Full thickness ATFL tear

[thebot77]

I'm wondering if anyone can help with something that I just cannot get fixed?

* About 6 months ago I had a very bad running accident where I went over my left ankle. There was instant swelling - so much so that my shoe laces instantly tightened and shoe became distorted.
* Got it checked out and no break
* 2 weeks later it looked like I was wearing a black wellie boot and could hardly weight bear
* Got an MRI and it confirmed (1) cartilage injury (2) full thikcness tear of the ATFL (3) partial tears of both the deltoid and calcaneofib ligaments and (4) partial tear of the peroneus longus tendon.

So the surgeon said that I was to go to physio for 3 months and that should work - it hasn't.

I'm in pain almost every day and have run only 1km in 6 months (with a limp and at about walking pace). I have been doing my physio exercises but the issue is on the injured ankle my movement is approx 50% of normal. The physio is lost at what the issue is and there is no week on week improvement.

The joint is still swollen (albeit slightly) and I really struggle to get any range of movement out of it. It hurts just having the duvet on top of it when I sleep.

Any thoughts - this is killing me!!

[Heidi]

What kind of treatment have you received....therapeutic treatment and exercises etc?

It is obviously a pretty severe injury and will take time to heal. However you should be seeing some improvement. If you are concerned then I would recommend you push for another scan and possibly a second opinion from another physio.

Is your movement limited by pain or will it just not go further no matter how hard it is pushed?

[thebot77]

Well I've had an MRI for diagnosis, then 3 months of physio but this was limited as the movement did not allow any progression of movement. I was told to not go into pain so could do very limited exercises 3 times a day. Each session had ultra sound - the physio is and was totally stumped.

Movement is largely limited but not by pain - which is the odd thing. I also has an internal joint injection which helped the pain but not the movement at all.