As you probably gathered by now, I do not recommend R.I.C.E. as a sprained ankle treatment. It is slow and ineffective. It does NOT lower the risk of future injury. And, it actually does not rehabilitate the ankle in any way. Probably most damaging of all, it does not address ANY of the damage from the original injury itself. So, R.I.C.E. really does very little at all to help you heal. Below are some more specifics.

R.I.C.E. works very, very slowly

If you have had a previous ankle injury and used the R.I.C.E. system, you already know it does not yield quick results. First of all, ice is only effective for the first 36-48 hours. After that, you will notice the ankle is still very swollen, bruised and stiff. But, the R.I.C.E. system says at that point, you should just rest and wait. Well, left by itself, the ankle will heal very slowly and poorly. So, you can expect a minimum of a 3-4 week healing period, but most likely it will be closer to 6-8 weeks.

R.I.C.E. does not increase range of motion in the ankle.

When you sprain an ankle, the body swells the area to decrease range of motion and limit any further injury. As you continue to rest it, the swelling and stiffness go down slowly, but it takes a very long time. Further, even when the swelling is completely gone, you will notice that the ankle is still very stiff.The original injury causes adhesions to the muscles, known as knots. There may also be some scar tissue which further limits the range of motion of your ankle joint. Of course, this inflexibility and weakness will set you up for injuring it again and R.I.C.E. does nothing to deal with any of this.

R.I.C.E. does not repair the nerves.

One of the hidden problems with an injury is the damage done to the neuromuscular system. In other words, the ability of the nervous system and the muscular system to communicate. The nervous system tells them muscles what to do. When you sprain an ankle, the communication between the nervous system and the ankle joint gets disrupted and never fully recovers unless you do something to repair it. R.I.C.E. does absolutely nothing to repair this impaired communication, further slowing down the healing process and increasing your risk for future injury.

R.I.C.E. does not strengthen the ankle.

As you lay there in bed, the muscles in your ankle joint will slowly heal, but they will also atrophy. When you stop using muscles, they get weak. The human body is meant to move and endure physical challenge everyday. If you don't actively strengthen your ankle, it will never fully recover from the injury. Not only will it heal much slower, but it will always be more susceptible to injury, because all the stabilizer muscles that protect your ankle will be severely weakened.

Most people go back to their normal activities once their ankle swelling has gone down and they can move without pain. The problem is that you haven't done anything to rebuild the muscle tissue which means your ability to move and jump will dramatically decrease. Further, because of the adhesions and scar tissue from the injury, the longer you wait to deal with those issues, the more difficult and longer it gets to get back to full health.

R.I.C.E. increases risk of ankle injury in the future.

As I have been suggesting, by just icing, elevating and resting your ankle you are not properly rehabilitating the muscles and joint. As a result, your ankle will be weaker and there will be impaired neuromuscular communication. After about a month, you will get back to your normal activities, but your ankle will be ripe for another injury.

Remember, an ankle sprain is caused by the ligaments tearing from the force of your foot rolling and your ankle staying stationary. The stronger and more flexible your ligaments are, the more protected you will be against a future injury. In order to protect yourself from further injury, you have to strengthen the ankle joint, repair the neuromuscular damage, break down scar tissue and increase flexibility. That is the only way to insure you are at a much lower risk for future injury.