The answer is, it depends.
Have you sprained that ankle before?
If you have, this can actually be a good thing. Athletes who have sprained their ankles repeatedly have already traumatized the daylights out of their ligaments, so they are not really causing more ligament damage.
It still hurts, but a lot of times, it will recover very quickly.
You still want to do the exercises I give you in the video so you can reduce your risk of having it happen again, because you don’t even want to miss a couple days off the ice.
If you haven’t sprained that ankle before?
The key is to get the pain and swelling under control, so icing, resting, maybe taking an anti-inflammatory if your doctor has suggested it.
Then you want get the range of motion (watch the video to see why even a slight sprain increases your risk of a more serious injury) and stability back.
So you will progress through the following exercises…
If for some bizarre reason you cannot see the video above, better update the operating system of your flip phone and then you can click here > https://youtu.be/8AVikTGfZ_M
> Ankle alphabet – one time through, several times per day
> Inversion/eversion – 12 each way 2-3 times per day
> Balance – start at 30s each side and build to 60s each side
> Heel Raise/Toe Raise – 8 each – slowly – 1-2 times per day
> Step-Step-Stick – 6 each way – 1-2 times per day
The video shows you how to do them. Remember that they must be pain free or you will not progress to the next exercise.
Once you are doing Heel/Toe Raises and Step-Step-Stick with good balance and no pain, then you are ready for more goalie specific challenge with a few of your off-ice goalie agility drills. That does not mean full speed, it means gradually add some of your agility drills, start skating without equipment… that sort of thing 🙂
Have a beauty day!
M