Help! Ankle injury

[Flopsy]

Went over on my ankle at Rombalds yesterday whilst stepping downhill over a big rock. Heard or felt (I can't be sure) a crack. Hurt like hell and I went down in pain. Hobbled quatre mile to next checkpoint and was going to quit but it was only 10k to finish on pavements and flat paths so decided to try as I'm a bit stubborn like that. Made it. Ok as long as kept foot flat. I guess those enordorphines or whatever they are helped with that.

Once stopped and shoe off that's when it started to hurt, which got worse over rest of day. Rested for remainder of day. No swelling or anything so figured ok.

Kept me up all night in pain, which travels up the front of my leg when I put my leg up. The aching in my ankle is constant. Today it has swollen locally. Can put weight on it but can't do a walking motion. Twisting foot even fractionally inwards causes excrutiating pain, so does resting my heel on a surface (ie, I can't put my foot up on the coffee table).

Don't undertsand how I could run 7 miles after the injury yesterday but can't hardly walk today and it seems to be getting worse not better.

So my point is, is it worth going to A&E or not? Even if I've done a ligament or a fracture (I read somewhere that some fractures there can be load bearing) is it worth even finding out if they'll just tell me to rest anyway? Don't want to go to A&E unless I have to really.

Advice appreciated.

[Rob Furness]

Go down to otley minor injuries and they'll x ray it for you, don't bother listening to the advice given if it's a sprain because it's not usually very accurate but at least you'll know it's not broken. I've continued running on grade 2 sprains before now so it's entirely possible to do so. My mother also broke her ankle in two places and yet continued hostess/waitress duties in the pub they owned till the end of the night (in between bouts of icing with frozen peas) and didn't go to A&E till the morning. You'd be surprised how badly you can crock yourself and still carry on.

I would think you've probably torn some ligaments and it wouldn't do any harm to dunk your foot in a bucket of cold water a few times today and rest up. Compression bandages work very well for me but some docs advise against them for sprains

[Flopsy]

Thanks Rob. But I'm not in Otley I'm in Harrogate. Rang A&E and they said a 3hr wait and expected to get worse over the day. Dont fancy that!

That was my concern that from what I read up in my sports inury book that fractures don't necessarily mean you can't load bear. Mind it also seems to suggest that minor fractures wouldn't be put in cast either, just treated like a torn ligament or sprain. So is it even worth knowing??

Not sure how much damage I did by continuing to run on it. God I'm stubborn!!!!

I'm doing RICE but it's not helping really. Still undecided. If I do go it won't be until tonight or first thing tomorrow now, when it's quieter.

That's two injuries in 2 weeks now. Maybe I should take up knitting!!!

[Rob Furness]

3 Hour delay - That's why I go to Otley (or wharfedale I suppose), usually get seen within 10 mins there so it's worth a drive out. City centre A&E is always a pain in the arse

[IanDarkpeak]

Torn ligaments often come with a snapping sound. I would say that what you have it is weight bareing however best to get it xrayed to be sure. Running 10 k flat or otherwise was daft sorry! you need to RICE it asap for a quicker recovery.

Do you have blood pooling in your foot(foot looks dirty blue around edge) basicaly bruising but away from the injury. sure sign of a bad injury

Good luck for a speedy recovery

[Rob Furness]

Running 10 k flat or otherwise was daft sorry!

Debatable, but in the middle of a race I would've done the same. If it's just a sprain I doubt it would do much harm

[Alexandra]

But I'm not in Otley I'm in Harrogate. is it even worth knowing??

I strongly reccomend you consult Andy Carswell of GET PHYSIO at the Harrogate Squash & Fitness Centre. He may be able to tell whether you have broken something. In any case, tendon and ligament damage can take longer to heal than bones. He is extremely good at diagnosing WHY we keep injuring ourselves, and prescribing how to avoid this in future. He was recommended to me on this site by another female runner.

[Alexandra]

Went over on my ankle at Rombalds yesterday whilst stepping downhill over a big rock. Heard or felt (I can't be sure) a crack.

Don't undertsand how I could run 7 miles after the injury yesterday but can't hardly walk today and it seems to be getting worse not better

When I sprained my ankle I heard a crack, and it was just a sprain. Caused me endless trouble (well, 2 years) probably because I didn't take it seriously, though. I think the reason injuries often hurt more some time after the event is that inflammation is building up and pressing on nerves. The point of RICE is to try and halt or reverse that swelling. Never very successful, in my experience.

[IanDarkpeak]

Debatable, but in the middle of a race I would've done the same. If it's just a sprain I doubt it would do much harm

Is it a sprain Possibly? I certainly don't know do you? any injury if dealt with asap will recover quicker. Continuing on will promoting more damage, bleeding, swelling. even minor injuries. The first hour is the most important. It's just not worthy the risk..... Rememeber the the first part of RICE. you should also protect from HARM A being Activity.

I can see what your saying though I tried to continue on my BG with a torn quad. needless to say it ended shortly afterwards with a desperate descent off Yewbarrow hoping backwards to find all the support vehicals had moved on....

It's just not worth it....

[Rob Furness]

My tendency is to always go with my gut feeling. If I feel I can run on it without serious pain, then I will carry on. If it feels "wrong" then I stop. I think it's usually obvious when you have done something serious and it's not worth continuing.

I did my ankle a while ago and re-sprained it less than 1min into a run a few weeks later. It cracked and felt wrong immediately, I tried walking on it and that was hard, running on it was impossible so I had to stop. However a different time I sprained it in the moors and it went with a hell of a snap, I stopped for a minute or so to curse then walked for a hundred yards or so before continuing and managed a perfectly fine descent off the moor and a jog back to the car no bother. Both the injuries were very similar, but involving slightly different ligaments and thus had a different outcome. The one I ran on recovered just as quickly as the other.

I'm not suggesting that injury should be ignored, but that being able to weightbear and run on it is a sign that it probably isn't too serious.