Ankle Sprain Rehab Clinic

Jordyn Wieber

Ankle Sprain Rehab Clinic

Scenario

Jordyn Wieber was born on July 12, 1995 in DeWitt, Michigan. At the age of 17, weighing in at 115 pounds at 5'2", she has been working hard to become an Olympic Gymnast for 13 years. Just last year, Jordyn suffered from a stressed fracture and almost wasn't able to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Wieber however, fought through the pain and was able to land her U.S team the Gold Medal. Enable to be an Olympic Gymnast pretty much everything as far as endurance, strength, quickness and power.

The Injury

After doing an amazing routine on the balance beam Wieber starts to come to her finally. As she does a back hand spring to stick her landing she comes crashing down in pain. During the injury, I saw that Wieber landed very oddly. Her right ankle seemed to go inward which made her crash to the ground. Jordyn's ankle is starting to swell very rapidly and she seems to be in a lot of pain. As I ask Wieber what happened she said she lost control coming down and didn't land right, she told me that her ankle did indeed go inward when landing and that she feels a lot of pain around her ankle.

Caring For The Athlete

First I'm going to have Wieber rest her ankle for about 48 hours. Jordyn will have to use crutches to slowly put weight back on. Icing the ankle is important to do 4 to 6 times a day for 15-20 minutes. I'm going to wrap the ankle in a bandage so there is compression to help it heel. I'm also going to have Wieber elevate the ankle above the heart as much as possible.

Assesing The Athlete

As I go up to Jordyn to examine her right ankle more, I first grab her upper leg and see where she is feeling pain. If she says the pain occurs on the spot where I grab, it is most likely a sprained ankle, if the pain occurs lower, directly at the ankle when grabbing the upper leg, it could be a fracture. Since, Jordyn said the pain occurred where I grabbed her upper leg, I so far am convinced she has a sprained ankle. As I grab her leg more, moving my way down, I'm still convinced that she only has a sprained ankle and not a fracture since the pain is in the direct spots that I am grabbing. I want to apply pain but without injury so this way I can see exactly where the injury is. The pain seems to occur more in the back area of her ankle so I am predicting that Wieber has a Grade III ankle sprain.

Rehabilitation Prescription

We will need to get Wieber back in shape as soon as possible. After swelling has come down and Jordyn has gotten weight back on the ankle we will start rehab. We will meet 6 days a week for 2 hours. I'm going to have her do a lot of balance