Ok so I was walking across my in-laws farm and I stepped in a hole, my ankle bent and I heard a loud "POP" like when you crack you knuckles. I instantly fell to the ground. It hurt so bad!! I laid there for awhile, my husband came to my side and took off my shoe. After about 10mins I was able to get up and limp around. Well it has been about an hour, and now the limping is almost impossible because I am getting sharp pains on both sides of the ankle where the little "ball" is. It is very swollen, and throbbing.

My question is, I have never broken a bone before (aside from a few fingers) so I don't know what it feels like, and I have a very high tolerance for pain, so sometimes I think injuries aren't very bad when in fact they are. (ex when I was 10 I got hit in the mouth with a metal baseball bat by accident, but full force, and almost fractured my jaw, and I didn't shed a tear).

My husband and I are trying to decide if I should go to the ER or not. I don't want to make a big deal out of nothing. So would I be able to bear any weight if it was broke? Or is it probably just a sprain?

macksmom, just because you can move it or put some weight on it does not mean it is not broken, it will depend on where the break is and how bad the break is. I have 3 children and I could give you a few exmples of people using broken bones. I say get an x-ray, I would wait till morning if the pain would allow. My experience is they do not cast for a few days to let it swell so that it does not continue to swell in the cast.

Go to the ER. Chances is it is just a sprain from what you are describing. But a sprain can be more painful than a break. If it is broken though you will need to have it immobilized. Only an x-ray can tell for sure.

Most likely it is not broken and is severely sprained but you need to go see the doctor to make sure. BTW, if it is broken, you can't even limp around - trust me on that.

Heck, if it is sprained you can't even limp around. I had a severely sprained ankle last year at this time. Took 6 months before it was completely better.

Get the X-ray! I was walking on a foot with a fractured ankle and bone in my foot for a month before they decided to send me for an MRI that's when they found it. X-rays are not 100% but at least if it is then you can get proper treatment. My mother is an Rn and she works with spinal cord and head trauma injuries. She has said on may instances that if an injury is to a joint ankle,wrist,shoulder that she is a firm beliver that an MRI should be performed but in this day and age insurance companies do not want to pay so the patient has to suffer long enough until they look into it further. Good luck Hope it's just a sprain but in some cases the yare worse then a break.
:)

I too fell in a whole, hurt like heck for a while and got better. Unfortunately ripped a tendon that did not heal properly because I did not go to docs. Ended up breaking a foot (not the one with the bad ancle the otherone because I fell on it and ended up having surgery to correct the original problem

pop was either a torn ligament, busted calcaneus (ankle) or a quick misalignment-get a CT rather than an X-ray and then if that finds nothing get an MRI for a tendon-related issue.

Well I went to the ER last night and got an X-ray... its broken :( Well fractured, with a chipped bone. So they did a semi-hard cast for now, and I have to go see an orthopedic doc to see if they want to do a full cast :(

Thanks for all your answers!

Always go with your first instinct! You knew deep down inside it was but were in denial. I was too for 2 weeks. If it would have listened to my wife in the first place it could be done with this by now myself. She saw me roll my ankle up on my leg and knew right away it was bad :( Hope it works out for you did they mention surgery for the bone chip? Choose a nice cast color it brightenes things up. Did they tell you what bone was fractured? Good luck with your appointment keep us posted...