Elevate your ankle above your heart to prevent fluid accumulation, and apply an ice pack for 20 minutes. This requires a couch or bed—your desk chair won't work. For 2 days, ice the joint every 2 hours for 20 minutes at a time.
Of course, you still have to move around. "The biggest difference between the way you treat a sprained ankle and the way a pro athlete treats one," Hertel says, "is that when he leaves the stadium, his foot is immobilized in a walking boot." A British study found that immobilization is a more effective sprain-healing strategy than an elastic bandage is.
So for a severe sprain, a compression bandage isn't immobilizing enough. Ask your doctor if you can use a walking boot so you can resume part of your regular life. But you can take immobilization too far. You still have to...
Exercise
With your foot elevated and your heel held still, write the alphabet in capital letters with your big toe. Complete this 10-minute range-of-motion routine four times a day the first 2 days after your injury, says Dr. Drakos.
After 48 hours, here's your drill: Set up two tubs, one with hot water and one with crushed ice and water. Take off any wrap or boot you're using, immerse your ankle in the hot water, and do the alphabet exercise for 5 minutes. Then dunk your foot in the ice water, keeping your heel on the bottom of the tub and lifting your toes so they touch the side. Hold that position for 8 seconds, and relax for 2 seconds. Repeat for a total of six times. Then alternate 30-second hot and cold dunks for the next 4 minutes.
Do this drill three more times throughout the day, reducing the hot-water-alphabet step by a minute each time. This causes your blood vessels to dilate, helping to clear fluid and reduce inflammation.
Keep wearing the compression wrap when you're not dunking your ankle, or until it is no longer swollen or painful.
Balance
When the ankle looks normal and feels good again, most guys end treatment and start thinking about their next game. But the next step—called proprioceptive training—is crucial. It encourages balance, stability, and a sense of where your ankle is in space.
"It's a huge component of what we do," says Jack McPhilemy, D.O., an orthopedic surgeon at Lankenau Hospital, in Philadelphia, and the team doctor for the 76ers. "We're trying to make athletes more aware of when the ankle is beginning to roll—make that message to the brain travel faster so it sends out a signal to resist."
Your first move: Lift your healthy foot and stand on the other foot while you brush your teeth. Do this twice a day for 3 minutes, and you've engaged in the most basic form of proprioceptive training. (For a more advanced routine, see "Your Ankle-Saving Workout.")
Everyone knows the textbook rest-and-ice treatment, and nearly everyone screws it up.
One unpublished study of volleyball players showed that balance training can reduce the incidence of ankle sprains by at least half. Researchers say our brains need up to 120 milliseconds—three times longer than the 30 to 50 milliseconds it takes to roll an ankle—to send a message to stop the process. So balance training may be massaging your mind.