If you have recently sprained your ankle, you may have performed the basic first aid that you know and wrapped and elevated the ankle. If after performing your first aid, you have found yourself searching, “how long does a sprain take to heal?,” it may be time to give your doctor a call.

Upon assessing your injury, your doctor may refer you to physical therapy to help with the healing process. Here is how proper physical therapy can help you to get past an ankle sprain:

Reduce Pain and Restore Balance

One of the main irritants of a sprained ankle is the pain, and the pain can continue throughout the healing process. During physical therapy for a sprained ankle, the physical therapist may treat the injury with heat, ice, ultrasound, or even manual techniques designed specifically to help reduce swelling and pain.

Another tricky part of a sprained ankle is regaining balance once you are able to put pressure on the ankle and to maintain proper balance once the injury is almost fully healed but may still be tender. Based on your injury, as well as your lifestyle (for example, if you enjoy certain spots or hobbies), your physical therapist can design a treatment plan that can best restore your balance after your ankle sprain.

Improve Strength

A major part of recovering from a sprain is correctly building back the strength and mobility of the joint. An ankle sprain can be particularly tough, since you put your weight on the joint all the time. When you see a physical therapist for an ankle sprain, they will come up with a plan that is specific to you and your injury that will help you build back your strength, and also improve mobility, since both of these work together.

Your physical therapist will guide you through exercise in the office, and then give you a plan for exercise to continue at home. Keeping up with your plan will help you to improve your strength and mobility in the joint and to properly heal.

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Reduce the Chance of Future Injury

While you may not be thinking about the next time you sprain your ankle while you are healing from this sprain, your physical therapist is probably thinking about the techniques they can use to help prevent you from spraining your ankle again.

With proper physical therapy, your therapist can help to greatly reduce your chances of getting injured again. Your physical therapist will give you the exercise you need to build back strength, as well as techniques to prevent future injuries.

After your ankle sprain, while you may be tempted to just wrap, ice, and elevate your ankle and stay off of it for a few days, depending on your injury, you may want to seek out some physical therapy. Proper physical therapy for a sprained ankle can help you to reduce pain, restore balance, improve strength and mobility, and hopefully prevent future sprains.