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Original poster

Come and tell me about your bad ‘sprains’ ( pic included)

45 replies

Wrongwayround · 03/09/2020 21:38

Stepped off the stairs thinking I was stepping on to the floor only I was three stairs up. Was thinking about what I needed to clean the air frier with.

I actually head a snap!

Pain was so bad I had to lie back on the floor as I felt like I was going to pass out and felt sick.

Had an X-ray and as I got back to the waiting room the doctor was ready for me saying it was just a bad ‘sprain’ - who could he have meticulously examined it the X-ray in the space of three mins!

I’m not mard. I can’t take pain. But wholly shot this is a deep hurt in my bones going up my shin 😩

Tell me about your bad sprains where you thought you was losing your limb but it was just a sprain

Come and tell me about your bad ‘sprains’ ( pic included)

OP posts:

WaffleCash · 03/09/2020 22:26

Mine looked like that when I had a high ankle sprain (tore the ligament holding tib and fib together). Not diagnosed initially so was walking on it when should have been non weight bearing. Had to have a lot of physio to be able to walk normally again. I can no longer hop on that leg but no other issues.

Brigante9 · 03/09/2020 22:31

I used to go over on my ankle all the time as a kid, the pain was always excruciating. I’ve fallen over several times in recent years, ending up getting x rays a lot.

A few weeks ago, I slammed my foot into the corner of a wall (dead of night, pitch black on the landing). There’s apparently no break, x ray looked fine, but the ball of my foot is agony. I may have torn the ligaments off the bone. I don’t think it”s a soft tissue injury like the nurse practitioner said. It isn’t healing. I think I need a scan. 😢 At work, I’m on my feet mostly.

Northernsoullover · 03/09/2020 22:36

I sprained my ankle about ten years ago. One of my ankles is still a different shape to the other. I actually went into shock with the pain.

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heymammy · 03/09/2020 22:44

This was my sprain from 2 years ago (I normally have small skinny feet). Put my full weight down on my foot thinking I was stepping on a flat surface but my foot landed half on and half off a gym mat...I felt the ligaments boing out and back in!

Took around 5 weeks before it started feeling normal again. Hope your ankle egg doesn't take too long to go down op.

Original poster

Wrongwayround · 03/09/2020 23:04

@heymammy

Took around 5 weeks before it started feeling normal again. Hope your ankle egg doesn't take too long to go down op.

My god that’s a lot of swelling!

OP posts:

Whatevernext1 · 03/09/2020 23:08

I sprained my ankle at work at the end of November 2012,I fell off the kerb checking goods off a delivery lorry,heard a snap and felt like I was going to be sick.
Went to the hospital for an x-ray,told it wasn't broken,given meds and crutches and sent home. Followed all advice and my ankle,leg and foot turned all different shades of black blue and purple,the swelling was awful too and I was told not to weight bare. By the middle of January my foot was still so swollen and almost black with bruising still that my gp sent me back to the hospital for another x-ray,she thought as it was so swollen they might have missed a break. Turns out I had also torn near enough every ligament in my foot and also my Achilles tendon. No wonder I had been in so much pain! I had physio for a few months and was able to walk with just one crutch by the middle if April.
Doctors and physio all said a break would have been much better and would have healed quicker.
I still suffer with it now,especially in cold weather or very warm weather,getting up and down the stairs when it plays up can be a bit uncomfortable.

I hope you have a speedy recovery and heal well 💐

petalflowercherrybomb · 03/09/2020 23:10

Sprains are 100% worse than breaks. I have done both to my ankles.

My sprain was enormous and black and awful. It's two years later and it's still not back to normal. I get horrid pins and needles walking up hill! See a physio ASAP.

Gertie75 · 03/09/2020 23:17

This was mine from 3 months ago, it bent right underneath when I was walking on uneven ground and made a crunching sound.

I don't know if it was broken or sprained as I didn't go to the hospital, it was bloody painful though and ended up black down to my toes and 6 inches up my leg, it still hurts now if I touch my ankle bone on either side.

QueenPaws · 03/09/2020 23:21

I did the opposite. Got out of bed and ankle hurt. Ignored it, went dancing, waitressed etc etc. After about 4 days it was getting pretty sore so drove to minor injuries. They sent me for an x ray but said no swelling and with me walking it was likely to be fine
Waited for x ray results and said to staff I was just going to make a phone call when they said I wasn't going anywhere unless it was in a wheelchair
Had broken my foot and my ankle in multiple places

goose1964 · 03/09/2020 23:21

I sprained my ankle years ago , it looks months to heal fully and my leg was black and blue up to my knee.

AveAtqueVale · 03/09/2020 23:58

This was mine about 3 months ago. Was absolutely convinced it was broken but nothing showed up on the x-ray.

Finally stopped hurting to walk on about 3 weeks ago then we went camping last week and I turned it in a rabbit hole. Nowhere near as bad but back to hurting like buggery to walk on for more than a few minutes. And making a deeply unsettling clicking noise if I try to rotate it .

QueenPaws · 04/09/2020 00:04

@AveAtqueVale
I did my other ankle in a spectacular way by falling down 40 stairs and landing sat on it. Again broke foot and ankle and tore all my ligaments with my foot pointing the wrong way. Still no bruising or swelling! A&E must love me

Borderstotheleftofme · 04/09/2020 00:08

Well, I had a very bad sprain year ago and my ankle has been left permanently weakened, I have to be careful walking/running because sometimes it gives way unexpectedly

Borderstotheleftofme · 04/09/2020 00:10

I actually went into shock with the pain
Me too!

GhostTypeEevee · 04/09/2020 00:22

I had a severe sprain about 6 weeks ago and had an x ray and I was given crutches and a boot. I was literally sobbing trying to go up stairs and although I have sprained my ankles before it was nothing like this. I could take the boot off a couple of weeks ago.
When they reviewed the X-ray on the Monday it showed I had an avulsion fracture (although it's still like a sprain)
I was referred for physio and been having that weekly but I still can't drive with it, walk down the stairs properly and the nagging pain is getting annoying.

SeaToSki · 04/09/2020 00:46

Elevate, elevate, elevate

It really is the main thing that helps with the swelling. And not just a little bit on a foot stool, you want it above your boobs for at least 2 hrs at a time most of the day, and all night (put it on pillows)

I jumped off a wall and landed on my foot stretched out, heard a snap, went for an Xray....oh just a bad sprain, you will be fine in 8 weeks.

I had 4 dc, youngest was 10 months and we moved house when the ankle was 7 weeks post crunch. I wrapped it and got on with it, told myself the doctor said it would be painful etc.

At 9 weeks the pain was still dreadful, I went back to the doctor, more xrays, different angles....oh you did break it after all, its just an unusual spot, mostly snowboarders break their ankles that way! Oh dear it has healed crooked, we can do anything about it, it shouldnt be too bad when you are older and have arthritis....grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

PLEASE stay off it for a week and if it isnt better go back and make a fuss. Ankles are notorious for hiding the break as they have so many little bones. In fact, if you can afford 150 pounds for a private appointment, go and see a private orthopedist who specialises in ankles. They can assess you and then put you back into the NHS for scans, but you get an expert opinion, not a rushed A and E generalist

GhostTypeEevee · 04/09/2020 07:20

Yes definitely elevate and ice. I'm still being told to do that regularly after weeks and weeks

user1471538283 · 04/09/2020 15:22

I twisted ligaments on both sides of my now "bad" ankle whilst wearing flat sandals! Years of tripping about in heels and I didn't do any damage. It took me at least 6 months to be ok and that included private psychotherapy. It's still not great some days. Rest as much as you can and try not to put weight on it

slavetothenhs · 04/09/2020 18:38

Here's mine the day after I sprained it on holiday in August 2019. I'm not joking when I say it took about 9 months for my "cankle" to look vaguely the same size as before, it's still not 100%. Done in the same way, coming off the last step and put my foot down wrong. Make sure you rest it as much as possible - I ended up having a month off work (NHS).

MitziK · 04/09/2020 18:59

Fell over when trying to get out of the house for work in a hurry. Huge snapping sound, couldn't put my foot down due to sheer agony. Hospital doctor pulled off the boot that was holding my foot on (I never react much, but I nearly threw up everywhere when she did that) and said 'it's just a sprain'. Then she let go of my foot and her consultant popped his head round the curtain just as it flopped like a dead fish as though it had been severed inside and I made a weird high pitched hissing sound as every bit of air was pushed out of my lungs with the shock and pain. Turns out the inside ligament and a quarter of my Achilles were the only bits left holding it on. After a hard cast for 2 months, then a boot for another 3 and initial healing time, I was size 5 on the non buggered side and a men's size 9 wide fit on the borked one for 18 months.

Still did better than a mate, though. She tripped on a kerbstone and after five months, decided she'd probably see her GP as it was still hurting 'a bit'. In the end, they detached the Achilles and put it all back again by drilling through her leg and foot. Three months in a wheelchair, nine on crutches, it has never got back to as good as it was whilst waiting for surgery.

I'd rather have a broken ankle. Even the ones I've seen that have required plating have healed more quickly and completely than mere 'sprains'.

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