4 year old with badly a sprained ankle...any advice?

[mandmsmummy]

My dd1(4) hurt her ankle yesterday on a bouncy castle. Hasn't walked on it since. Went to a and e last night who x rayed it and said it was clear and probably a very bad sprain. Have a follow up appt at the fracture clinic a week today. My questions is how long she would not walk on it? I phoned a and e today who weren't very helpful and said just watch and wait.
Has anyone else little ones sprained their ankle and how long before they put weight on it? She's fine in herself.
Thanks xx

If you have an appointment at the fracture clinic next week I wouldn't expect her to be up and about for at least a week. If they were expecting her to be better by next week, they wouldn't have given you an appointment. Just watch and wait.

If it's not broken, walking a little on it won't damage anything, but I would try to mostly stay off it for a couple of days. Then go with what pain allows. It will depend on how bad the sprain is. I've had ones that felt terrible at the time, but I could walk pain free 3 days later. Other people I've known to have pain for a few weeks. Hope she feels better soon.

A bad sprain can take a few weeks to heal completely.

I had an accident and was told by a&e I had a bad sprain. Three weeks later and my foot/ankle were still black and blue and I couldn't put any weight on it at all. To cut a long story short, i saw a consultant who sent me for an MRI and I had actually broken the top off my talus (this is the bone that sits underneath the tibia hence it can't be seen on a normal X-ray.

My consultant said it would have been impossible to diagnose by the initial X-ray and it would only be picked up on when someone presents with a bad sprain that isn't getting any better

The best thing for her at the moment is RICE which stands for Rest Ice Compress Elevate

To put things into perspective though, I fell down a full flight of stairs and even then my consultant said he only ever sees this type,of injury following something as serious as a car accident

I'm sure your little one will be fine but it's still worth knowing about

put her back in a buggy for a week or so while the soft tissues heal

Dd did hers stepping off bunked ladder. 2 days later she was skiing on it! Young children seem to recover much quicker than adults. The important thing is to get her moving it, drawing letters and shapes in the air for example, to keep it flexible. Nurofen helps with swelling and pain.

Thanks all x