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How much would it be worth if there were a majic cure for injuries? If only there was something that could get an athlete up and running just a couple days after a sprain, wouldn’t that be a valuable piece of information?

Well, get your checkbooks ready because I’m going to tell you about a remedy that has worked for generations. And you won’t believe this — you’ve probably got everything you need to achieve this miracle treatment in your kitchen right now.

I was a freshman in high school when I suffered the first of many sprains. My ankle swelled horribly and the pain was pretty severe so I wasn’t sure how I’d play in the next basketball game three days later. I was determined to try, though. When I got home that night I iced and elevated my foot. Then when I went to bed my daddy tore strips from a brown paper bag and soaked them in vinegar.

“What do you think you’re about to do with that?” I wanted to know.

His reply was, “You want to get back on the court, don’t you?”

Simple as that.

So I let him wrap the rancid smelling bandage around my ankle. He slipped a bread bag over my foot and used tape to secure it so that it fit like a boot. I slept with the vinegar compress elevated by a couple of pillows and when we peeled it off the next morning, I was already well on my way to recovery. The ankle once again resembled an ankle and the pain had decreased significantly. On Friday I was back in action.

The following summer, at cheerleading camp, I took a spill during stunt class and actually heard a crunch as I hit the ground. “Uh-oh, this is bad,” I thought as pain seared through my right ankle. When the camp counselors recommended I go to the emergency room, I told them to let me call my daddy first.

“This one is worse that the last time,” I remember telling him over the phone. “It’s nasty-looking and it hurts pretty bad.”

Still, I didn’t want to leave camp and sit in the ER. Only one other option Daddy could think of.

“Can you find some vinegar?” he asked.

It was my Granny Grady’s solution when her son was a young athlete and the antidote worked just as well 20 years later for me and my brothers.

I probably sprained my ankles a dozen times apiece playing sports and was treated every time with nothing more than a few items from my mama’s kitchen cupboard.

Old remedies are passed down from generation to generation especially in the deep south. Some I’ve found to be successful, others not so much. This one, though, I’ll vouch for.

There may be no logical explanation as to why or how it works but it does work.

You can make those checks out to cash, please.

Instructions: Tear 3 to 4 inches wide strips from a brown paper bag. Soak strips in white distilled vinegar and wrap around the ankle in a couple of layers. Cover the entire foot in a plastic bag and seal with tape.