It will be 7 weeks on Tuesday that I sprained my left ankle X-country skiing. It hurt like hell as I stood up but I managed to finish up the 5 remaining kms. I iced it that evening and there was only minor swelling and no bruising around the “ankle bone”. I rested Wed and Thursday and managed a good 2+ hour skate ski on Friday. My chiro diagnosed it as a spained ATFL and has been doing weekly ART on it. I did take some time off from running, skiing and any kicking in the pool after two weeks as it seemed to start to bother me. I have continued to ice after any workouts. As of last week I would have said it was on the mend but after 6 mile run this morning it seems as bad as ever. So after almost 7 weeks it seems no better or worse than the day I did it.
I have a heavy summer and fall ahead of me and don’t want this thing nagging me then.
So, you had a “diagnosed” ATF ligament tear, but then did “active release” on the torn (which is what a “sprain” is) ligament?
Anyway, likely a syndesmosis or anterior-inferior tib-fib lig injury (aka the classic high ankle sprain). If not improving after 7 weeks with treatment, some advanced imaging should be in your future for a more clear diagnosis.
The ART treatments did cause discomfort the day of the treatment but did seem to progressively help up until this weekend. Can a legiment be stretched to a point of injury without being torn? I originally thought high ankle sprain when considering how the accident occurred but the source of the pain does not seem to coincide. This is however based on my own on line diagnoses.
Dude, go to a doc. I’m stupid about “toughing it out” (maybe learned my lesson now that I’m solidly into my 30’s), but 7 WEEKS?!?!
I had an ATF injury 10 months ago- turned out to be an avulsion fracture- part of the bone ripping away rather than just the ligament. Had I kept on, it would likely have happened again and again w/out rehab. So for you: QUIT RUNNING, AND GET IT LOOKED AT!!! You’re risking a screwed up ankle for life.
Pain after 7 weeks for a “minor anterior talofibular ligament sprain” is not normal. Might question what was being stretched during the ART??? If the calf/gastro being stretched, ART probably okay. It stretching the outside of the ankle after sprain, not okay. You don’t need to stretch a ligament right after an injury than has already been stretch or slightly torn.
Did you turn you ankle as foot going to center line of body and have pain on outside of ankle near in front of the ankle bone as towards the toes? This is the most common sprain. If you are having medial pain or pain in front of the leg then is not the typical ankle sprain.
Any previous history of spain? Probably need x rays and stress xrays. Probably need to rule out fx. too which is proably healing after 7 weeks.
Often minor sprain with no swelling might be a syndesmosis sprain which is stretching the tissue between the tibia and fibula which is often called high ankle sprain. Usually don’t get as much swelling with this injury and hurts longer and usually harder to treat.
Probably need to rehab the ankle, too. Balance/propricoeption and stregthen of the the leg muscles.
Didn’t see any mention of x-rays. You sure that you’ve just got a sprain? I’ve seen plenty of cases of people who have walked around on broken feet or ankles for days or weeks.
A “mild” sprain for me turned out to be a fracture. They did X Rays at the docs office, didnt see anything and treated me for a sprain for 4 weeks. Wasn’t getting better, so they finally sent me for an MRI. I type this wearing an above the elbow cast. Get it looked at throughly so it can get treated properly.
Hah, I hear your pain, as I sit typing in a cast with a broken ankle from a silly fall also on XC skis. In my case I definitely felt a snap that the xray confimed.
If you could skate ski 4 days later, and can swim, I doubt it is broken. I suspect you don’t have to “release” any thing as they do in ART. Everything is likely already loose from the sprain. Just XC ski, walk, ride and don’t kick in the pool (also seems to make everything looser). You don’t need exteme range of motion in the ankle, just enough to do our straight line sports. Maybe a good time to do lots of band pull, no pull buoy
Strain = muscle or tendon. Achilles, patellar, quad, rotator cuff…
All stretching involves tearing in my opinion. If it didn’t tear, it wouldn’t hurt. There are mild tears and severe/complete tears and everything in between. I really doubt you can stretch a ligament/tendon and cause damage without tearing (even if its microtears…).
Although sprain/strain gets frequently misused by everyone - including doctors/nurses…
An update. I’m off to physio Wed AM and my family Dr next Monday (that’s the best they could do?). I’m going to lay off the ART. Everything was going well. I had been treadmill running and outdoor on dry pavement. Then, Sunday morning I went for 6 miles in newly fallen snow. I tried to run in fresh truck tracks and I think all the stabilizing just tweated the ankle again. I swam this morning using a pool bouy so I did not have to kick.
I’ll explain how this happened. I was skate skiing on a very fast day. On a long steep downhill I decided to jump in the track. I picked up alot of speed and on a corner and bump my right ski came out of the track and the tip caught the deep snow. I spun around to my right with all my weight on the left ski. It stayed in the track facing forward while the rest of me went down facing the other way. I did not go over on the ankle as in a more conventional sprain. A very careless and stupid move. But isn’t that always the way.
Here is what I wrote up. Realistically it was 1 in 100,000 falls with everything perfectly aligning for disaster…1 cm one way or another and I stay in the track and if never happens…and if there was old snow off the groomed stuff, the problem also goes away, or if I never resisted and tried to stay balanced, and just gave up when I was first off balance, the outcome is quite different…oh well! As we know the sport (like riding) is not without hazard and we accept that eventually something bad can happen, but it is worth the trills along the way.
*…to make a long story short, I caught an edge on a slight downhill (nothing major) and in whatever ensued, my right ski ends up under my left ski, but at this point I was in the deep non groomed snow at the side of the trail, barely moving and started falling to my left with all my weight on the left ski, so the right one was immobilized cause the front end was trapped under some deep snow. Anyway, felt a snap and intense pain. I had to double pole 4K arms only back to my car (including a long uphill grade). Spent the afternoon in emergency and now have a cast for 4 weeks before I can do anything. I have an apointment with the orthopedic surgeon in 2 weeks. The emergency doc that looked at it said that is was a clean crack and thinks it should heal OK, but it needs to stay immobiliized. * The worst part is my ski season with my son is toast. Our team has a races today plus twice a week training sessions and a week of skiing over march break is now toast. Frankly this is the most dissappointing part of it. When I called my son from emergency, his first question was, “Are you going to be OK for Tremblant at Spring Break” and I had to answer, “No, my season is over”. My wife said, better now than before some of the big triathlons, but I had to remind her that this is my favourite season for training. OK, hopefully it fuses back properly for next year :-). Not too worried about what I can or cannot do this year. I don’t want to rush anything.
I was in a similar situation, only I waited a lot longer. Sprained my ankle in August playing soccer and continued running on it unchecked (did a 10k 5 days later with a limp). Well I finally decided to get it looked at AFTER race season and my last half marathon of the year on November. Stupid move on my part, but luckily nothing serious. Sports med clinic, bone scans, and x-rays revealed nothing serious.
