I did something to my ankle....

[MsTryska]

so I was walking around in my platforms wedges yesterday and I stepped on a pebble and twisted my ankle. no big deal except last night (about 4 hours later) it started hurting like a sonofabitch. i couldn't move it without sickening pain, and i had a tough time falling asleep. i couldn't put any weight on it. So i rubbed some tiget balm into it and finally found a position to put it in so i could sleep last night (on a pillow, heel facing up and extended).


Sometime in the middle of the nigth i was able to wiggle my toes and move it around without sickening pain. I can put weight on it this morning altho it's still somewhat painful and as long as i don't twist it around i'm good.

Here's the funny thing - no bruising - no swelling.

is it a sprain? I don't even know what a sprain is.

[Solon]

1. Sounds like a classic case of a sprained ankle...

You could go to the doctor, and get it looked at, but more likely what you really need is a foot brace to prevent the ankle from twisting around. It seems to be healing fine on its own, and, from the symptoms, it doesn't sound like anything is broken, so you could do that, but if it doesn't improve any further for the next couple of days, have it looked at by a doctor, and xrayed at the very least, just to eliminated possibilities such as having a broken bone.

[MsTryska]

4. thanks!

yeah i really don't liek wasting my co-pays on minor stuff, but if it doesn't get better I will definitely go to the doctor.

[backscatter712]

2. Probably a sprained ankle.

What a sprain is is an injury to the ligaments, typically three ligaments that link your fibula (the smaller lower-leg bone) to your ankle bone (talus) and your heel bone (calcaneus). You twist your ankle, it stretches those ligaments really hard, and they get all inflamed and painful. The really major sprains actually tear those ligaments. Typically, if that happened, you'd know about it - you still wouldn't be able to put weight on that foot.

Sometimes, you get a huge amount of swelling, but not always.

I'm assuming you still have full range of motion in your ankle - you can move your foot around about as much as you used to, and the joint isn't moving in completely wrong ways.

So it's probably a minor sprain.

RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. And lots of anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen. Get it looked at by a doctor to rule out something more serious like a fracture, but assuming that it's a garden-variety sprained ankle, you'll be told to RICE it.

I do feel your pain. I have a residual club foot that turns inward, and makes it really prone to sprains. This summer, not only did I sprain it, but I also injured the peroneal tendon, so I was on crutches for a month, and I'm still wearing one of those big black cast boots, because the doctor wants to keep stress off that tendon.

[MsTryska]

3. Thanks for the info!

I'll have to ask my roommmate if she has an ace bandage to wrap it with. I do have full motion so that's a good thing.

I feel your pain (no pun intended) on the big black boot thing - my roommate had one of those when she fractured her foot last year.

[NJmaverick]

5. There is no way to tell by posting on the internet

if it's just a sprain (the stretching of the ligaments) or if there is anything else involved. The safest suggestion is to contact your doctor and talk to him or her. They will advise you on the best course of action.

[RebelOne]

6. You are lucky it is only a sprain.

I broke my ankle while wearing platform wedgies. I tripped on a step and my ankle went to one side and broke. I threw those shoes away.

[MsTryska]

7. Gurl! That's how i feel about the 6 inch platform stiletto stripper shoes

a friend bought me (for a halloween outfit). I tried to wear them a couple of times, and every time I'd twist my ankle. finally the strap broke on them, and I haven't gotten it fixed yet, primarily because it's a great excuse for not wearing them. And it's the same foot I'm prone to twisting and just sprained. I wonder if that speaks to a weakness in that ankle anyway. or it's weakened from all the ankle twisting i do in dangerous shoes.

[backscatter712]

8. Ankles do weaken after sprains.

If abused too much, the ligaments will stretch out, putting laxity in the joint, and when the ligaments heal, they don't heal with well-aligned cords of collagen, they heal with discombobulated blobs of collagen scar tissue, which is much weaker, making you more prone to sprains in the future.

This is why I tend to wear hiking boots these days (in case a mountain springs up in my living room...)

[MsTryska]

10. Hmm..might be time to switch back to combat boots.

they go with everything!

[MsTryska]

11. Hmm..might be time to switch back to combat boots.

they go with everything!

[NJCher]

9. oh yeah and

don't be surprised if you have a big fat ankle for a long time, like years, after that.

After I sprained mine, I had a swelling that lasted for years. And I was even wearing sneakers when I sprained mine.



Cher

[MsTryska]

12. yeah the funny thing is i have no swelling.

at all. it's gotten a bit better today. still painful, but i can put more weight on it.

[backscatter712]

13. Sometimes it swells, sometimes it doesn't.

My foot hardly swells at all when I screw it up. Sometimes bruises, definitely gets painful, and the doctors can tell it's repeatedly sprained - they do their motion tests on the joint and find a lot of play in it, but it doesn't swell.