Advice RE: Ankle Sprain

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Yes. Just love the meme and felt I could get away with using it there.

I have an appointment with my family doctor tomorrow @ 7:45 AM. Hopefully he can give me some clarity on how to proceed. I also managed to get a copy of my x-ray on CD and the report for said x-ray for him to look at if he needs.

I think that is the right way to go. I go by the rule that if I think something is not quite right then I need a professional to take a look at it. I think you have given it plenty of time to heal. At worst you get some new advice on how to take care of it.

Who knows. Maybe you will get a boot.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by DrJ

It's definitely not broken. All x-rays are either dictated by a radiologist by the time your ER doc will see it or they have not been seen by a radiologist, yet. If it is the second scenario, it is the job of the ER doc to interpret them. Usually, this is very easily done. Your x-ray would have eventually been looked at by a radiologist and if they found a break, you would have been contacted ASAP. Even if the image was poorly taken, you would have been asked to take another one.

I work in Diagnostic Imaging and work closely with radiologists.

While I know a lot of them are good, they still miss things occasionally. Not only that but occult fractures cannot be detected by x-ray until 10+ days after the trauma. I had my x-ray roughly 2 hours after the trauma.

I realize the X-ray + report may not be helpful for the doctor, I just figured since I have the ability to get it easily since I work at the hospital that I might as well.

[joe_mullen]

Originally Posted by DrJ

It's definitely not broken. All x-rays are either dictated by a radiologist by the time your ER doc will see it or they have not been seen by a radiologist, yet. If it is the second scenario, it is the job of the ER doc to interpret them. Usually, this is very easily done. Your x-ray would have eventually been looked at by a radiologist and if they found a break, you would have been contacted ASAP. Even if the image was poorly taken, you would have been asked to take another one.

not necessarily. increased soft tissue swelling can decrease the sensitivity of the initial x-ray and usually, the advice of the radiologists is to repeat the radiograph in approximately one week if the symptoms have not started to improve. that being said, the sensitivity of the initial x-ray is usually quite high.

[Nehkara]

Diagnosis for my ankle by ultrasound today: anterior talofibular ligament (partial tear) and the calcaneofibular ligament (possible partial tear).

[Locke]

Did it turn black or anything? Thats when you know you've really screwed it up.

As for the brace, wear it for the next little while, but you cant wear it all the time or the ankle becomes dependent on it and never strengthens properly.

I actually had really good success with physio, but then I've rolled, sprained and broken both my ankles so many times I kind of had to take physio.

[Stay Golden]

Rolled my ankle many times playing Football and Soccer.
Tore my ankle really bad playing football 6 years ago. Was on crutches for 4 weeks and electro phisio and physical therapy for 10 months 3 days a week. It still will roll time to time. Once you have the strength and mobility Get your self a balance board and do allot of calf raises on stairs.
It will depend if you rolled it into the inside of your foot or away from your foot what exersices are going to work best. Various resistant band leg lifts wrapped around the bottom of your foot 10 min daily are going to help get your strength back quicker. Best of luck.