Sprained ankle

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clid61

clid61

Veteran
Location
The North
Missed bottom step sunday evening went over , my ankle and outside of foot is swollen and black and blue. been off for 3 days any reccomedations ?
 
hoopdriver

hoopdriver

Guru
Location
East Sussex
Rest, ice, compression, elevation - and ibuprofen.

Read two good books and call me in the morning.
 
Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
I've been spraining my ankles for 35 years, especially the left ankle, which I dislocated in my 20s jumping off a climbing wall and landing on the edge of the cushion. Now that you've done it that ankle will always be weak so take care to be mindful of where you place your feet; sprains always happen when you are not paying attention. My last sprain was last month, walking through a hotel car park in Sudan where they paint the edges of the kerbs with gloss paint and my foot slipped off the edge, spraining the ankle and sending me sprawling in the dust. A week later I was walking along in London and it went over again on flat pavement, much worse. It was swollen, blue and yellow and I actually thought I might have broken it but now, three weeks later, it has almost recovered.

As others have written: Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation. Go and buy a tubular elastic bandage, double it and wrap your lower leg from below the knee to the toes in doubled bandage. After a week it will begin to irritate you so cut it in half and just use one thickness until a week later when you'll want to remove it. You can see an orthotics specialist who can help you to avoid sprains by making up a thin wedge to go under your insole, which will cant your foot bones slightly inwards. This will take a long time on the NHS, cost about £250 privately or £50 if you enquire at your local medical school because the orthotics department is always in need of chronic ankle sprainers (which you are now) on whom their students can practice. If you live in the NW, Salford Uni Medical School offers this service. It's not quick, I may need to wait now until the new academic year but I've been prone to sprains for 35 years so another 6 months doesn't matter.

Buy a circular wobble board and have a couple of sessions a day at home, they really do help.

Above all be mindful of where you place your feet when walking or this will happen again and again because you have now stretched and weakened the ligaments and tendons that hold your very complex ankle together.
 
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confusedcyclist

confusedcyclist

Veteran
Don't ride until the pain has passed, get plenty of rest and curtail exercise involving your ankles. It can take anywhere upto 6 weeks or more for a nasty sprain to fully heal. Not saying you should be off bike the whole time, but be mindful of putting strain on them in next 6 weeks, you only have 2 ankles and can't grow more. If there's swelling, and it doesn't improve markedly over the course of a week, there may be something more sinister lurking.
 
Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
I carry on riding with a sprained ankle and it makes no difference. The damage is to the lateral tendons and ligaments, which control the sideways movement of your foot. When the foot is clamped firmly to a pedal that's irrelevant because all the stress is through your Achilles tendon. However unclipping hurts so you'll need to loosen the pedal spring for a few days.
 
BianchiVirgin

BianchiVirgin

Über Member
Location
Norn Iron
Globalti said:
I've been spraining my ankles for 35 years, especially the left ankle, which I dislocated in my 20s jumping off a climbing wall and landing on the edge of the cushion. Now that you've done it that ankle will always be weak so take care to be mindful of where you place your feet; sprains always happen when you are not paying attention. My last sprain was last month, walking through a hotel car park in Sudan where they paint the edges of the kerbs with gloss paint and my foot slipped off the edge, spraining the ankle and sending me sprawling in the dust. A week later I was walking along in London and it went over again on flat pavement, much worse. It was swollen, blue and yellow and I actually thought I might have broken it but now, three weeks later, it has almost recovered.

As others have written: Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation. Go and buy a tubular elastic bandage, double it and wrap your lower leg from below the knee to the toes in doubled bandage. After a week it will begin to irritate you so cut it in half and just use one thickness until a week later when you'll want to remove it. You can see an orthotics specialist who can help you to avoid sprains by making up a thin wedge to go under your insole, which will cant your foot bones slightly inwards. This will take a long time on the NHS, cost about £250 privately or £50 if you enquire at your local medical school because the orthotics department is always in need of chronic ankle sprainers (which you are now) on whom their students can practice. If you live in the NW, Salford Uni Medical School offers this service. It's not quick, I may need to wait now until the new academic year but I've been prone to sprains for 35 years so another 6 months doesn't matter.

Buy a circular wobble board and have a couple of sessions a day at home, they really do help.

Above all be mindful of where you place your feet when walking or this will happen again and again because you have now stretched and weakened the ligaments and tendons that hold your very complex ankle together.
Click to expand...

Been there, done that but which culminated in May 2015 in a Posterior Maleolus fracture of the right ankle. As mentioned, it was because the whole ankle was weak and susceptible and off a step I went, as per OP. However, the main thing I can do without fear of injury is cycling and have found the articulation and lack of impact to be of benefit. Some physio will help you if you can afford it. The general consensus seems to be if you can walk on it just get moving again.
 
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slowmotion

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
I slipped and twisted my ankle in the third week of January. It hurt like hell and swelled up almost before my eyes. After a sleepless night, I went to A&E. The X ray showed a really clean lateral malleolus fracture. The bones knitted together really quickly after a period in a plaster cast, and then an AirCast rigid boot. The ligaments are still fairly tender however, and I've been told that they may be a problem for some considerable time to come.

As others have said, go and get an X ray. Get well soon.
 
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