Survive a Mangled Ankle

I agree with Kerry and Ed, and would like to add that ibuprofen should never be given to someone with a recent joint injury. Ibuprofen is an anticoagulant and can inhibit the formation of clots around an injury site, leading to increased swelling, bruising, and pain, especially in a joint injury.

If readers are looking for a more reliable source of backcountry medical information, I suggest the various textbooks produced by WMI, WMA, and SOLO.

Hey gang. You know this article is clearly intended for an injury that occurs while deep in the woods. Just last year I was coming down Mt. Marcy--the highest peak in the Adirondacks. It was a very cold, snowy and icy early spring day. Upond descending the monolith, I tripped on a very small tree root, and I snapped my right ankle. Of course I had no idea of the extent of the dammage--looking back I'm glad I had no idea. If I were to have removed the boot, I guarantee you I would never have gotten it back on. I clumsily fashioned a walking stick, I hiked for 7 miles with what ended up being a broken bone in my ankle and tibia. Not to mention the tons of ligament dammage that occured as well. I ended up having two surgeries, 8 months of lying on my back and 4 months of intense physical therapy before I could even think about walking right again. The funny thing is I thought it was a bad sprain becuase I could move my foot and I could feel my toes and because I wasn't in the worst pain imagineable. I was so convinced of it because how else could I have hiked for so long with two broken bones in my ankle and leg? Well, the body always strives to survive. If I stopped to rest for too long, or if I tried to analyze what had happened to me, I know that I would have died from the freezing cold first, but my body would have relaxed too much and I don't think I would have been able to move on.

Normally the boot should come off right away, but I believe the idea behind the articles comment is that if you are in a situation where you need to walk, say if you are day hiking somewhere and aren't prepared to stay overnight, or hiking somewhere that you can't set camp. Or any number of reasons where it would be bad to be stuck where you are until swelling goes down

I agree with Kerry. This article is wrong. This is what is should say to some degree:
First, figure out what king of injury is it. A simple sprain or is it serious(broken). If simple sprain, take off boot and apply RICE immediately. Rest Ice Compression Elevation for at least 30 min. Then try to walk on it.
If severe injury, first RICE. Then take a look at your options: your location, your gear, food and water amounts. All of these things will dictate your next action: Sit and wait for help or try to get out with makeshift crutches.
That is my piece of mind.

These instructions seem to have a built-in contradiction. Almost none of the good advice about cooling to reduce swelling and wrapping with an Ace bandage, etc. are possible with the boot still on. The boot should come off early on, followed by the good advice otherwise offered.