So I was playing basketball and I jumped up, when I happen to land on a friends foot. The outside of my foot went down and my full body weight landed on my ankle. This happen 4 months and 1 week ago. It still hurts when I bend it forward and from side to side. There is still stiffness in the front of my ankle so I am unable to crouch down, run, or even walk down the stairs properly. The Dr. first told me that it was going to heal in 2 months then he said 4 months. I don't know what to believe anymore since its been more then 4 months and the stiffness and swelling is still there. Has anyone ever experience this and has anything to tell me that can help me be back to normal again?

I landed on my left ankle with my full body weight and had a sprained ankle. I didn't bother going to the dr as I had already been through that drill years ago. I babied my ankle staying off it as much as possible. After TWO years my ankle finally healed it self up. Yes, it took that long before I could walk as much as I wanted to around stores or around my block for exercise. In the meantime you have to be patient and let your body heal naturally. Drs who have never had sprained ankles haven't the faintest clue just how long some folks take to actually heal their ankles properly. Just keep off it as much as possible and your ankle WILL heal - but just not as fast as your unrealistic dr thinks. There is nothing but rest and staying off your ankle to help it heal. You may also want to eliminate any carbonated drinks from your diet as well as they prevent the body from healing. Diet or regular makes no difference - stay away from them. Also, you might wish to take a calcium supplement and a glucosamine and MSM supplement. MSM naturally inhibits the swelling in joints. That's all I did and I'm finally better. My ankle WAS literally black and blue and most of my foot was black and blue after the fall. That shows you just how injured my ankle/foot really was hence it took the two years to heal properly.

I think that doctors get confused with broken bones and sprained or torn ligaments in the healing time frame.

If anything I would have been happier to have broken a fibula than twisted my ankle as bad as I did as it would have healed up in months not years.

I twisted the ankle in March 2008 and it stopped keeping me up at night about a year later. Then about May or June this year I was able to ride my bike again and walk around as much as I wanted as I gave my ankle a very good rest over the winter.

I hope your ankle was not as bad as mine was (all black and blue). I had a hard time walking on it but persisted as I was still working but had a job where I could sit down most of the day. My advice is to definitely stay off your ankle as much as you can. Let the exercise go until your ankle gets better. I just took a hiatus from exercising and it paid off for me. I have no problems now with my ankle at all. Hooray!