Mcdavid elastic ankle braces

 

mcdavid elastic ankle brace

 

 

As a doctor with an ankle problem, I like most of the Mcdavid elastic ankle braces that use both a hard shell component to add stability and elastic to allow movement.  However, if you have an ankle problem like mine, why not get rid of the brace?  New non-surgical treatments where the doctor injects your own stem cells into the ankle ligament tear to heal it should allow you to get rid of the Mcdavid elastic ankle brace for good.  In this procedure, your own adult mesenchymal stem cells are isolated and then grown to bigger numbers.  They are then injected under x-ray guidance into your torn ankle ligaments.  After this break-through procedure, you can wear a brace for a few weeks, but continue playing and working out while the ligaments heal.  Maximum healing is 6-12 weeks.  You can come out of the Mcdavid elastic ankle brace after just a month.  Why go through all of this?  An unstable ankle eventually damages the cartilage in the ankle and leads to early arthritis.  So what’s a pain in the ankle now, will be severe arthritis in 20 years, unless you get the ankle ligaments fixed.  Think of these ligaments as duct tape that holds your ankle bones together.  When that duct tape is torn, it needs to be fixed, not braced.

Sports Ankle Brace

Several years ago I injured my ankle while running. It didn’t completely heal, so as a physician, I set out to find the perfect sports ankle brace. My first stop was the then famous “air cast”. This was a great way to stop the circulation in my ankle, but did little to help the pain and swelling. The next sports ankle brace I tried was the old fashioned lace-up models. They were a nightmare to get on and off, but did supply some stability. After trying 10-12 braces, I finally settled on something that worked, the Bauerfeind Malleoloc.  This was an easy sports ankle brace to get on and off and actually provided some stability. Alas, after walking around with this thing for years, I finally decided to get the ligaments fixed using prolotherapy. This worked reasonably well and took a few injections. Today there are even newer ways to fix these ligaments with the injection of stem cells. The video below will provide more information:

Strained Ligament in Ankle

As a physician with a bad ankle, I know this one first hand.  A strained ligament in ankle means that the ankle ligaments are stretched but not completely broken.  The ankle ligaments are like duct tape that hold the bones together.  Normally, the area swells as the body attracts resources to heal the small ligament tears.  However, in some people, the tears are too big and the ligaments remain stretched out and the ankle is unstable (too much movement between the bones).  This instability causes other problems including swelling and extra wear and tear on the cartilage.  If left untreated, the ankle will develop arthritis much quicker than normal. While the only way to treat this was surgery or bracing, newer stem cell injection based treatments can heal the tear and restore normal stability without surgery.  For more information, the video below is helpful: