ankle soreness normal?

[kenleo]

my son sprained his ankle (again) 3.5 weeks ago. saw the orthopedist 2 days after that and xrays showed no breaks or tears. he said 2 weeks of no basketball. 2 weeks later we go back to have it checked and he was cleared to play after a week. no pain, no swelling. he was doing the ankle rehab exercises all this time.

question, he felt some soreness after his first practice yesterday. is this a problem or do the muscles need to stretch and this is normal. he never did any exercises during the last 3.5 weeks. no running, no jumping..

[Heidi]

Hi
It is quite normal to experience some degree of soreness when you first return to sport after such an injury. He should find that this decreases quite repidly. If not then possibly he went back too soon. This would depend on the extent of the injury. A return to sport should also be gradual - i.e. not just straight back to a full match. Gentle training first, building to full training and then match play, gradually increasing the time played.

[kenleo]

thanks a lot, Heidi. he said it felt a whole lot better yesterday. we're still icing it after practice just to make sure.

fyi, we did find some very, very, very minor swelling by the top of the outside ankle bone.

thanks again for your time