MARQUETTE -- Ethan Bush Anderson is receiving treatment at Marquette General Hospital Therapies and U.P. Rehab Services. He sprained his ankle playing basketball in November.
"It was extremely swollen so there was this pressure in my foot; no matter what I did, if it wasn't in an upright position, it just would throb even worse," said Ethan Anderson. "Almost felt like my foot was going to explode."
Mark Stonerock, an athletic trainer at the center, says at least 680,000 people in the U.S. get an ankle injury. Stonerock says the most common sprain is rolling the ankle to the outside.
"The ankle naturally wants to tend to twist to the outside a little bit, and that's just the way we're built," said Mark Stonerock. "When you combine the fact that some people have poor foot posture, muscular weakness and the slippery conditions we have here in the U.P., it all kind of conspires against us."
He says it can take a couple of weeks to months for an ankle to heal depending on the severity of the sprain. However, there are some exercises you can do to strengthen the muscles supporting your ankle. All you need is a resistance band. For instance, flexing your foot back and forth and side to side using a resistance band. Another good thing to do is some exercises that will help your balance.
As for Ethan, he's still continuing his recovery.
"It's feeling much better and so is my hip because my ankle started to affect my hip, and I've noticed that both are doing a lot better now," Anderson said.
For more information, click here: http://www.uprehab.com/
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWLUC