“This is a narrative of the case of a vigorous, healthy, young triathlon athlete, who was running as per his usual custom on December 12, 2001, when he suffered a lateral inversion sprain of the right lateral ankle. He was seen at the ambulatory care center of Kaiser Hospital on Kiely Boulevard, Santa Clara, the following day, where an x-ray was taken and a second degree sprain documented. The x-rays were negative for fracture. He was given a walking boot brace and told to wear it for six weeks.”
“He was seen in my office on December 17, as he had learned of the FASTT Patch, and hoped this would help him to an early cure. On examination of the right lateral ankle it was ecchymotic and swollen both above and below the right lateral malleolus. The FASTT Patch was applied. The patient was given extra patches to continue application of new patches on alternate days.”
“He returned to the office on December 21, 2001, and reported that he had been able to resume his exercise and, in fact, earlier today had bicycled for 45 minutes without any pain. He has noticed that the swelling has gone away and the pain has virtually cleared. He is no longer using a boot brace. He reports there is some residual swelling in the supralateral malleolar area; however, this is not where the medicine patch had been applied. On examination the area of application no longer has any swelling, and there was no laxity of effusion of the ankle joint noticed. There is a slight residual ecchymosis covering most of the lateral foot. The bony prominences were nontender. He is walking without a limp. He states that he has been active throughout the week in his usual way, with his usual work, and has not spent time with the foot elevated.”
“Impression:
My impression was that this was a severe sprain with soft-tissue injury, partial tear of the lateral collateral ligaments, and a joint effusion. I was extremely impressed by the rapidity of clearing and return of function that occurred in just four days under the FASTT Patch treatment.”
Second Case Study