Sprained ankle still swollen after 10 days

[Ankling]

Have name changed for this.
Sprained my ankle ten days ago; went over the side of my foot walking the dog and ended up in a heap on the floor. No medical attention as despite pain it didn't swell immediately and I could weight bear fine. I read online that if you can walk more than 4 steps it's v unlikely to be broken. I didn't hit it on anything.

It didn't get much rest as having sprained it on Thursday I was off on holiday Saturday and obv was walking a fair bit on hols, using tubigrip and taking ibuprofen.

Anyway it doesn't hurt much to walk on now - a draggy 2/10 pain - as long as I keep my foot straight. However yesterday I accidentally bent my ankle while sitting up in bed and it was agonizing. It also is still quite swollen (may have got worse after bending it yesterday). Attaching the progression in a picture - immediately after, a few hours later, a couple of days after that when the bruising came out, and last night day 10.

I was thinking of contacting the GP in the morning but is there any point? I wondered if it might need physio. Would there be any point in an x ray at this distance? Esp since I can weight bear fine? Second picture is other ankle for comparison as I am a sturdy person with chunky legs and ankles anyway.

It will be, it takes a long time to go down. You need to rest, ice, use compression bandages and do gentle exercises. I have had a lot of sprains and have ended up with tendonitis because I never looked after them

Have heard a few people say a badly sprained ankle can be almost worse than a break - I’ve had two particularly bad ones that took a couple months to settle. Still a bit swollen years later.

Have a Google and see a physio if that Lola helpful

It’s a nonsense that you can’t walk on a broken ankle - I could and it was broken and needed an operation (whole thread about it Here)

Mine looked quite similar, albeit almost immediately. I’d get an X-ray just in case

Thé doctor will tell you to rest it as much as possible, elevated if possible, ibruprofen and ice pack. ( that’s what they told me); they can take a long time to heal unfortunately .

my best tip is to buy two of the packs you put round bottles of wine to chill them. Cut down one section so you have a rectangle. Put them in the freezer for at least four hours. Use it to wrap round the ankle over a tea towel. It’s much more effective and easier than the usual bag of frozen peas. ( two just to make life easier)

I'd get it checked just in case. You absolutely can walk on a broken ankle.

Annoyingly sprains can take forever to heal. I did mine about 8 weeks ago and it’s still slightly swollen and hurts if I accidentally move it a certain way.

fingers crossed yours heals quickly, it looks sore!

You have no idea what the doctor will say because you don't know what's wrong.

OP, people can and do walk around with broken bones. Definitely see the doctor to ask about an X-ray, I can't believe you didn't go to urgent care immediately!

I would seek medical advice now, as you could have an avulsion fracture.

What would they do for that?

I can walk with barely any limping now but sideways movement of the foot hurts like a mofo.

Looks exactly like my foot when I went over it on holiday last year. The pain was unimaginable. It was swollen for probably about a fortnight, painful to walk on for about a month and took probably closer to two months to feel normal to walk on. It was hell.

It is possible to walk on a broken ankle.

It may be worth getting it X rayed.
The danger if it is broken is that either it displaces (so the bone that is broken continues to move thus stopping healing) or it heals badly thus impacting your walking,

Sprains can take months to heal.

Rule out a fracture before you make it worse. Go for an x ray! There's no other way to know.

Sorry I should have added, I went to A&E with it the next day and the doctor told me to expect it to take at least 6 weeks to get better. I bought some of the deep freeze gel and just kept it elevated and iced as much as I could which was his advice.

When I sprained mine I was hobbling for a month and it took 6 months to be normal.

It's very early days for you.

If it's been 10 days, you've probably got a good month or more... and then probably a bit of physio.

They might give you one of those big clumpy velcro boot things, to support it and stop sideways movement, I would have thought. My dd's avulsion fracture was in a different part of her foot, so I don't know what treatment they would give you.

You can walk on a broken ankle. You don't know if you've sprained yours or not. You need an x-ray to make sure you know how to treat it or else you could do far more damage in the long term.

It could be broken. I had an x ray at an out of hours walk in that said it was fine no break and 2 weeks later it was still hard to walk on though swelling had gone down abit. Was sent by gp back for x ray at hospital and it was both a fracture
and dislocation. Had operation and month off work - I wasted time thinking it would heal so I would get it checked out. Mine was bridge of foot not ankle

When I badly sprained my ankle I had to see a physio as after 8 weeks it still felt fragile, like it would go again any minute. I did have an x-ray which showed no break.

I only needed one physio session, my ankle had been knocked out of alignment and they just manipulated it back into place (wasn't painful). It felt better straight away. It's still weaker than my other side 10yrs on, I can't hop on that side and if I walk/run excessively it aches but its manageable and hasn't gone on me again thankfully.

I sprained my ankle about 2 years ago and took between 4 and 5 months to fully heal. A sprain can sometimes be worse than actually breaking it.

I sprained my ankle badly 7 years ago and it took months and months to heal, I was off work for 7 weeks and was hobbling for much of that. It took 2 years before I could tuck my leg underneath me and sit on top of the foot that I sprained.