An ankle sprain is caused by tearing the ligaments of your ankle. This type of soccer injury can be hard to get rid of, especially if it becomes chronic.

My own experience is that an ankle sprain is really painful and may hold you off the field for few weeks.

However, the first 3-4 days of the injury are worst because walking properly will be next to impossible.

Common Symptoms

The symptoms that are generally associated with this type of injury are swelling, bruising and even bleeding. You will often notice bruising over the area of your injury.

This bruising will often move down your foot towards your toes in the early days after an ankle sprain injury. This is because gravity is pulling your blood downwards your foot.

Three Grades

An ankle sprain injury is generally divided into 3 grades:

Grade 1

This grade means a stretching of your ligament. Common symptoms are pain, bleeding and swelling.

You will usually be able to walk properly without needing to use crutches. However, you should not try to sprint or jump as it may worsen your injury!

Grade 2

This great means more tearing of your ligament. Your ankle will look more swelled and bruised which is often caused by the bleeding under your foot skin.

You will be able to walk but not any longer distances because the pain will be hard to stand.

Grade 3

The last and the worst grade is the grade three. This is a complete tear of your ligaments.

You will usually feel a big pain and you will also need crutches to walk!

When do you need to see a doctor? Being able to decide between a sprained ankle and an ankle fracture can be pretty hard.

My advice to you is to always seek a doctor if you are concerned and if your sprain doesn’t get better after 3 or more days.

Signs that you should be aware off:

• Feeling pain while you are trying to walk normally.
• Big swelling around your ankle.
• Big pain in your foot or just above your ankle.

Summary

An ankle sprain is nothing to mess with! My advice is to always have the injury examined by a professional, if you want to stay on the safe side!

In fact, I would have any soccer injury examined by a professional as well!

You should not try to practice on any soccer skills before the injury is healed completely.

I mean that – it’s very easy to end up causing more injuries that take even longer to heal.

I love soccer just as much as anyone, but I only have one body so I want to take care of it for the long run!