Injured ankle...?

Question

A little over two weeks ago while hiking I rolled my ankle (to the outside) and fell off a rock. It swelled up immeditaly with a nice goose egg on the ankle bone and lots of swelling surrounding the area. Being a mile from my car I had to get up and keep going. Three days later I went to the doctor and he said it is sprained. Now most of the swelling is gone except for right behind/below my ankle bone. The pain there is so severe I can hardly touch it. I still have some bruising in that area. Mobility is limited. I have an air cast to wear for another two weeks and that does help with the swelling. My question is does this sound like a sprain or does it possibly sound like I fractured it? I don't know why the doctor didn't xray so I'm on my way to see the orthopedic next week. I'm wondering if I should get someone to drive me incase it is fractured and I need a ride home. Any info would be helpful. Thanks.

Answer 1

in the words of my family doctor..."you would have been better off to break your ankle"

I did the same thing over 10 yrs ago by missing a bottom step off a deck, and still have to wear a small ankle brace when it "acts" up. Took over 3 months of wearing an air cast and walking on crutches for the pain/swelling to finally go away. x-rays showed no sign of a fracture, but seeing how your doctor didn't do that...then you need to get them done

Answer 2

So you are saying that you rolled your ankle towards the outside. Did you hear a "pop". If not then it is a severe sprain and the air cast will help. Maybe the doc should have done an xray but they always treat one thing before going overboard. But yes, an x-ray should have been taken to be safe. Nonetheless, it's in the past. Now if you still have swelling at the back of the ankle bone, that makes it sound like not a fracture but a sprained tendon. Hopefully not torn( and to tell this would be either a CT scan or MRI ). If you have a Podiatrist that specializes in foot and ankle in the area, please see him over an orthopod. They are more informed of the bio-mechanics of the foot. Hope this helps you. Good luck.

Answer 3

Good question: WHY DIDN'T THE DOC X-RAY IT????
Here's another one: Why are you waiting so long to see an ortho? Next week? Do you realize how much damage you can do to your ankle, if it is broke, by next week? Call the doctor back that you origionally went to and tell him YOU WANT an x-ray done. That's what the ortho is going to do anyway once you get there, but why wait until next week? The doctor you went to the 1st time will write it on a script and you will be able to go to outpatient to get it x-rayed. Waiting time is not that long in out patient. Or you may be able to have it x-rayed right at the doc's office. THERE IS NO REASON ON THIS EARTH WHY THAT DOCTOR DID NOT X-RAY YOUR FOOT when you first went to him. You can get him into a lot of trouble. That is poor patient care, no doubt about that. If he doesn't want to comply with your request, go to the er and get it x-rayed there or one of those er clinics. At the clinic you probably won't have to wait so long.
Bottom line is, you need something done right away. Hopping around with an air boot is not helping. It may be making it worse. So please, get an x-ray today or tomorrow.
Hope this helps, and good luck. I hope you feel better.

Answer 4

OK... I'm not completely certain because I cant see it. Firstly, if there was a lot of force of the leg when it rolled outwards, and you are sure that it swelled up inside your shoe IMMEDIATELY, then you have what is called a forced eversion injury. Because it swelled up quickly, it sounds like there is a chance that you may have a hairline fracture.

It is unlikely that you have avulsion fractures or torn ligaments or else you would not have been able to walk AT ALL. The other risk is a the fibula and tibia splitting, which is also unlikely. Nonetheless.. get someone to drive you, its not worth the risk.

Answer 5

It sounds like you fractured it, the reason why is because a friend from church had all most the same problem (but off a jet ski ride 1 or 2 yrs. ago). His foot slipped, so I would say go and get an xray done, get a cast on it, also for the pain take IB Profin.!

Answer 6

I badly sprained my ankle about 3 weeks ago. I was in a hurry going down the stairs, lost my balance and landed on a bad side of my left foot, causing my left ankle to be stretched going on the inside. The first 48 hours were excruciating and the pain was un-believable. I've never had a serious ankle injury before.

So I immediately treated it using the RICE method. The following day, the bruising and swelling were so horrible. I found out that I got a second degree sprain and immediately panicked after that. I had a football game on that week and it been looking forward to it because I've been training for rt. I had teammates that had similar injuries and it took them months to fully recover, some of them stopped playing altogether. So I kinda had a short-term depression because I can't imagine myself not being able to run and play sports anymore.

Because I was so desperate to recover again, I contacted a lot of people that I know who do sports and asked them if they had similar injuries. One friend of mine, from the boy's football team in my university, told me about H.E.M. Ankle Rehab. I got a copy 4 days after I got injured. I immediately read and followed what was instructed and felt improvement on the first day. I was able to walk a bit, but I was in pain.

A couple of days after that, the swelling and bruising were subsid-ing significantly and on the fourth day, I was walking comfortably again. Although I've had felt a bit of stiffness, I continued doing what was instructed. My sister was surprised that I have recovered this fast. I told her about this book and was shocked on how effective the procedures were. I'm just so happy that this book was shared to me and how effective it is.

Heal your ankle fully & fast?