Sprained ankles are common. They happen when a person loses his or her balance and quickly twists the ankle. There is pain, but it fades quickly. The ankle soon returns to normal. A more serious sprain can stretch or tear one or more of the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. Without proper treatment, the ankle can remain weak and prone to future sprains.
Symptoms of a Sprained Ankle
Swelling
Pain when weight is put on the ankle.
A popping sound if the ligaments are stretched or torn
Causes and Risk Factors for a Sprained Ankle
You're most likely to sprain your ankle when you have your toes on the ground and heel up. This puts your ankle's ligaments under tension. A sudden force like landing on an uneven surface may turn your ankle inward (inversion). When this happens, one or more of your ligaments may be hurt.
Diagnosing a Sprained Ankle
Your doctor will examine your ankle and may order an X-ray to make sure no bones are broken. He or she will ask how you sprained your ankle. Your sprain will be described as Grade I, II or III, depending on how many ligaments were hurt.
Treating a Sprained Ankle
Proper treatment of a sprained ankle can prevent ongoing pain and instability of the joint.
A Grade I sprain is treated with rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E.) as follows:
Rest your ankle by not walking on it
Ice it to keep the swelling down
Compression bandages to keep the ankle from moving and to support it
Elevate your ankle above your heart level for 48 hours
The swelling usually goes down within a few days.
A Grade II sprain is treated with the R.I.C.E. guidelines and more time for healing. Your doctor may put a splint your sprained ankle to keep it from moving while it heals.
A Grade III sprain puts you at risk for permanent weakness in your ankle joints. A severe ankle sprain may need a short leg cast for two to three weeks or a cast-brace. People who sprain their ankle repeatedly may need surgery to tighten their ligaments. Surgery, however, is rarely needed otherwise to repair a sprained ankle.
Physical therapy helps completely heal the sprain and avoid re-injury. This includes early weight bearing, flexibility, range of motion and strengthening. The last phase is activity and exercises routines to strengthen the muscles and ligaments.
Ankle Fracture Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of ankle injuries and fractures tend to be obvious.
Pain is the most common complaint.
Often the pain will not come from the exact area of the fracture.
You may experience associated fractures of your foot (especially on the side of the small toe) or knee that also cause pain.
It is usually pain in the ankle that stops you from walking.
Swelling frequently occurs around the ankle too.
Swelling suggests either soft tissue damage with possible blood around the joint or fluid within the joint itself, most likely blood.
When blood is in the joint, it is called hemarthrosis.
You may see bruising ("black and blue") about the joint, although not immediately. This bruising can track down toward the sole of your foot or toward the toes.
In severe fractures you may see obvious deformities of bones around the ankle.
Your skin may be stretched over an underlying broken bone.
You may see actual exposed bone.
If you injure nerves or blood vessels that supply your foot, you may experience even more pain along with pale skin in the foot, numbness, or inability to move your foot or toes.
Broken Ankle
What is a broken ankle?
A broken ankle is a break in one or both of the bones that make up the ankle joint. These bones are the tibia and the fibula.
How does it occur?
Ankle breaks, or fractures, can occur in many ways: for example, by falls, contact sports and exercise injuries, and force from a blow.
There are many types of fractures, which determine the severity of the injury and its treatment:
nondisplaced fracture: the broken pieces of bone remain properly aligned
displaced fracture: the broken pieces of bone are not properly aligned
comminuted fracture: there are more than two pieces of bone at the fracture.
compound (open) fracture: one end of the broken bone has broken through the skin.
closed fracture: neither end of the broken bone has pierced the skin.
impacted fracture: the ends of the broken bone are driven into each other.
avulsion fracture: the muscle or ligament has pulled a portion of the bone away from where it was originally attached.
pathological fracture: the bone has been weakened or destroyed by disease (such as osteoporosis) so that the bone breaks easily.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of an ankle fracture include:
a snapping or popping sound at the time of the injury
loss of function (hurts to move the ankle)
pain
tenderness
swelling
deformity (sometimes)
discolored skin, or bruising, which appears hours to days after the injury.
Rarely, you may have an open wound with an ankle fracture.
2007-01-08 09:54:15
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answer #1
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answered by Strawberry 2
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Sprained Ankle Vs Broken Ankle
2016-12-14 04:06:13
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answer #2
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answered by ? 4
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You need to get to the Dr. asap for an xray. that is the only way to know for sure. He will give you a walking boot for a sprain or a cast for a fracture. Get some ice on it right away and keep elevated. It could be a stress fracture but if you keep up how you are that can easily turn into a break then you will be in more trouble and take a lot longer to heal. If you want to get back in the game do something now. Good luck
2007-01-08 09:51:26
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answer #3
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answered by blue2blnde 4
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For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axYC1
A group of physical therapists in Ottowa developed a very accurate set of predictors called the Ottowa Ankle rules, to determine if an injured ankle is worthy of an X ray: if you have any of the following, you should get an X ray: (see the link for pictures) 1) pain while palpating (firmly touching) the bony part of your inside ankle (medial malleoulus) 2) pain while palpating the bony part of your Outside ankle (lateral malleoulus) 3) pain while palpating the bony part of your foot that sticks out to the side the farthest, about halway between your pinky toe and heel (head of 5th metatarsal) 4) pain while palpating the bony part of your foot that sticks in to the middle of your body the farthest, about halway between your big toe and heel (navicular bone) 5) if you cannot walk more than 4 steps. Unrelated to the Ottowa ankle rules, you can test to check for a "high ankle sprain" by having a friend press on the middle of your lower leg (to push the tibia + fibula bones together) and hold it for 5+ seconds. if this causes pain DOWN BY YOUR ANKLE, not just under where they press, it is likely that you have a high ankle sprain. After reading your situation, it sounds like you may have re-sprained your ankle, which can obviously really hurt and greatly complicate the healing process. get a highly supportive brace and wear it until the ankle stops hurting during every day movements. Then, work work work to get it stronger so this stops happening! Of course, check with a MD, DO, or preferably PT if you want confirmation or need more help.
2016-04-08 15:53:34
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answer #4
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answered by ? 4
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Well, the fact that you can kinda still put weight on it without collapsing in pain tells me one of 2 things:
1) You have an incredibly high pain threshold.
2) It's just badly sprained.
Like everyone here has said, you should definitely go see a DR and get it checked out. Stop walking on it or anything. Have someone go buy you a crutch so you can stop using that leg altogether. If it is just a sprain, it's not gonna get better with constant use. :-) Ice it down if you get a chance. Hope you feel better soon!
2007-01-08 09:49:32
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answer #5
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answered by Paulyterp 2
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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?
2016-05-17 12:41:59
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answer #6
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answered by ? 4
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keep it elevated, bandaged, and have ice on it
it is also very important that you see a doctor
its probally sprained if you can walk on it because it it was fractured or broken it would be VERY VERY painful to walk on without a cast or crutches
and plus you said that you played the rest of the game...if it was broken you would be rushed to a hospital for an x-ray
2007-01-08 09:57:10
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answer #7
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answered by .BiteMe 5
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Get it xrayed, and stop walking on it!
RICE
Rest
Ice (10 minutes on, 10 minutes off for the next two days)
Compression (bandage)
Elevation (keep it up)
and do no HARM for the next 72 hours.
no Heat (no heat packs or hot baths)
no Alcohol
no Running
no Massage
2007-01-08 09:47:44
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answer #8
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answered by Seraphim 6
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x-ray is the only way and if you broke your ankle it is usually blue or purple and you can't move it but if you have a sprain there are three different degrees but if you have a thrid degree sprain you need surgery you should go to the hospital as soon as posible
2007-01-08 09:52:33
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answer #9
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answered by Nicole 2
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2
2017-03-02 01:40:37
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answer #10
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answered by ? 3
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