Pic of DH foot, shall he go back to be checked out again?

[enamechange]

Hi everyone

Name changed but regular user.

DH rolled his ankle playing football on Saturday. Sunday woke up and it was black and blue and couldn't walk on it so went to A&E for xray. They told him it's "just" damaged ligaments and to rest it, ice it and take paracetamol.

He's keeping it elevated and iced but the swelling is getting worse and it's getting more and more painful.

Paracetamol isn't touching it, managed to borrow some crutches from a kind lady after asking on FB but he's really struggling.

Anyone with any experience? Should he go back? Or just keep resting?

Did they actually x-ray it the first time you were there?

Is he icing for 20 minutes every hour or constantly?
He needs some compression....like a tubigrip bandage.
And ibuprofen for swelling and pain.
But keep resting. If xray was clear not much more they can do in a&e...maybe go to GP for physio/mri referral to fully assess ligament damage.

No advice OP but my god that looks painfull !

Go back

Looks very like mine when I rolled it - I came out of x-ray and they said "bad news, it's not broken"

Breaks are apparently relatively easy to sort, ligament damage can take a long time. He will need to be keeping it raised, using ice etc. for a good few days yet and it could take weeks to be near normal

Paracetamol every 4 hours, ibuprofen on the 2 hour intervals in between

Was that x rayed and reviewed by a radiologist / Senior orthopaedic surgeon? I would say that that needs reviewing. Ankles are very easy to break.

Totally off topic but his feet are really smooth?! Mine have wrinkle lines and I’m only 30….Does he have a foot care routine?

And yes. He should definitely go back

Isn’t it smooth because it’s very swollen? Maybe I’m wrong but that’s a serious case of balloon foot if ever I saw one.

Yeah, mine was very smooth when my foot was in the same state. The recovery was long, BTW. Took me over a year to stop limping on that foot.

I'm surprised he has no tubigrip.

I’ve done mine and I’m sure it wasn’t that swollen. I’d be tempted to go back to A&E.

This was mine with ligament damage - the smoothness is definitely due to swelling

I broke my tib and fib and didn’t have bruising like that and I bruise easily. I’d be getting a second opinion tbh. BTW, I ended up with two metal plates and 19 screws in my leg.

I was told the same.

He needs to try and get referred for physio now, not in three months time. the waiting list will take care of the delay. In the meantime, whatever else you do (including trying to get them to provide a boot so he has a chance of getting mobile again) he needs to keep wiggling his toes.

My mum did her ankle ligaments when I was a kid and her ankle was massive and bruised like that. I was only 7, so it must have been significant for me to remember it so vividly.

I remember for years after it was “weak”- she was always going over on it.

Mine probably looked worse than that, but was 'just a sprain'

Sprains can take longer to heal than breaks, my recovery was measured in months not weeks and included NHS physio to learn to walk again.

Mine was actually a sprain of the ligaments that hold the tibia and fibia together. Unfortunately it was a few weeks in before they discovered this and my third a&e visit. Second and third visits were sent by GP, they X rayed on second visit and that was clear for breaks. Third visit involved was different x ray where they could actually see the issue.

Was it x-rayed at the time...I did similar....first X-ray at time didn't see the break, second one few days later did as it was a crack rather than a break...id return and get it re x-rayed if I was your husband. It's very oedemic. Ice, raised but yes sorry re x-ray due to my experience. It better if broken as quicker to heal than soft tissue damage. Looks very painful poor guy. This a time when you do need to help him. I won't tell you how painful the swelling is..it felt like you skin will break. x

My daughter's ligament damage looked like that..

Needs another x-ray. First x-rays can often be normal looking, can take a little time for the bones to separate/misalign enough to be seen on an xray.
Could still be a bad sprain, but worth checking out.
Remember when you are told to elevate a limb, it must be higher than the level of your heart to really help fluid return.

Yup, I had a foot like that with ligament damage too. I did it 30 years ago at school and it was dodgy and a bit weak for a few years after.

It looked just like that. My sympathies to him - I can still remember the pain.

I'd go and see a private physio asap. If it's soft tissue damage they can advise on what exactly is damaged and what exercise/movement to do to promote recovery and not mess it up further. And get on the list for NHS physio too (but likely to be a wait). Also, don't be totally surprised if you get a call from the hospital to say they've reviewed the X-ray and there is a fracture (although this may not happen).

It's not clear if it was x rayed or not. If it was x rayed, then it could be "just" ligament damage. I put it in quotation marks as often bad ligament tears are worse than a nice clean break. It took mine approximately 9-10 months to heal.

If no better soon you could try and push for a MRI which is only way they will be able to assess the damage. Unfortunately, usually the NHS will only agree to carry out an MRI many weeks/months after the initial accident.

Mine looked similar. I think your DH will find his will get worse before it gets better. The bruising will become more pronounced, move around the foot and ankle and may extend to the calf. It will also go through some very interesting colour changes!

I would strongly advise that he either makes a private physio appointment or does some serious googling about how to ensure proper recovery from a sprained ankle. There are some specific types of exercises that you need to do in order to avoid permanent weakness of the joint.

But also I was told to follow the RICE method - Rest, Ice, Elevation, Compression. He should have been given a tight bandage to get the swelling down.

Radiographer here. I see ankles like that on a daily basis that are just ligament damage. If it's been x-rayed and reported by a Radiologist they are unlikely to take another.