I thought I had sprained and/or twisted my ankle playing indoor soccer a couple of weeks ago. I broke down and went to the doctor last week because it just didn't feel right. Turns out it is chipped so I am in a walking gel cast for 2-3 weeks.
Now that could totally derail this thread. It's a pain simply because for the most part the weather has been beautiful up here in Minnesota and I haven't been able to go for a run. O.K., just one - I'm gellin', cause I was swellin'.
I have a bummed knee and the doc gave me MethylPREDNISolone. I have been resting it and letting it heal. Good luck.
I've had some pretty bad sprains, and needed a walking cast. Looks gimpy as hell, but it makes a huge difference as far as being able to walk on it. Sounds like you're screwed for a couple of months.
keep it elevated!! ice for 30 mins heat for 30 mins ice for 30 mins heat for 30 mins Do this for a week...if it doesn't get noticably better, then see a doctor immediately.
OK, I can't put ice on it because I have nothing to put ice in, other than a towel, and I'd prefer to not ruin my bed. My friends said they'd bring me some crutches and some ziplocs tonight. I did elevate it last night and today, and the bruising and swelling did go down. I can walk in a stutter step right now, and can slowly walk up steps as long as my right foot does most of the work. Here is one thing to ask for people who have had this: Everytime my foot goes under the covers and a cover catches my foot and turns it, i get a stabbing pain that is almost unbearable. Is this indicative of a bad sprain, or more indicative of something being fractured?
Find a way to shove it in ice, no matter what it takes. Fill a bathtub if you have to, ruin the bed, use garbage bags. Sometimes I use a giant soup kettle. You're just making it worse and extending the pain. Maybe some of our smarter posters can help me out with this -- but the stabbing pain is just par for the course. You twisted tendons and muscles into shapes they're not used to being twisted into, and they're going to be sore, swollen and stretched until they're able to recover. All the air casts in the world aren't going to help unless you get that swelling down and ice the ankle. It's uncomfortable and not easy to do sometimes (not easy to do and be functional, as well, sometimes you have to just call off an entire afternoon, y'know?), but it is very necessary. It could be worse. Last spring I had a ziplock bag taped to my foot, just the usual post-game icedown, and decided to walk with the bag to the loo to take a whiz. Though I was walking on my tip toes, I still slipped on the bag, started to fall, and grabbed the edge of this giant hutch I have that houses all my CDs and records to try and steady myself. Instead of staying up, the whole thing fell down with me, thousands of CDs falling with it, breaking the cases on a couple hundred of them and crushing a few discs (Otis Redding ) completely. THAT was a fun cleanup.
While we're on the ankle and whatnot, and not to get this thread off track, but I think I might finally suck it up and go see a doctor about my knee. I posted about it in a thread called "Torn Miniscus" (too late/lazy to look it up). Anyways, I did some squatting tonight, to clean some things at work, and it's been killing me ever since. I got a little knee massage later, and she said she could feel something like "loose floating around" in there. That seemed to be where the pain was coming from too. I think I might suck it up and go to the doctor. I just gotta gather up the courage. Sorry for the change of topic.
Actually, after I posted that, I got another "twinge" feeling this morning. It was the worst one I've had, and I actually fell on the floor because it hurt so bad. Still, I just don't think there's much wrong with it. I might go the week after next, though. Definitely too many essays to write to go this week.
The weirdest part is that I went to a pool party today, and my foot felt OK. The sad part is that my 22 year old took the girl I was with... Damn Sprained Ankles!
You guys actually use "ice cubes"? You can pretty much go to any dollar store and get a gel pack to freeze. Specfically made for these type of situations. Or you can just you a frozen bag of peas or something.
If it's a walking cast you may be better off in the long run, sprains can take longer to heal if you aren't careful with them. With a cast once it's healed and the cast is off you don't have to worry about it.
I know a girl that stepped off a staircase funny and sprained her ankle. She just tried to let it heal for a while. It got swollen and bruised. After two weeks of that she went to the Doctor. She had some kind of twisting fracture around her ankle. She still has a plate in her ankle where they fixed it.
