[CrazyMamaANJ]

Yesterday evening I had taken our 11 week old puppy out for a walk. As I was walking down the hill in our driveway, she darted in front of me and I had to avoid stepping on her. Other than that, it was a routine walk.

We came back inside and I settled on the couch to watch some TV and play on the computer. Sitting pretty still with my legs folded up on the cushion as usual. Out of no where came an intense, stabbing sensation on the top of my foot around the area where your foot meets your ankle, underneath the outer most tendon. That particular area is very tender to the touch, with a light bruise (you can only really see it in a well lit area). No noticeable swelling. I was able to walk on it with only minimal pain, it only hurt badly to move my foot into certain positions. I kept the foot elevated with occasional ice until bedtime and figured it would be better in the morning. By this time my foot felt fine as long as it was perfectly still, but was stiff and painful if I tried to change positions.

I got up during the night to let the pup out to potty, and as soon as I moved my leg the foot was hit with sharp pains yet again. Walking was a bit more uncomfortable, but eased up a bit as I moved. It was about the same when I woke for the day. Pain about an 8 upon first moving from a rested position, walking is slow but not too painful so long as I keep my foot stiff while doing so.

I have noticed now that I am limited in movement in that foot. Flexing my toes produces slight pain, more if I'm standing. I can not rotate my foot inwards at all. Not only does it hurt, but it just won't go. My foot "locks" when trying to move into other positions as well, but will ease up (still painful)and move after a second attempt. There is an occasional dull ache that goes up my calf and down through my toes even while holding still.

I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow if there is no improvement. I'm just trying to wait it out as I have no insurance and don't want to deal with the hefty ER bill over a sprain. I have never sprained my ankle before, just a wrist, and while it hurt to move it I never had the limited movement or bruising.

Any thoughts?

[twinkiedooter]

You sprained your ankle. If you broke it you would not be able to put any weight on it at all and it would be a stabbing pain.

I sprained my left ankle in May, 2008 (yes one year ago). I basically fell down a curb and landed very wrong on my ankle. It still hurts one year later but I found that not walking around too much or using the ankle too much I'm pretty much okay. I do not have health insurance and did not see the dr as I've sprained my ankle before and did see a doctor years ago so I definitely know the difference.

You need to give your ankle a lot of babying right now so it can heal. Ankles take a long time to heal so don't think one or two days and your ankle is healed. It sounds like you have some tendons or ligaments stretched. Take it easy. You might want to try wrapping the ankle in an Ace bandage (but not tightly) to help support your ankle during your waking moments and take it off at night to sleep.

The dull ache you feel is the ligaments and/or tendons. If you wish to see the dr, please keep an appointment. If you can't put any weight on the ankle, then you did more damage and need a set of crutches if it is not broken. I had sprained my ankle years ago so badly that I couldn't put any weight on it at all and needed crutches for weeks until it healed up. It was not broken but just badly sprained. If your ankle did not swell up a lot, most likely it is a sprain and not a fracture.