It’s officially everyone’s favorite time of year again: fall. The weather is finally cooling down and the leaves are turning different shades of red, orange, and brown. You can get a week’s worth of exercise on your front lawn raking them all up into fun pumpkin shaped bags, or you can just let the leaves be. While I tend to prefer the second option, it does come with one major setback. Leaves left out cover up dangerous spots on the ground. Uneven ground, twigs, and rocks all are hidden by the beautiful leaves, making people more prone to falling in the fall.

There are not really any ways to prevent this from happening, especially if you do not carry a rake with you at all times. So, the best thing you can do is get prepared to take care of yourself once in inevitable happens.

The first step to prevention is building up your ankle strength. It is so easy to sprain your ankles on fall hike. A fun way to build strength is to spell the ABCs with your foot. You probably should have been doing this at least once a day all summer to be fully prepared, but since you probably forgot, do this at least 5 times a day to compensate. With a strong pair of ankles, you are less likely to injure yourself while walking this fall. However, if you do not have time to build your ankle strength, you can spend money on different tools to help care for your sore ankles later.

If you are the type to go on walks alone in leafy parts of town, the first thing you should invest in is Life Alert. It is not just for our elderly family members anymore. Life Alert offers protection on-the-go! It has GPS in it, too, so if you fall down and hurt your ankle outdoors, your rescuers will know where to find you. The batteries last for up to 10 years, which is super amazing. If you buy one today, you won’t need another until 2026!

If you can make it home without the help of Life Alert rescuers, you are going to need ice and medical compression sock. The RICE method is a miracle worker, so trust me on this one. First, pull on your compression socks to make your ankle compressed. Next, set up your pillows so that your ankle will be higher than your head. Elevation is key to success in this treatment model. Then, very carefully, place a bag of ice on your compressed ankle. It will be cold, but it will be worth it. Lastly, fall asleep. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation will solve your ankle problems very quickly.

I understand how hard it can be to fall asleep and stay asleep during the RICE process. However, if you want your ankle to get better, you will have to try harder.

Last but not least, you can take medication for your sprained ankles, too. Sometimes, the pain is really bad and medicines like Ibuprofen can help. A sprained ankle can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months to fully and properly heal. Hopefully, you do not need to be taking Ibuprofen for pain the whole time, but just in case, be prepared by buying a ton of bottles (at least 30, to be safe) at the store ahead of time.