Sore ankle/leg after falling on ice

[issy196]

First of all, I am completely useless at anything medical so please feel free to tell me if I'm being ridiculous.

I slipped and fell on ice last Thursday. Didn't make much of it at the time other than "oh this is embarrassing" so got up, fell over once more for good measure, and walked back home (only another 50m or so).

Plonked myself on the sofa when I got home and about an hour later, realised that my ankle was hurting a fair amount. Looked down only to discover I'd grazed the bumpy bit on the outside (very technical term, I know). Washed it and whacked on some germolene.

It's now four days later. I'd say that the pain has gotten worse and seems to be radiating out from the ankle, if that makes sense? As in I feel pain in my lower leg, the outside of my foot and down in my toes. This is normally just a dull ache but sometimes feels a little tingly, or occasionally sharp shooting pains. Weirdly I struggled to straighten my knee last night, I've never had problems with this knee before. Most of the pain is coming from the outside of my lower leg, just above the ankle.

It's not unbearable pain and I can still walk (with slight discomfort, though nothing terrible). It's slightly swollen or maybe I just have fat ankles. Not bruised, but a little red. It feels a lot worse at night, to the point where I struggled to sleep last night but when I woke up this morning, it hurt still but nowhere near the same extent. It hurts quite significantly if I try to twist my foot, again another bad description but moving/turning it sideways hurts a lot more that moving it up and down.

I assumed that since I can still walk and it's not making me scream out in pain, it was nothing to worry about.

Perhaps I am being a bit of a hypochondriac here, my main concern is that I am going on holiday next week (for 3 weeks) and if there's anything wrong, I'd really rather know about it now than when I'm on the other side of the world. I'm also not sure how flying long haul with it would go.

I'm trying to look after it at home, using the RICE method. Is it stupid for me to seek medical attention? I'm quite busy this week so in reality the earliest I could go is Friday, but I'm considering trekking over to the nearest MIU if it doesn't feel like it's getting better by then.

No, go and get it looked at.

It's odd because it doesn't sound like a break if you still walking in it. Nor does it sound like my ankle was when I twisted it. It was really swollen, very painful and hard to walk on for a few days.

What's weird is that yours sounds to be getting worse, but I'm no medical expert. It does seem as though you haven't rushed off to hospital - you've taken the wait and see approach, and as it hasn't settled down on its own, it's worth getting it looked at. I don't think you'd be wasting anyone's time.

Hope it improves soon

Thanks for the advice :)

That's why I'm confused, it definitely seems to be getting worse but I imagined anything serious would cause much more pain and discomfort, and a lot sooner.

Guess I'm going to dedicate my whole day this Friday to sitting around in MIU going to feel like an idiot walking in unaided and telling them I've hurt my ankle though!

Must admit I am usually the same, hate seeing people in A&E with cut fingers or some other stupid things. Never been to a MIU before so it'll be an adventure for me

Only been to A&E once before, broke my arm when I was 11. Remember telling my mum that we didn't have to go, it'd probably get better on its own. Then when we got there, kept telling the triage nurses that it really didn't hurt that much. Remember seeing all these people with 'injuries' going in ahead of me as they were better at complaining!

I know of several people who have broken ankles and walked around on them for weeks before attending (or in two cases, reattending) a&e. Just go and get it looked at. Even a bad sprain shouldn't be as bad as that now if you're keeping it elevated and weight off it.

Probably all hurting around that area because you bashed it, it hurts and so perhaps you have been walking oddly to accommodate it thus throwing everything out BUT I agree worth a check over given your forthcoming trip. Hope it resolves soon.

I wouldn’t wait until Friday, I would go to MIU today.

If you originally hurt the knobbly bit, I'm wondering if you've bruised the bone. I can remember people using that phrase when I was a kid but it was only in the last year or so that I read that this is a real, specific injury and can take quite a long time to go away completely. I think they can detect it by x-ray so it would be worth getting it checked out. If you have, I don't think there's anything much you can do to help it heal but it should get better on its own eventually, only you might be able to get better pain relief if you have a formal diagnosis!