Is It Really Possible to Stop Ankle Pain with Massage?
Absolutely. If you’re looking to stop ankle pain with massage techniques and you live in the Boston area, Dr. Ben Benjamin can help.
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There are two common types of ankle pains he can treat:
- Recent ankle sprain
- Chronic ankle pain (typically from a badly healed ankle sprain in your past)
Evaluation and Assessment of Ankle Pain
You’ll start with an evaluation, where Dr. Benjamin asks questions about your pain and your lifestyle. Then he uses various hands-on tests to assess and help pinpoint the source of your ankle pain.
Massage Therapy Treatment for Ankle Pain
Upon completion of the evaluation, Dr. Benjamin will go over a suggested treatment plan with you, to be started at your next appointment. If your pain is caused by something only a physician can address, he will refer you out.
1. Recent Ankle Sprains
- Timeline: Effective treatment usually take about 2-8 weeks.
- Cause: The ligaments that hold the ankle bones together become injured, which signals the joint to swell. Athletic accidents are the most common, but not the only, way to sprain your ankle.
- In-Office: Dr. Benjamin will gently work on the area around the sprain, in order to prevent scar tissue from forming improperly.
- At-Home: You also get a series of daily (safe for your recent injury) exercises that rebuild both muscle and ligament strength.
2. Chronic Ankle Pain
- Timeline: Effective treatment usually takes about 1-3 months.
- Cause: If the ligaments that hold the ankle bones together become injured and are left untreated, painful scar tissue develops. Over the years, the improperly healed injury will be re-injured over and over so that it continues to cause pain.
- In-Office: Dr. Benjamin will work on breaking up the scar tissue that is causing your pain so that the area heals properly.
- At-Home: You also get a series of daily exercises to rebuild both muscle and ligament strength.
Treating a Client Who Had Pain Similar to a Sprained Ankle (But Was Something Else!)
This video was originally for students of my work, but it also serves to show you what is possible with the type of treatment I do:
Are you experiencing ankle pain? Maybe you have on and off ankle pain that has been going on for years and never seems to go away.
If you’re looking to stop ankle pain with massage, book an evaluation with Dr. Ben Benjamin today.
Book an evaluation
FAQs
What are Dr. Ben Benjamin’s fees and policies?
You can read more about them on his Appointment Policies and Fees page.
How does the first appointment typically go?
You can read more about Dr. Benjamin’s appointments on his Evaluation and Treatment Sessions page.
What are the causes of ankle pain?
Usually, you fall or turn your ankle. Over the next hour or so, the ankle swells and becomes increasingly painful.
The pain in the ankle is caused by a sprain of one or more of the ligaments that hold the bones of your ankle together. Seven different ligaments can be affected, three on the outer ankle and four on the inner ankle.
To find out which ones are cause of your specific ankle pain, the first task is to perform a series of hands-on physical assessment tests on all the ligaments.
How do you massage ankle pain?
Not all massage treatments are the same. A Swedish or deep tissue massage might make you feel better for a little while, but it is not the appropriate treatment for an ankle sprain.
There is a special massage technique, called friction massage, which is designed to treat things like ankle sprains.
What kind of doctor is best for ankle pain?
Whenever you sprain your ankle and it is swollen, see a physician as soon as possible and get an X-ray. You want to make sure the ankle is not broken.
If it’s a ligament sprain, you can go to a therapist like me, who works with these types of injuries.
What is the fastest way to relieve ankle pain?
If it’s a fresh injury, it usually takes 4 to 6 weeks of friction treatment to get you back on your feet. Of course, the timing depends on how severe the sprain was.
If the ankle did not swell, the treatment would last two or three weeks.
If it swells and is quite painful, it will likely take a month or two.
If you can’t put weight on it and it’s extremely swollen, the treatment would be longer.
If it’s a chronic injury that’s been lingering for months or years, treatment would take several months.