foot injury, yikes

[andicar]

so this isn't really a sports injury but its definitely an injury.. I was helping to load something in the back of a truck when I slid off the curb, or something of that nature, and it felt like i bent my ankle and sort of twisted it, but I've done this before and my foot looks very different right now than in the past.. The pain was bad, but now isn't so bad, and I haven't taken any medicine, and I've been icing my foot 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off for the last couple hours, so the swelling has gone down. The only thing I'm concerned about is this bump in my foot. I've never broken a bone in my body but I imagine if I had, it would hurt more than I am hurting right now, but the bump is so huge and prominent, and hard when i touch it, that it freaks me out. I just quit my job to start school in August and so I don't have insurance except for emergency health insurance, and the school I am going to is in another state and I haven't moved just yet... so going to the doctor may be a bit of a problem for me. If anyone has any advice or has seen this before, I would appreciate any suggestions and information. Thank you!

[Heidi]

Hi

You're right that your injury doesn't ssem like an average ankle sprain. Swelling with these tend to be a bit higher up so that the malleolus (bony bit of the ankle) looks less defined. When you say its hard to touch, does it feel like bone, or a solid mass of fluid?

I would go to the hospital for an x-ray. It may be an avulsion fracture of one of the peroneal muscles (where the muscle has pulled a small piece of bone off). If you don't and there is severe damage then without treatment the injury won't heal properly.