Breaking an ankle?

Question

If you have broken your ankle in the past, will it sometimes affect the way you walk in aout 2 or 3 years? will it start to hurt when doing more things ??

Answer 1

It depends on where the fracture was, exactly. Often, if the fracture interrupts the joint surfaces, you could expect further trouble from it, and the joint will probably develop arthritis in it after a number of years.
If the fracture was just above the ankle - i.e. a fracture of your tib/fib, then a lot will depend on how the fracture set - if there was a significant amount of angulation, it will throw strain into the ankle joint and you will feel it.
A common fracture around the ankle is a crack in the 'pointy' bit of bone at the outside of your ankle joint. This is where the ligaments for that side of the ankle arise, and even though the fracture settles well, you may experience some ongoing ligament inflammation, particularly if you're doing something different, or more than usual.
All ankle fractures result in lessened proprioception in the joint - an inherent ability to make adjustments to keep you balanced on uneven ground - and this can throw strain into the ankle. This is helped by doing lots of balance exercises.
Any fracture, no matter how minor, takes a good year to get over, and it's not uncommon to feel the fracture site for years afterwards.
Pain on activity in a simple fracture shouldn't be a feature, though, so I would get it checked by your doctor or physiotherapist.

Answer 2

I agree with everything that RM said but would add 1 thing...if you are lacking any range of motion (which is common after an ankle fracture) then your gait (the way you walk) will be affected. Especially if the loss of motion is into dorsiflexion (pulling your foot up). If your gait is altered then you may experience pain anywhere from your foot all the way up to your low back. If you are having pain anywhere in your lower body go see an orthopedic doctor and make sure the doctor knows you have had a previous ankle fracture.

Answer 3

Well this does depends where the fracture is and how bad the fracture was and also if you required surgery or not.If you had a very nasty fracture and required surgery pins,plates etc this can sometimes later on leave you with problems, metal work getting infected,and sometimes a permant limp,physios do try and help if this does happens but alot off the times they cannot corrrect the limp.In the winter mths also you may notice a aching sensation in that area and some times lead to arthritus especially when your alot older.If your worried pop along and see your gp,he will answer your questions.Just to let you know i had surgery on my lateral side off my ankle about 10 years ago after falling over i required surgery i still get problems now with a aching sensation if i walk on that ankle alot,but gets worse in the winter.

Answer 4

I've fractured my ankle twice. I guess effects depend on what kind of brake and where. But I have not had really negative effects. Sometimes my ankles hurt because they are not as strong. And there is a higher risk for rebreaking it. But it doesn't affect the way I walk I still run and swim and do normal things. So I don't think it really matters.

Answer 5

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?

Answer 6

Depends on where you broke your ankle - lots of little bones in there. Depends on how well the bone healed and if it healed straight. Key thing is to strengthen the surrounding muscles and ligaments - the right way. Anytime you injure a joint (and the ankle is a joint), there is the possibility of degenerative process - i.e, arthritis. We all get it eventually with age in our joints, but when a joint has been injured, it does speed the process a bit. If you're currently experiencing problems with that ankle, you may want to discuss that with your doctor who in turn may order a short period of physical therapy for your ankle.

Answer 7

Yes, the injury can cause arthritis to develop in the joint near the injury. Be sure to discuss this with your physician.

Answer 8

im not sure if i broke my ankle playing basketball yesterday so im getting an x-ray but damn arthrithist i have got to quit ballin

Answer 9

my mum broke her 5th metatarsil, like Wayne Rooney, and its still a bit sore where it broke, this was 18months ago