Broken ankle treatment

[Papu5000]

After a bad fall yesterday, I went to a&e, I was seen by the triage nurse who sent me to x-ray after just looking at the ankle from a distance and only popped her index on the swelling for 1 second.

After x-ray I was sent back to a&e waiting room and called by the triage nurse and a senior nurse who told me that my ankle was broken but too small to do anything about it ( fair enough), senior nurse didn't even look at the ankle. They gave me a pair of crutches and sent me home telling me to treat it as a sprain and to put weight on it.

At no point was I seen by a Dr, i feel my ankle hasn't been properly examined, I am worried that a tendon or ligament injury has been overlooked, and that I am causing more damage by following their advice.

I have been icing it, keeping it elevated and taking ibuprofen but the pain is constant, I definitely cannot put weight on it. The ankle is at a funny angle, and I cannot keep it straight (on the photo this is the maximum I can do and it took me a lot of effort to control the ankle and put it in that position)

I am wondering if I should see a GP today to get it looked at or wait longer?

Ouch. It will be difficult to advise without anyone seeing the x-ray. Did the nurse consult a doctor and was passing on their advice?
Did you get a copy of the X-ray? Not sure a gp could do much other than give you pain relief.

No I didn't get a copy of the x-ray, I am sure that a Dr must have reviewed it, but really surprised that they didn't look further at it,
When I went for similar reasons before, they did ask questions such as can you move your toes and so on.
I am thinking to purchase a walking boot cast to see if it would help the recovery.

I think some sort of compression would help, maybe a bandage rather than a boot to start with.
Hopefully someone with better knowledge than me will be along soon!
Hope you feel better soon.

You should not take Ibuprofen for a broken bone as apparently it inhibits repair. ( or so dh & ds were told when they each broke a wrist). Stick to paracetamol. I have to say that the treatment ds got for a fractured wrist was fairly minimal - given a wrist splint then a virtual consultation by Dr (Xrays viewed over computer) and then a phone call telling him what to do - and no further treatment.

Did they book you into fracture clinic for follow up? If not why not phone the A&E and ask them to do that?

I have a recent sprain that was thought to be a break. Current advise from dr at hospital is
DO NOT STRAP IT UP , apparently that hinders any healing rather than helping. I've been told to rest and use as I feel comfortable with.

I was recently advised that for a sprain advice is to exercise and flex the joint gently, walk normally, take anti inflammatory painkillers and that boots, crutches etc were not recommended. It seems strange to have given you crutches unless there is a possibility of a fracture. A dr will have reviewed the xray but sometimes it needs checking again when swelling subsides.

No, they didn't book me in at the fracture clinic, I will give them a call later, good idea,

I was thinking of the walking cast as I need to be mobile asap in a way, 3 dc between 15 months old and 7, dh is looking after them, but he has very serious issues regarding his own health, so I do not want to put too much pressure on him, he has mri and ct scan booked for himself tomorrow, but is now saying he is not sure to go.

There is definitely a fracture but they said it wasn't big/important enough to do anything about it.

When I broken mine, well just above and on the join, it was very clearly broken. I was put in a back slab cast for a few days to let the swelling go down before I had an op and it was put into its full cast for the rest of the healing time. Not sure about a tiny break, but your ankle does look an odd angle. I would go back in a day or so if its still very painful.