To refuse to take DS to hospital for a sprained ankle

[Paurie]

He twisted it badly enough that it can’t weight bear. I’m confident it’s not broken. Strapped it up, iced, elevated - & picked up a crutch so he can be mobile without stepping on it while it heals.

School say the crutch can’t come to
school unless it’s signed off as necessary by a doctor and is fitted by a professional.

AIBU to refuse & just keep him home?

It seems really not sensible in this climate to burden doctors with signing off on a self-limiting problem that I’m confident I’ve treated correctly - and batshit crazy to take a healthy child to sit being sneezed on in minor injuries unit for however many hours it takes to be seen.

Silly. I have a lifelong weak ankle OP because of this sort of injury.

They say they think it’s fine - but they’ll XRay to be on the safe side.

I’m glad you’ve been seen already and they are erring on the side of caution. Hope he’s better soon.

I am glad you are taking him to get checked. My DS plays a contact sport and has dislocated fingers. The last one the physio said he wasn’t sure but it wasn’t going back normally so get it checked. X ray at MIU showed a clean break which the physio had stabilised in a good position so it healed well. Still needed weeks off sport and physio.

I suspect you came here wanting to be praised for not burdening they NHS but it has not worked out.

A sprain and a break can present very similarly. Sprains can take a lot longer to heal. The ONLY way to tell is with an X-ray. So off to ‘minor injuries’ or A&E you go...

I bet you won’t admit on here that it’s broken if it is. I hope school have filled out a cause for concern form on realising how reluctant you were to seek appropriate medical care.

I see what your reasoning was OP. but even a bad sprain can need treatment. Even were I totally confident about a lack of break (and I agree with other that some breaks are not quite as obvious). Ironically, given the nature of the injury, I would probably have tried a walk in center or same-day GP appointment before A&E, but I would have wanted it checked because physio can make all the difference to future mobility with a really bad sprain.

Hope your son does just have a sprain and is able to recover quickly and get back to school with a properly fitted crutch.

Are you a medical professional?

No medical professional is going to tell you that an ankle that can't bear weight is fine.

I turned over on my ankle, heard a tearing, but didn't go to hospital. A year later, it turns out I have 2 torn tendons and my ankle is unstable. Take him to the doctors, please!

You really aren’t supposed to rest sprains, it hampers recovery apparently. It’s also pretty difficult to tell the difference between a sprain and I minor fracture unless you’ve experienced both enough times to be able to distinguish the se station/you are medically trained. It’s good that you’ve sought medical attention, I hope that the X-ray cones back clear.

OP
Even the A&E aren’t prepared to definitively rule out a break without an X Ray.

You would feel dreadful if you hadn’t taken him and he later had problems.

yeah my dad walked around on a fractured lef (near the ankle) for two days. He then sought hospital treatment. It ended his career as a driver.

He thought that because he could sort of bear weight it couldnt be that bad. but it was.

I took my partner to A&E at 4am after he fell down the stairs because his ankle was in agony. It turned out to be a sprain, but I didn't know that. I'd never seen him in so much pain. He's a 27 year old man. If he should go to A&E for a sprain, so should your DS. It's not as if they will prioritise him over a heart attack patient. He'll get seen when they have space.

I think it's always better safe than sorry! Missing school isn't a good idea; you don't want to create bad habits.

It's also better to be certain that there isn't a worse problem.

you really arent supposed to rest sorains

The treatment for sprains is rice:
-rest
-ice
-compression and
-elevation

Wow - the tone of some of the posts is kind of nasty.

I explained that I couldn’t get through 111 (which is what we are encouraged to use first) - and then followed the NHS website advice to the letter.

Good luck to society if the majority agrees that it’s stupid and negligent to follow printed NHS advice ‘just in case’ you’re the person for which it’s more serious.

Take him to a walk in centre if you don’t want to burden the A&E department, when I broke my ankle two years ago I went to the local walk in centre they did and X-ray and cast there I didn’t step foot in a hospital. Please get it checked.

Paurie Did they do an MRI as well as the x-ray? When I badly sprained my ankle last year and couldn't put the foot down, they used an MRI to check exactly which ligaments were torn. The reason given was that although many ankle ligaments can heal well if rested, there is one between the bones (called, if I remember correctly, the syndesmotic) which sometimes has to be helped by pinning the lower leg bones together. It's quite a serious injury so needs to be caught early and is particularly prevalent in twisted ankles that occur during sport.

As luck would have it, I 'only' had one complete rupture and two minor tears and no syndesmotic injury. However, it took me nearly three months just to be able to weight the foot though and I'm still having physio six months on.

Good luck for your boy. Tell him to rest, rest and rest and to keep the foot elevated as much as possible. I hope he recovers well.

You've had an ACTUAL DR who spends half their lives. I parking on casss where adults didn't take their kids to A and E.

And you're still not wanting to take him!!!!!!!

No kidding. But that's horrific.

Half their lives. Taking on cases

Hope he’s ok.

@Scarlettpixie

Friend of mine hurt her back. She fell off her horse. Went to emergency. Was told it was all fine. Spent the next 11 years of so in agony. Went to anyone and everyone. Except a dr. Eventually went to a back dr. Who did another X-ray. Turns out she's broken her spine!!!! If she of moved I correctly. She'd of been a paraplegic

She got a payout. But she was left unable to ever work again.

@Paurie

But, as has been pointed out, you didn't follow the NHS advice for "broken ankle". You followed the advice for "sprain", despite not knowing for certain that it was a sprain, and against the advice of 100s of posters.

What do the doctors say, OP?

OP is going to say it was a sprain.