RICE

Well here I am again, in front of the computer with a sprained ankle.
My idea of sitting here in front of the computer a lot of the time while my ankle heals is probably not all that good. They way my desk and the computer stands it is hard to elevate the foot enough in a pleasant way. On the other hand my hammock is great for the purpose, so as soon as I am done writing this I will go back to my hammock. Unfortunately my laptop is at university in my locker there, so I am not able to be online from the hammock as things are right now.

I just thought that I might as well mention what RICE stands for just in case someone else might find need for this with a sprained ankle or a similar kind of injury. RICE is:
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
The primary purpose of this treatment is mostly to reduce swelling which in itself can be painful and make healing slower.
With a sprained ankle the usually you need to give it complete rest (or as much as possible) for the first 24-48 hours. Especially during the first 3 hours after the injury cooling the damaged area is efficient, but always remember to put a cloth between ice (for example frozen pea's like I have used) and put on the ice something like 20 minutes for every hour.
Compression is in whatever form you have available to you, elastic cloth is great for the purpose, under all circumstances just make sure that you don't tie of blood circulation. If the foot starts sleeping loosen the compression.
Elevation is lifting the damaged area, preferably above your heart, which also reduces swelling. This should be done as fast as possible after the injury and whenever possible during the healing process.
I have done my best to follow this practice in the last 18 hours and the swelling is all that bad so it seems to be working (although the swelling does of course depend a lot on severenes of the injury, the more tissue that is injured the more blood will flow out in the area and increase the swelling).


Enough of my "pocket doctor" advice, you will probably find much better help by searching authorized medical sites for advice, I just find the RICE-principle easy to remember and something that I have often found use for either when I myself become injured or when others suffer an injury.

Captain and Kvistur seems both to be doing well. Captain walks out and into the hut from time to time, it is nice to have him curl up with me when I am not able to do much else but lie around and read right now, but he does have a nasty tendency to think that the elastic cloth I have wrapped around my foot is fun to play with and also has a tendency to make it a bit more difficult to get around on one leg as he likes to lie down right where I plan to go. He is a lot easier to move when I am able to use both legs and bend down without having issues with keeping the balance.