Sprained Ankle -- Not healing right?

Question

Sprained my ankle 1 month ago. It was a bad sprain with bruising and a lot of swelling. The pain has subsided for the most part. However, the pain initially was on the outer side of my ankle and now the pain is radiating up the inner side of the ankle. I had an xray done by an orthopedist and it showed nothing. Should I ask for an MRI? There is still some light swelling. It is so frustrating waiting for this to heal and now I'm getting nervous something is wrong with it or it didn't heal properly.

Answer 1

Are you in physical therapy right now? If not that would be the first step in properly treating the ankle to help recover from the current sprain and help prevent future injury. As far as the symptoms on the inner portion of your ankle, it is unlikely that there is a fracture there now, b/c you probably would have had pain from the start in that location with a fracture. More than likely you have tendinitis in the tendon of your posterior tibialis muscle. You probably altered your gait (the way you walk) b/c of the sprain and placed stress on areas not used to the increased stress and irritated it. Try this...freeze a half full cup of water in a paper cup then peel down half the cup to expose some of the ice and rub the ice on the area that hurts until numb, usually 3-5 mins. Do this a couple times a day for several days.

Answer 2

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 3

Steph,

It is hard to say for sure what is still causing your swelling. Bad ankle sprains can take up to 3-6 months to heal completely. I would recommend that you see a podiatrist, they are specialists for the ankle and foot. An MRI might be helpful, but even then the MRI's miss things.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

sometimes they take a long time to heal. You didn't say what treatment you had, was it splinted or wrapped? do you use Ice? keep it elevated and stay off it. A second opinion never hurts, especially so if you aren't happy with your doc. See an orthopaedic or sports injury specialst for proper treatment and good luck

Answer 5

Let me tell you this.... my son fractured his leg when he was two. We took him to the emergency and they x-rayed said he was fine. But, it still bothered him when he walked and it was swollen, so we took him again... again they said... no fracture. But, my little guy would cry every time he walked, this was for two weeks. Finally I took him to the third doctor and he seen a small hairline fracture and cast my boy for 6 weeks. So.. don't listen to the first doctor. Hairline fractures, or small breaks are very hard to see, even for the professionals. If it persist... I would demand another x-ray.