Peroneal tendon? Am I being a big baby?

[kis95]

A week-and-a-half ago, I went to a walk-in clinic after experiencing a painful, swollen ankle. To be specific, the outside, right ankle bone was swollen, and my ankle was making a very audible 'crunching' and snapping sound. Interestingly, the pain wasn't remarkable, other than when I bent my foot sideways. After four days of this, ibuprofen, and as much RICE as I could manage, I went to the walk-in. The Dr basically shrugged, jostled my foot around some, and asked me if I "want(ed) and x-ray". I had the x-ray, another Dr said "it's not broken" (duh), and they sent me on my way, swollen, crunching ankle and all. The Dr came to the genius conclusion that "sometimes tendons swell...". Great. What I would like to know is, for how long are they supposed to stay swollen? I should mention also that I did nothing to my ankle to cause this. I did have a similar experience about eight years ago, during a time when I was running a lot at a gym. My ankle swelled and I was told it was sprained. It healed on it's own, but I've always had a bit of a weak feel to it. Yesterday, I felt like my ankle might be on the road to recovery; it was still swollen (again, the outside ankle bone) but the pain wasn't much and the audible noise had stopped. Today, I stepped out of the car and landed in the snow on a funny angle. Now my ankle is popping and crunching again, and it's more painful than it originally was. It doesn't hurt if I keep it still, or in one position, but then it'll turn over again, or I'll bend it the wrong way, and it feels like someone is ripping the tendon right off something it shouldn't be.

I don't know. From the University of Google, I've come to the conclusion that it's my peroneal tendon that's being difficult. I refuse to go back to a walk-in, and I'm wondering if a sports injury clinic would be the place to go? Obviously I didn't hurt it doing anything at all, nevermind anything athletic, but the GPs at the walk-in have offered nothing in the way of advice/help/general pleasantries/etc.

[Heidi]

Hi
It is very possible the peroneal tendon(s) that are causing your problem.
A sports injury clinic si most definately the place to go! They will be far more useful that a Doctor as they are trained specifically for this type of injury so will more acurately be able to diagnose it and treat it accordingly.
As for how long it will last - that's an impossible question. It depends on the extent of the injury, what treatment it recieves and how the rehabilitation etc goes.