How Long to Wear Air Cast for Sprained Ankle
People with ankle sprain often look for the answer to a common question, how long to wear air cast for sprained ankle? The answer is a little bit tricky. The time needed to heal the ankle sprain will depend upon the severity of the ankle sprain. Your ankle is the joint between the leg and your foot. The ankle region is interconnected with some ligaments. Whenever any of these ligaments get torn, severed or cracked, you got yourself an ankle sprain. So from the definition, you can make an educative guess that time required for the healing process will depend on the severity and type of sprain.
How Long to Wear Air Cast for Sprained Ankle
If you want a straight forward answer, then it will take from two to six week. Using the air cast will help you in your healing process. They will make your day to day life less painful. They are often recommended by the doctors to ensure that your ankle gets enough padding to immobilize the ankle tissue and reduces pressure on them. This padding comes from the air-filled section of the air case. They will also let you do some minor walking.
What is the Air Cast?
Air cast is quite like the walking boot. They provide padding and cushioning to your ankle. They do so with the help of the air cell. The air cell which contains air to provide your feet with necessary cushioning for the healing process. In these air cast, there are several air cell in different place of the air cast. You can choose the particular air cell to provide you with the required padding. The air inside the air cell puts pressure outside of your ankle, which helps to immobilize them. This kind of immobilization is needed for your healing process. If the injured tissues move much, they will not be able to heal themselves.
So during your day to day to life, the ankle tissue might need to move, which is not suitable for you. In order to make sure that while those minor movement, your ankle tissue remains still, the air cells in the air cast provide external pressure and padding. This keeps the injured tissue at the same place.
Diagnosing Ankle Sprain
To take any kind of initiative, you need to be hundred percent sure that it is an ankle sprain. Sometimes bones are broken. So if you mistakenly treat a broken bone as an ankle sprain, then the outcome will be disastrous. So, first of all, go to a doctor, he will examine your ankle properly then he will assure you whether it is an ankle sprain or other issues. He may also give you an X-ray test to clarify further. The X-ray test result should be enough to show the real result. It also reveals the severity of your ankle sprain, which will help your doctor to estimate the time required for you to heal. Also, your doctor will be able to provide you medication and other healing tips according to your situation.
How to Wear an Air Cast
As you have got your answer to the question of how long to wear air cast for sprained ankle, now you need to know the proper way of using an air cast. Air cast is not only a supporting shoe or boot, but it is also a device to heal your injured ankle. So in order to heal properly and quickly, you need to know how to wear them and use them properly. First, let’s look at the component of a conventional air cast.
Now the efficient way to wear and operate one of this air cast will be discussed in steps.
Step 1
You can directly wear the air cast, or you can wear them with an orthotic sock. First, wrap the outer frame of the air cast around your leg. While doing that you have to make sure that the frame is properly adjusted to your feet. After adjusting them, put the front panel over the shin and front part of your leg. Place the front panel in an accurate position over your foot.
Step 2
Then slowly hook the straps over your ankle. As you haven’t inflated the air cell yet, leave a little bit space between your leg and air cast. While hooking the strap, make sure that they do not alter the adjustment. They will be strapped in such a manner that the mainframe doesn’t alter that much.
Step 3
Now you will need to pump the air cell to provide you with extra with extra padding. You will notice in your air cast that there are two switches. One is for inflation, and the other is for depletion. The air cast is divided into several air cell. They contain a number like one, two, three, etc. There is a knob that has the mark of these number. You have to put the number of the air cell that you want to inflate. Select the number via selection nob then press the inflation button. Keep the pressure on the button until you think that air cell has been inflated enough.
Release the button when done. Like this, depending upon the area of pain, you can inflate air cell of that area. You can always deflate or release some air. You have to follow the same process. Select the intended air cell then push the deflate button.
Conclusion
How long to wear air cast for sprained ankle will mostly depend on how efficiently you use the air cast. It is recommended to have high inflation of air cell while walking and low inflation for sitting.
