do light activity until it heals. what happens is your body did some motion that damaged connective tissue. veins close immediately to stop any bleeding. arteries stay open to get the immune system and repair crews to the injury. more stuff goes in than comes out. swelling occurs. the ice closes the arteries. repairs can begin. however, nothing goes out. the light activity opens both veins and arteries. allowing all the debris and garbage to go out. unfortunately, it also dislodges the repair cells. which is why you alternate ice and light activity. stop using ice when the swelling is minimal. the light activity does two things. as i've already mentioned it pumps good in and bad out. it also sends the brain a pain signal when the body starts to repeat the motion that caused the initial injury. your lizard brain learns a reflex to not let the body do that. cause it hurts. which will be a very useful thing the next time you're in a potential injury situation. the reflex kicks in and makes the body react before the damage is done.