Ankle injury with distinctive bruising!!

[russell17]

While playing football on the 13th November i injured my ankle. I blocked a shot from another player and because of the shots power it sent me off balance and made me land on the outside of my ankle with a crunching/snapping sound in the process. Due to myself lunging for the block all my weight was into it. my ankle instantly swelled and a bruise appeared on the outside of the ankle. It was just below the ankle joint, measured about 1cm think and about 5cm long, a near perfect rectangle. It stayed parrallel to the base of my foot. i've injured my ankles a number of times in similar situations and have never had this type of bruising. before its only ever been sprained or twisted so rested for a couple of weeks but this injury is yet to get better a month and a half on.

Does anyone know if the bruising indicates a specific type of injury? Or has anyone encountered this type of injury for this amount of time and knows what it might be? or even a solution to get fit as i'm dying to play again. the frustration is the pain continues through my normal day to day life.

[Heidi]

Hi

Did you get the ankle x-rayed? This should always be done when an ankle is sprained as fractures are common.

If not then try to get an x-ray now. If yes and no fracture then it is probably a sprain, but may be more severe than previous injuries. Sometimes a sprain can be more troublesome to treat and recover from than a fracture!

Bruising as you've described is quite common in ankle sprains, and usually the more severe kind, where one or even 2 ligaments have been badly torn or even ruptured.

What stage are you at? What can and can't you do without pain? Is there still swelling? What treatment if any have you had (yourself or professionally)?

[russell17]

as it stands i have actually had no treatment. simply rest. due to previous injuries, i presumed this was the same. Admittedly very naive of me. I am due to visit my doctor tomorrow at which point i presumed they'd send me for an x-ray but surely, more then 6 weeks on, any fracture is not likely to show now?

As for the pain....well it continues through most of the day. standing still there is none but any general movement results in some pain whether it be not much or alot. The swelling has generally gone down but when i do anything on my feet for a long time it tends to swell up slightly.

If there is ligament damage (torn or not) should i expect to be "injured" for much longer? or is it not something where time can be put on it? presumably, if the xray shows no fracture the doctor is likely to say rest further or maybe refer for physio?possibly not identifying the actual injury! unless an MRI is done i guess!

I'd like to thank you for your reply and also how quick it was.

Thanks

[Heidi]

Hi again

If there is a frcture it will only show up if it hasn't healed. Which given the continued pain is a possibility.

If there is no fracture then the continued pain may be due to the lack of treatment i'm afraid. More severe sprains really do need professional treatment to get them back to near normal.

Things such as massage to the ligaments and the muscles will break down scar tissue which can be very troublesome if left alone. It would also help to prevent the muscles tightening up to protect the injured joint whcih can only add to the problem. Ultrasound is great for ankle ligaments too.

stretching and other exercises should also be given to be done every day.

If there is no fracture then hopefully you will get referred for some physio which should sort you out. As for time scales, its very difficult to say because there are so many factors to consider such as extent of injury, wait for physio etc etc.

But I hope this helps and you manage to get somewhere with it. Keep us posted!