pain

Two months ago i injured my ankle i have so far seen two doctors and a physio at the hospital .i havent done anything for over a month now resting my ankle and icing it,  but the pain seems be the same but i have more movement . I have tried going to the gym and to my local pool to do some lengths but it does seem to hurt my ankle . the pain is mainly around the front near the ankle bone i have also noticed a funny lump on my ankle that feels bruised  . I have informed the physio of this strange lump and she gave it a massage and thought it was rather strange as she first thought i had achilles tendonitis .

Has anyone else ever had this strange injury ? and is it normal to still be in pain after 2 months its really getting to me now  

I had knee pain for 4 months. Id seen my local gp, NHS physio, work physio and they all said the same thing.... stretches prior to running. Problem was not really the stretching but my trainers. I have changed my trainers half way through marathon training to a completely different make to my normal ones. I went to get my gait checked and this was the outcome.

Why not try that? May be something is rubbing on your ankle? added pressure from shoes, running style? Other than that I dont know.

Jo

thanks for your reply i have had my gait checked and was told my trainers are fine but i could do with less support, and was also informed that if it was my  running shoes that i would have it on both ankles im still unsure about that as one leg is more pronating then the other not sure what one though .

I tripped up back in January and managed to grade-2-sprain my ankle (repeat of what happened lst summer so I recognised it straight away). I hobbled off home, iced and rested which seemed to help repair things sooner so RICE does work I think but it still hurts-nowhere near as badly, I do still have some limited mobility (though again noticably improved) and twinges all be it not as badly. Its safe to say though that even when resting appropiatly, wearing support and rehab exercises (isn't youtube great?!) things can take a while to repair, I guess everyone is different when it comes to recovery time. Its coming up for 5 months for me now!

Have you tried asking what the problem is? What have they said to you? Also on recovery time and what they think could be holding things back? If there are no answers maybe ask for a new referral and a second opinion.

 Has it gotten any better at all? Is it that its taking a long time to recover or that its gotten worse or changed?

The pain is a  dull ache around my ankle  and it feels very weak and unstable . i have been good and not ran , but im finding it really hard  as i do enjoy getting out  and miss seeing my friend for a natter

i have asked the physio and she seems to be a bit unsure on what is wrong so i have been carrying on with the RICE treatment and hope it just gets better sooner rather then later as i have a half marathon in july . But i do realise that i might have to reconsider that half and maybe think of another one i can do later in the year

I don't know how you feel about this but if it were me and I had my mind set on a half M, I'd want a good reason as to why I was unable to do so, I'd be asking my physio for answers and if she was unable to answer them then to speak to someone who can if only to know what else I could be doing to aid my own recovery, if there were mobility exercises I could do ir if elevation was best, if massage after a warm foot soak would help or if any weight bearing exercise (including but not soley) walking included....I'd want more answers, I'd either want a diagnosis or a time guideline as to when it was going to feel better and when I'd notice improvement.

You don't mention if it was NHS or private (unless I've not read properly!) but especially if its paying over the odds for private help, I'd want to know my money was well spent. Even if its a small group there should be a superior who will be able to asses and give his/her opinion, if your worried about causing offence don't be, your questions would just reflect your current position of being told to wait "that long" (how long is a piece of string...) just phrase it well and you wont get anyones backs up but equally if your frustrated and do feel OK saying so please do, its all feedback and physios learn from that. Whenever I've been injured in the past a timescale to recovery has always been given sometimes when the physio hasn't even really worked out whats wrong!

Its NHS physio i cant afford private i went to a prvate clinic and they said i would have to go for 2 sessions a week and it would cost £70 a week. I'm not being funny but i can think of better things to spend that kind of money on. The clinic also mentioned that i would have to see another person as well and that would cost a further £35 on top of the £70 !!! so ive had to opt for the free and cheap route and take any advice given by people on here and from the hospital

The phsyio has also said that although my ankle could be better by july i wouldnt be fit enough for the half marathon , as much as i would love to do the half i dont want to injure myself further so im being extra careful 

Wow, £70 a week is alot- I was referred by my doctor to see a private physio, only had 4 sessions and could have done with more then double that as it was a very painful and enduring problem, but 4 taught me to listen hard and to do exactly as suggested to, I did improve even in these 4 sessions. But I am in London, we are about as pricey as it gets here, a session for me would have been £45 so there are cheaper options out there. Also try training schools and colleges who can see people low cost.

You can still get a second opinion even if its NHS, there is always more then one other person within a physio service in the NHS and if you want a second opinion either ask the physio or speak to your doctor about another referral- that is assuming you want to know exactly whats going on and what you have to do or not do in order to speed things up, it just would worry me if I were seeing someone for treatment and they did not know what the problem was after so many sessions. Its your call anyway!

I would ask though about the half marathon, if your being told things wont be fixed for another few months I do find it confusing to hear that running would be OK, running longer distances seems to be one of the most hardcore things you can do (second to rugby and plyometrics!) when it comes to inpact injuries. Go easy and make sure your upfront with the physio and let them know what your aims are if your intending on running, last thing you want is to increse your sentence!

I also did my ankle in and spoke to a doctor mate who basically said that you get three different types of ankle injuries:

First - heels in 2 - 4 weeks.  It's just a strain on the ankle from being pushed off in the wrong direction

Second - heels in up to 6 weeks. It's also basically muscular and is a grade up on the first one.  A bit worse, strain on the ligaments is a bit more.  Pain is a bit more intense.

Third - is different because instead of just spraining the ligaments, you actually tear them.  This takes a LONG time to heel. And the more you play around on it and stop it from heeling, the weaker the ankle heels.  This means that while you will already have a large amount of weakness in the ankle from now on, if you don't let it heel, it may never heel properly and you will have weakness in that ankle beyond.

How do you know you have torn your ligaments instead of just spraining it?  It takes AGES to heal.  In a nutshell

Buy a wobble board, do some movement exercises and do small ankle strengthening exercises BEFORE going for a run.  Right now, it's about helping your ankle to heel stronger, instead of leaving it or running on it and weakening it.

A weak ankle results in more sprains that just get worse and worse

The srains/tears you mention PloggingOn are referred to as grade 1, grade 2 or grade 3 when it comes to medical descriptions (I only know this as I had an ankle sprain, it swelled up quite badly and hurt like hell. It happened on a friday (don't they all?!) and I knew I wasn't about to die but that I couldn't wait until monday for a doctor appointment. I had to do my own research and found all this on the physioroom and sportsinjury websites. Wiki was also quite good. But if your googling or reading for help look for the grade 1,2 or 3 (bad, badder and very very bad respectivly!) for more information.

Agree though about the weak ankle thing, I used to wear platforms all the time as a teenager and was forever flipping over in them but didn't do anything more then feel brused for the day. I tripped over a glass bottle left on some stairs last summer, instantly swelled, grade 2. Took 6-8 weeks to be OK enough to take inpact and a further 5 months for the swelling to go down...just intime for me to do the whole thing all over again in jan/february of this year! Swelling has subsided enough now to look normal though still noticable if you compare side by side, still hurts at times and will probably take another month to be totally gone. It totally changes now my outlook on footware: no more flipflops or wedges for me!

Ive had and xray done already and i have no fracture . But i havent had a scan  yet might ask on monday see what the physio says about a one.