Sprained my ankle again, it healed but regressed?

October 16, 2023 9:37 AM

Last week, I sprained my ankle. This was the second sprain; the first time was back in April. Since that sprain, the ankle got completely better. Unfortunately, last week, I sprained it again.

This time, it was worse; it hurt a lot more, and my ankle swelled up and a few bruises appeared. I got x-rays done, but no fracturing or broken bones were detected. I had a pronounced limp for the first couple of days. I rested on it for most of the week, heating/icing and elevating as needed. I wore the compression socks recommended in the previous question, which really helped.

Within a few days, the ankle got back to normal, and I was able to walk on it just fine during the weekend. I did normal errands and outings. Yesterday, I went to a farm with friends, and took a slide ride down. During the ride, my ankle lightly bumped the slide side, but it did not sprain or twist or anything. I was wearing my compression socks at the time. After that, there was an "ouch, zing" kind of pain, but that pain went away after a few minutes and I was able to continue on as normal.

Last night and this morning, my ankle hurts. It feels a bit like it was freshly re-sprained, but I know I didn't re-sprain or twist it. I've been resting, elevating, resting/icing, but it doesn't seem to help. Swelling since last week's sprain has gone down, but it still feels a bit "puffy" (I believe it was all week, but didn't really notice). No new bruising. It's really strange.

What could have caused the ankle to regress? I honestly have no clue, other than that little bump on the slide, but that honestly didn't feel like a big deal at all.

By the way, for others experiencing sprained ankle pain, this heating pad specifically for ankles on Amazon is amazingggggg. I've only used it a couple of times so far, but it's extremely convenient and helpful so far. Definitely no association/commission with this product/brand/Amazon at all, but just wanted to share so others in the same boat could benefit!

YANMD.

posted by thoughtful_analyst to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

When you sprain an ankle, the ligaments around the ankle stretch or sometimes even tear. While healing, your body will naturally transfer the work of those ligaments to the muscles around it (or even other ligaments). This puts additional strain on your body, which, depending on the strength of your muscles, it may or may not cope with well. This is what we usually call compensating.

It seems like there are a couple options here. Maybe your muscles did not fully recover after the first sprain, so they were weak to begin with, then further weakened by the second sprain, and then susceptible to an injury when you bumped your ankle on the slide. So you might have a muscle injury (kinda like a bruise) in addition to the sprain. Or maybe if your muscles are strong, they covered incomplete healing of the tendons and made you feel like it was ok to go on the slide, when maybe anything was going to set off your ankle. Or maybe the second sprain or slide injury involved a completely different set of tendons.

If I were in your position, I would get physical therapy, if I wasn't already doing that. It sounds like your whole ankle (skeleton, tendons, muscles, all of it) could really benefit from strengthening. It's also likely that you'll be prone to sprain injuries on that ankle in the future, so try to keep up with whatever exercises they prescribe for you.

Source: three sprains on the same ankle and tons of PT.
posted by OrangeDisk at 10:05 AM on October 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

Yeah, as OrangeDisk said, everything is weakened. I had a wonky ankle for YEARS until I spent six months wearing an ankle brace all the time to prevent reinjury. (Not saying you necessarily need to do that; I have soft tissue problems; but it is a thing.)
posted by metasarah at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yep, this is how it works. You should consider your infrastructure compromised for months, not just until it stops hurting. It's really easy to incorrectly rehab an ankle, so at least one PT session would be a good idea.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:42 AM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Similar situation, ended up in intensive three-times-a-week PT for six weeks wearing an ankle brace whenever I wasn't in PT or lying down. It improved my overall balance immensely too.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 12:24 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Okay yeah, like everyone else is saying, you need to get serious about rehabbing your ankle's ligaments and all of the muscles that need to be firing properly to keep your ankle safe. I broke my ankle over a year ago -- that healed quite easily, but the sprain I got in the instant before my ankle broke has kept me in PT ever since. I am still not 100% but hopefully you'll have an easier time of it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:14 PM on October 16, 2023

The ligaments in your ankle that tear when you get a sprain get terrible blood flow, and therefore take forever to heal. You need several weeks of resting it for it to heal. It’s only been a week. You should not have been on a slide. Was it inflatable? Those are going to put strain on your already injured ligaments.

Get a brace, rest and ice it for several weeks, and go to PT. It’ll feel better in time.
posted by Amy93 at 1:43 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

nthing PT, I repeatedly sprained my ankle until I went through a pretty long period of PT AND kept my strengthening exercises up after i finished.
posted by Dr. Twist at 7:21 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

nthing Physical Therapy. Hugely helpful.
posted by theora55 at 7:36 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: You should not have been on a slide. Was it inflatable?

Not sure why not — it was one of those flat/incline-ing slides that kids (and adults) ride, moderate, not at all steep. I figured it would be completely safe with a "compressed" ankle. Is that not the case? It was not inflatable.

I talked with a podiatrist and will try walking boots and will also look into PT and/or exercises I can do, without having to pay $30-40 every time I do PT.
posted by thoughtful_analyst at 7:52 PM on October 16, 2023

A little PT can go a long way if you're diligent about the exercises in between. Just do check back in a couple times to get reassessed, since sometimes the recovery and compensation process can cause other issues that will also need to be addressed (so that you don't fix your ankle only to start straining your knee or calf, say, not at all hypothetically).
posted by Lady Li at 1:13 AM on October 17, 2023

Oh yeah, for something like a sprained individual joint you can basically get trained to care for it in one session, or maybe two - one to do a full assessment, one to learn your homework with the correct form. You CAN go repeatedly, and certainly should if it's neck/back or degenerative disease or a recovering break, but the work you need to do ongoing is not hard and won't require specialized equipment - though if you have access to a pool, let the PT know as they can show you additional exercises for the water.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:07 AM on October 17, 2023