The most common injury sustained by the cadets at the United States Military Academy, West Point, is the ankle sprain. Approximately 350 of these injuries are evaluated and treated in our athletic injury program each year. The ankle sprain sustained in "running athletic competition" usually results in less mortice instability, less articular cartilage damage, and less extensive ligament disruption than those sprains following falls from a height, vehicular sports or other sports where body speeds and forces are increased. The objective of early return to competition must be weighed against the possibility of complications. The initially stable sprain with incomplete recovery and subsequent reinjury may develop instability, chronic synovitis, pain and eventually arthritic changes. A planned study of 105 consecutive ankle sprains from athletic activities was carried out to evaluate the relation of severity of injury to the time of total functional recovery. Based on our past experience, we established a functional classification and a standardized treatment program. We did not utilize casts, hyaluronidase, xylocaine or steroids. All of the ankle sprains achieved a specific end point to recovery without being taped before returning to full, unrestricted activity. The disability period ranged from 2 to 31 days. The 6-month follow-up examinations (including roentgenograms and performance testing) revealed no residual functional disabilities in our planned study group.