Taping Sprained Ankle: How much tape would you bring?

[Jack Elliott]

Nick,

I understand where you're coming from, but others on this thread have said that an Ace dressing just doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to supporting a sprained ankle. I don't want to re-open that issue, I'm just saying.

W/r/t the tape pulling the hairs out of one's leg being too painful for mortal men to take, I am throwing myself on the grenade for the rest of you: I will wrap a loop of leukotape around my sufficiently hairy leg, below the calf, let it sit for an hour or so, then pull it off, and report back.

If you don't hear from me within 24 hours, call the authorities.

[Jake D]

pics/video or it didn't happen ;)

ps soaking it in water will help break down the adhesive some. i have more hints but i've said too much already!

[Bill Segraves]

If you anticpate taping, imho it's worth taking a bit of the foam under-wrap. It doesn't weigh much and it makes tape removal much, much easier.

Best,

Bill

[Jack Elliott]

…and will take another after it's been pulled off.

I have on hand a fifth of whisky, a leather belt and a bullet to bite on, just in case. To keep things as primitive as possible, I will pull the tape off with a rusty pair of dental pliers ca. 1887, after first spraying the area with carbolic acid.

[Jack Elliott]

Bill, about that foam underwrap:

If it goes between the tape and the skin, but doesn't grip the skin as well as the tape does, then doesn't that let the tape come loose and kinda defeat the purpose? Seems to me that in the hurly-burly world of ankle stabilization you want the tape to stick to the skin real strong — like use pop-rivets if you could.

I'm not questioning the advice, just not getting the point.

[Joshua Gray]

The idea behind the tape is to create a static boundary to prevent the ankle joint from going into inversion, so underwrap or not, really won't matter as it's not going to affect the static nature of the tape itself and the <1mm thickness of underwrap is not going to allow any more flex.

The problem with taping, like someone said above is that tape loses its laxity over a 20-40 min time period. Also, in the acute setting, tape is contraindicated due to the ability to cause compartment syndrome…its rare, but I have seen it actually happen. If it were me, I would just bring either coban or an ace wrap.

If you are looking to do an adequate tape job, it will take about 1/2 roll of white tape and lots of practice to get it right. Having watched many of my soccer players try to tape themselves, its pretty funny and they usually do a pretty bad job (although there is one that does it very well) and just ended up coming to me anyways.

[Mary D]

You can always reinforce the Ace bandage with strips of duct tape on the outside (not next to your skin) if it's flexing too much. Or you can improvise splints. Please do remember that a freshly sprained ankle will swell a lot (mine from skiing got larger than a football and so did my daughter's when she fell off a horse and landed on one foot), and if you've wound it up tightly with tape, circulation will be blocked. Be sure not to tape your toes so you can watch them turn black and fall off!

Again, I strongly recommend a wilderness first aid course. The most important item in your first aid kit is between your ears! It's well worth $200 and a weekend. Here's the schedule for NOLS courses (many sponsored by REI), and there are some coming up fairly soon in the PNW: http://www.nols.edu/portal/wmi/courses/wfa/

You may also be able to get a WFA course from the Red Cross (I know they offer them in the Seattle area; in Portland they list it but I've never seen it on the schedule), but the charge (for 16 hours of training) will generally be the same.

Which reminds me that my WFA certification is expiring soon, so I need to sign up for one myself.

[Ben H.]

The underwrap might let the tape slip a little but the tape is form fit around your ankle and that gives you the support. I wouldn't pack underwrap. I would just tape over a sock or be prepared to lose some ankle hair.

When I played high-school football, I got my ankles taped for every game. My coach used underwrap but always seemed to get at least one loop of tape off the wrap and onto my hair. I am convinced he did this so we would rip out some hair and see what it was like "back in the day."

[Mary D]

There is a world of difference in taping to prevent a sprained ankle vs. stablizing a freshly sprained ankle which is going to swell. Apples and oranges!

[Jack Elliott]

Piffle. I yanked the leukotape wrap off my leg and it pulled about maybe 18 hairs outta it with close to zero pain. I will post pics later. But I'm here to tell y'all not to worry overmuch about this aspect of leg tapeage. I had the hair waxed off-a my back once, after viewing The 40 Year-Old Virgin and that hurt. This, not so much.

So I chalk this up to "sounds scarier than it is."

[Nick Gatel]

Ahem….

Now that I think about it, there was a lot of hair around my ankles when I was younger. Unfortunately most of that hair and the hair on my head has migrated to my nose and ears :)

[Jack Elliott]

Ben posted a link to a picture here: http://www.soccermaniak.com/images/ankle8.jpg

The dark green — is that some kind of underwrap?

Hikinggranny writes to say that, "There is a world of difference in taping to prevent a sprained ankle vs. stablizing a freshly sprained ankle which is going to swell."

Sigh. I'm sure she is right.

Look, boys and girls — I gotta cut to the chase here: I'm a 62 year-old man who takes three, four hikes a year in the Deschutes and Willamette National Forest when the weather is mild and the tourist are everywhere. Most of my trips are two, three-nighters, I'm planning to take a five-nighter in late summer to someplace pretty like the Green Lakes once school starts up and we can stop dodging tourists around here.

I stick to established trails, although I might wander off a bit to some lake or outcropping that looks interesting on the old topo map. I am very aware of my surroundings (having gotten lost more than a few times when I was younger) and find I am more cautious these days.

I hike by myself (although Mrs Elliott has expressed interest in a late-summer backpack, and my 24 year-old son wants to do a couple of the shorter trips with me [cool]) but I will probably always be within a few hundred yards of the trail.

I have a 2-meter/440 handy-talkie, a ham license (KG6RCR), and know I can hit the local repeaters from anywhere I go.

I don't have an ankle with any history of spraining.

So I have in front of me (turns monitor around so people can see) my ca. 2003 lightweight backpacking gear and have been poking through it, looking for ways to lower my pack weight.

I am eyeing the Ace dressing, and questioning it.

So what should I pack? The Ace? A bunch of leukotape? A big ol' SAM splint? Or nothing and simply rely on my whistle and my radio and my proximity to heavily-traveled trails to get help in the slight chance that I might sprain an ankle.

(I should mention that the weather on Oregon's eastern Cascades is treacherous and can turn from a prediction of sunny balminess to a blizzard overnight.)

Heck, based on the last two hikes I took, I'm far likelier to need emergency dentistry than ankle stabilization: on each trip I caught a toe and tumbled head over teacup with a full pack on my back.

[Ken Thompson]

" I had the hair waxed off-a my back once, after viewing The 40 Year-Old Virgin and that hurt. This, not so much."
I'm confused. Was the movie more painful than the waxing? Maybe get waxed first then a movie?

[Jack Elliott]

"most of that hair and the hair on my head has migrated to my nose and ears :)"

[Thread Creep Alert]

LOL.

[Jack Elliott]

Naw, I found the 40 Year-Old Virgin to be a fun movie. Sorry about the confusion. I wish I wrote better than I do.

[Jack Elliott]

(This is really an aside)

When I wrote the original post which started this whole mess, I said that I had not found any good line drawings (as opposed to things you can't pack, like videos, or photos, which are less-clear than drawings) to print out and pack along that showed how to tape a sprained ankle.

For those that stumble across this thread in the future, when we have flying bubble cars, Tilton's Backcountry First Aid and Extended Care (I got a used copy off Amazon for, like, five bucks) has a nice set of illustrations.

The book weighs 44 grams. That would be 1.6 ounces. I cannot comment about whether one should pack a copy. It's an individual matter.

[Jake D]

Underwrap/prewrap you can find in a million colors at your nearest sporting goods store. ask the girls where to find it because as they just want it for making headbands.

I would pack the Ace and call it good. if you start at your toes and wrap upward and throw in a few heel locks it will probably help a bit. at least enough to get the nearest WFR's attention and they will want to splint it with sticks then rig a stretcher from hiking poles and duct tape to get you out.

tuck and roll instead of using your face..

i went to school for 4 years to learn how to evaluate and treat athletic injuries.. carrying a book around would make that seem like a waste ;) woo 1.4oz off!!

[Jack Elliott]

Jake writes to say, "tuck and roll instead of using your face.."

Never bad advice!

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