Hi

I'm after some advice regarding a bad sprain. On Saturday night my left ankle gave way coming down the stairs and I fell hurting it pretty bad. Went to casualty where it was xrayed and told it was just a sprain and sent on my way (nothing on it and just told to ice and rest). So went away and kept trying to walk on it as told but ended up going over on it again as it was too painful to walk on. My wife ended up sourcing some crutches to help me as I was in so much pain with it. I ended up going back to casualty last night because I could not bend 3 of my toes. Got to see a senior Doc who said it was a very bad grade 3 sprain and I needed to keep off it and use the crutches. He put a tubigrip on it and that was that. I had to go to the physio today and she has told me the complete opposite of what the doc said! I am suppose to be walking on it and weight bearing! Who do I believe? I feel like I'm being pulled in different directions especially when I look online and find that it says grd 3 sprains should be initially immobilized! Any advice or help would be great. I really don't want to spend a 3rd night in casualty to be told something else.

See my answer to your first question about ankles.

Don't walk on it. I've sprained my ankle very badly before and if you put too much pressure on it too quickly then it prolongs healing. Only start to put weight on it when the pain goes down. Use both of the crutches when you first start weight bearing then when you get used to that put more pressure on it. Continue doing this until you can walk normally and you'll problably have to do physical therapy for a while. Adding weight gradually is very important because if you don't start putting weight on it then that will also prolong the healing time. This happened to me one of the other times I sprained my ankle.
I hope this helped you :) :) :)

Make sure you do RICE:

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation.

All these will help but just don't push it. I would recommend not walking on it until it feels better and take some advil now and then to help. I broke my foot and tore my achilles tendon at the same time when I was working out... I didn't normally work out so I wasn't used to it. I was in a boot. I think you should see another doctor because they might have different opinions and I'm positive or pretty sure that you will find an answer from a doctor.
Hope you get well :)
-Superman :P

Don't walk on it. I've sprained my ankle very badly before and if you put too much pressure on it too quickly then it prolongs healing. Only start to put weight on it when the pain goes down. Use both of the crutches when you first start weight bearing then when you get used to that put more pressure on it. Continue doing this until you can walk normally and you'll problably have to do physical therapy for a while. Adding weight gradually is very important because if you don't start putting weight on it then that will also prolong the healing time. This happened to me one of the other times I sprained my ankle.
I hope this helped you :) :) :)


This is from 2009 - I'm sure the OP has figured it out by now.