Of all the injuries I’ve accrued over my 12-plus years of playing football, surprisingly the most painful injury I’ve ever dealt with was the high ankle sprain. Believe it or not, this monster of an injury was the only one capable of taking me out of commission at any point throughout my entire career.
I suffered a high ankle sprain in a close game on a rainy night against Oregon during my junior year at Cal.
While I was holding the point of a block during a stretch play, one of Oregon’s 300-pound offensive linemen fell awkwardly on my leg, causing it to twist outward as my body's momentum carried me in the opposite direction.
I clearly remember the sharp, intense pain that shot up my leg as I fell to the ground. But the initial pain was nowhere near as bad as the pain that set in once the fluid and swelling started to flow into the area. Just as the body's natural adrenaline was wearing off, I was no longer able to put standing pressure on that foot.
However, even that pain was nothing compared to the pain of the next day after the injury had a full night to cool down and tighten up.
High ankle sprains are truly a terrible injury that can often take months to heal before you’re fully capable of changing directions or cutting on that ankle.
In fact, I’ve often heard it said that sprains can even be more painful than some bone breaks. I don’t doubt this at all after living through each; the sprained ankle trumped the broken ribs tenfold.
