The Sprained Ankle That Just Doesn’t Recover

Sprained Ankles: It Isn’t If You’ve Had One, but How Many!

Ankle sprains are incredibly common. Often, it’s not a matter of if, but how many times it has happened. For more perspective on sprained ankles:

• Emergency Departments report over 2 million ankle sprains per year.
• 45% of athletic injuries are ankle sprains.
• 90% are a “low-ankle” sprain — where the foot is turned inward straining the muscles and ligaments on the the outer-side of the foot and ankle.

The mechanism of spraining an ankle is often stepping such that the foot rolls sideways, which is commonly referred to as ‘rolling’ an ankle.

Why are Ankles So Susceptible to ‘Rolling’?

The design of your foot makes it inherently vulnerable to rolling injuries.

During early development, feet are flat and begin forming arches with weight bearing movements.

This process involves the foot transitioning weight bearing from the outer to edge to the bottom of the foot, which results in a bias toward instability on the outer side.

👉 The foot is built to absorb force from the ground up — not from the side. That’s why lateral movements can easily overwhelm the ankle’s stability.

More Complex Sprains: When It’s More Than the Ankle

In some sprains, the injury is right above the ankle, pulling on muscles and tendons of the lower shin and calf.

This type of sprain is often more painful, with less swelling, and is harder to recover from because it throws off the coordination between the foot, ankle, and leg.

When Pain and Swelling Go Away, but Function Doesn’t Return

Even after the swelling fades, movement may remain stiff, unstable, or weak. Often the muscles coordinate by tightening up, or conversely, the muscles become unstable because of so much disruption. Here is more about each scenario:

The ankle stiffens to stabilize movement.

• With a sprain, the disrupted coordination of the inner and outer edge of the foot throws off how the muscles on the top of the ankle coordinate with the Achilles tendon.
• To preserve stability, the many tiny muscles of the foot and ankle tighten.
• Little known relationship: When the foot and ankle’s lateral movement becomes restricted, it also limits hip movement.

The foot becomes unstable.

• Instability is often evidenced by recurring ankle sprains and a sensation of hyper mobility.
• This happens when the intrinsic muscle coordination of the ankle is so disrupted that it is left weak and unstable.
• Exercises may strengthen the ankle, but the quick reactions needed for agility remain offline.

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How Bridging® Helps a Sprain — At All Points in Time

Whether your sprain was yesterday or years ago, Bridging can reset muscle coordination and restore smooth, pain-free movement.

✅ Soon After the Sprain

• After you have confirmation of no structural damage, Bridging resets allow swelling to fade, almost immediately.
• This speeds up healing by reducing strain on injured tissues.

✅ Weeks After the Sprain

• After most of the pain is gone, Bridging can trouble shoot specific movements of the foot which still cause discomfort.
• The devil is in the details; discrete movements where muscle interactions need to be reset, such as the coordination between the foot flexing triggering knee flexion, or the coordination of the inner and outer ankle muscles to hold the foot straight.

✅ Anytime in the Future

• Bridging can help with lingering stiffness, instability, poor balance, or reduced strength—all common after an old sprain.
• There are also resets to support strength, agility, and power as needed.

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Inger’s Story: More Than a Simple Sprain

“Today I woke up and moved 90% better without thinking about it, and was pain-free. Most of the day was no pain and easy. Sooo much better!”

Inger, two days after session

Inger’s ankle sprain happened in a fall — a common cause. But weeks later, she still had pain when moving, and sought out some Bridging® help.

Her Fall Was More Complex Than It Seemed.

As she describes in the video, her right foot slid, then twisted under her left leg, with her left leg landing on top of her right foot and ankle. She had two layers of trauma:

• From the twist of the initial fall
• From the compression of her own body weight landing on top of her foot

How Did Bridging® Help?

We used Bridging to reset the muscle coordination in these areas:

• Right ankle to foot
• Right ankle to knee
• Right leg to hip
• Left leg to pelvis

Overall, there was a cascade of twisted relationships due to the nature of the fall, and they each needed to be reset.