It's been a week since I sprained my ankle during the ultimate game last Friday and the good news is that it has shown some significant improvement. I've progressed to doing light workouts on it along with suggested rehabilitation stretches and exercises. I can walk without any limping or pain and minimal discomfort. It's still sore, and the swelling has still not completely gone down, but I'm managing it with ice and it's improving each day. The hardest part, though, is staying off of the field. I was tempted even today to go out to the game but I resisted, even though I'm young and invincible :). I'm going to try to give it at least another week before I lace up the cleats again.

This is the first time I will have gone more than a week without playing a game of ultimate in over a year. Do they have a patch or chewing gum for this?

Argh. It's a given that injuries are a part of participation in any sport and I have dealt with my fair share of them. Various repetitive stress and overuse injuries cropped up during my track and field career in high school and college. Regardless of how many injuries I've dealt with, though, each new one always seems to be equally as aggrevating.

You can probably see where I'm going with this. I sprained my ankle during yesterday's ultimate frisbee game - landing on the side of my foot rather than the bottom of it after going up for the disc. It wasn't a major sprain. It initially didn't swell up at all and I continued to walk around on it with some annoyance during the rest of the day. When I got home late last night, though, I took off my shoes and noticed that one ankle was definitely bigger than the other. After some ice and a night of sleep, I woke up this morning with a very stiff and still somewhat swollen ankle. Awesome.

So I'm on the sprained ankle recovery program: minimize weight-bearing activities, and R.I.C.E. treatment. I've got ice wrapped around it right now, and I'm going to re-apply it every two to three hours or so today to see if I can get the swelling down. I've also taken some ibuprofen and have my legs propped up so that they are elevated. What's the hardest part though? Staying off the field until I'm fully recovered. I've been playing lunchtime pickup ultimate games Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays since I started working here over a year ago last October. In that time period I've rarely missed a game, and haven't gone more than a week straight without playing. I clearly won't be able to play next week, but it's probably not wise to play for at least a week or two after symptoms are gone and I've properly carried out a stretching and strengthening exercise program.

I hate being injured. Somebody hold me back.