The first 72 hours is about reducing swelling. So that's why the RICE method is recommended. Plus advil doesn't hurt either if you have good kidneys. Avoid booze, avoid heat, and most of all, avoid walking on it at all costs. As everyone has said, ice ice baby. That's number one. After 72 hours, you should have a guage - it's really hard to understand how much damage their is until the swelling goes down enough. But if it's still really really swollen after 72 hours, not a good sign. If it still hurts really bad, you need to go get crutches. If you can, you may want to get an MRI to get the full extent of the damage (but they will make you get an x-ray first). But I'd just get the crutches and give those a week or so. After that you'll KNOW how bad it is. Assuming you haven't grossley injured it or torn something too severely...and you really take care of it, stay off of it and so on, in a few weeks you should start PT with gentle excercises. With any luck you could be back to basic running in 6 weeks and balling in 8 weeks. But these injuries if you don't take care of it will take 6 months. It may never "fully" heal, and once you do play, you should wear ankle braces and high-tops since you have a tendency to sprain your ankle.
Since you specifically asked for my opinion in the original post, I'll add my 2 cents... I say have a doctor look at it. It took me 6 months to get back on a basketball court and play anywhere near full speed. Even now (nearly 9 months later) it's not 100% right, and I'm convinced it never will be. I had plenty of sprains through the years, and some that I thought were just as bad...but this turned out to be a different animal altogether. If I could go back in time, I would go to the doctor first chance I got. You just never really know what kind of damage you've got in there.
Done deal i will see a doctor... this sucks man!! i been playing four times a week now i have to stay off it... im gonna gain weight and everything!! i guess more time for studying huh?
GO TO THE DOCTOR! YES, YOU CAN WALK ON IT IF YOU BROKE IT! I did this about 3 years ago playing soccer. I made a cut, the ground was a little wet, and some d-bag with a bullet (balding mullet) clipped my shin all at the same time. My ankle rolled and popped. I didn't think it was broken either until I went to the doctor 2 days later. I had broken off the bottom half of the ball at the bottom of the fibula. I was in a boot for 6 weeks and not back playing normally for about 6 months. Go to the doctor. Most importantly, have someone drive you. My dumbass who didn't think it was broken thought it would be ok to drive myself. That s*** hurt.
Exactly. I made a post on this a couple years ago. Exact same thing. Twisted my ankle. Walked around on it for two weeks. Finally went to get it X-rayed. And it was a broken fibula. Bruising was similar, as well. You broke your leg there, pal.
Ive sprained mine worse than that. I didnt go to the doctor. First 2 weeks I was crawling around the house. Took me like 3-4 months to get back to full strength.
If you can swing a doctor's visit, it wouldn't hurt to make sure it's not broken. I sprained the hell out of my ankle over the summer, and it was more swollen than your picture. I had to wrap it up and was on crutches for a few weeks. Then it's about strengthening it up. I traced out the letters of the alphabet slowly to build it up and then used a resistance band later on. You've got to be careful when it does heal that you don't resprain the weakened ankle.
Aetna is great. I've had three MRIs, a few xrays, and ultimately microfracture on my right knee in the last year and they covered everything, no questions asked.
I had a similar (though not as bad) incident with my right ankle in December 2007. I went to two doctors. The first recommended surgery, indicating I had a torn ligament. I said, "whoa there buddy....once you go surgery, you're not going back." So I went to a second doctor, and he just recommended the boot, and PT. So, I guess I'm saying doctors can be hit or miss. Sounds like you've got a lot of good advice in this thread already. I'd follow IROC's advice, go to a doctor if after 72+ hours it isn't getting any better. Echoing other statements, my ankle is not and never will be what it once was. But it's a lot better than my left knee!!
That's a nice twist. I've had a couple of injuries like that one, my advice is wait a couple of days and see if it gets better. I was able to walk on mine usually in about 3-5 days. Keep it elevated and apply ice.
Did this happen at the LA Fitness in League City? Some guy twisted his ankle pretty badly that same day and had to be helped out. Anyways..... RICE R - Rest I - Ice C - Compression E - Elevation
same thing happened to me..thought i just rolled it and went on trying to play and walk it off.. finally the next day when it looked like your ankle i went to the doctor got an xray and found out there was a hairline fracture. go to the doctor.
