Got a charlie horse on my quad a month ago from a kick in self defense class. It was fine at the time, but swelled up overnight and it was all I could do to hobble over the pharmacy in excruciating pain the next day to get crutches. I couldn’t believe how painful it was for just a muscle bruise.
Went to a sports med doc and one month and several physical therapy sessions later I get to start working out again today and will have a full recovery soon. Still, though, much more painful and cumbersome than I expected.
Most painful - hard to say. Maybe when I was putting air into my tyres with a foot pump which got stiffer and stiffer. I thought it was just a crap pump and was just the increasing pressure making it tougher to push it in, so I stood on it with my full weight, balancing on the pump. It flew out from under my feet as the faulty hose came off the pump, and caused me to land my full weight on my coccyx on the concrete. Or the time I slipped on wet astroturf and fell backwards, straight onto the ball with my coccyx. That certainly hurt a lot. Maybe the still undiagnosed condition which may be to do with my gallbladder or may be a spastic oesophagus. I can’t breathe or feel my fingers or toes when that’s going for it. Most painful for its size definitely goes to the little sliver of plastic which jammed itself down and under the side of my fingernail and then turned and went straight across the nail bed. That made me almost throw up on the spot, and then again when I had to remove it. Yikes. So small and so incredibly painful.
That was a hockey ball, by the way. Small, hard, the right size to perfectly concavify (is there actually a word for that? If there is I don’t know it) your coccyx. Don’t know why I neglected to mention that small but painful detail.
I had the sole of my foot partially sort of deglove … imagine the entire sole of your foot turning into a giant blister, but the entire skin layer down to muscle separating but not coming off the foot. My doc couldn’t figure out anything that could have caused it. I was sitting in the exam room with one of my pseudogout flares on the other foot, and I looked down and the other foot looked odd. So mrAru and I were looking at it [it isn’t exactly easy to really examine the sole of ones foot unless you are into yoga normally:p] and we sat there and watched the sole turn itself essentially into a giant single blister. My doc was mystified. We decided to wrap it, RICE it and see what happened over the next 48. The liquid absorbed back in and it ended up taking about 3 weeks for the skin layer to reattach to the underlaying muscle. Never really hurt, didn’t seem to decrease the sensitivity of the nerve endings in that foot. Just, no idea WTF happened.
What hurts worse than I expect? Sunburns. Small injury in comparison to others in this thread, but even the wussiest sunburn will make me miserable for the next 12 hours or so. It’s not just the sunburn itself: it’s the nasty, sweaty, HOT feeling that accompanies it. I also often get a migraine on top of that, so when I get sunburns, I end up lying in a darkened room with a fan on me and a wet cloth on my head, just wanting to make it stop.
Also, an injury that hurt LESS than I thought it would: an ankle infection I got last summer. I got a blister on the back of my ankle, which burst, but I thought if I left it alone it would go away on its own. Then the swelling started. My ankle just got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and eventually looked like this (not the best picture in the world, but the scale is pretty clear). And while there certainly was pain, from the skin being stretched out, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. Frankly, the butt-shot of amoxicillin I got at urgent care hurt more than the actual infection (that’s another “thing I thought would hurt less”–I could barely sit for about half an hour). I was mostly freaked out about the swelling (and about the possibility that I would die from sepsis, or something). Once the antibiotics started to kick in, I was mostly just grossed out at the inert bag of fluid sloshing around my ankle.
I had 3 ankle sprains in one year, probably due to flat feet (which contribute to ankle instability). I wrapped my ankle for a little while and sort of half-assed my PT after the first two sprains, and things seemed mostly better. Then, I didn’t just re-sprain my L ankle, I tore the peroneal retinaculum, which keeps your tendons in their happy little places on the outside of your ankle. That hurt like a mofo, maybe the worst pain I’ve ever experienced (and I do not wish to repeat the popping sensation) - my friend who was with me said I sounded like a dog undergoing grievous injury. The worst part was that I was still on the horse and had to make myself hurt even more to get off.
Anyway, I ended up having surgery to put things back together, so I had a strict regimen of total rest followed by careful return to movement and loading over the course of several months. It was 2 weeks of complete rest and crutches, then another 6 weeks of using a big boot whenever I was weight-bearing, then about 6-8 weeks after that of using an Air-Cast (splint). I still used the Air-Cast and taped my ankle when riding for an additional month or two, then transitioned to just taping, and eventually (carefully!) introduced riding without anything except my normal riding boots. Starting a few weeks after surgery, I had PT twice a week for several months, and I actually did my homework exercises with both ankles twice a day. I am convinced that the combination of giving the ligaments time to heal, use of range of motion exercises to encourage proper healing instead of tight scar tissue, and strengthening of the muscles supporting the foot and ankle is why I have not had any issues. It DID take around 9 months before I stopped having mild pain after a hard ride, or if I suddenly stretched things by accident, but I kept on improving and haven’t had any sprains since. This parallels my experience with horses, where a period of strict rest followed by a careful, gradual exercise program has rehabbed many a horse with a tendon or ligament injury, but severe lesions may take 6 months to a year to be 100%. I think the attitude of “take it easy until it stops hurting, then return to normal activities” may be sufficient for some people and some mild to moderate sprains but does not maximize the chances for return to full function after a moderate to severe sprain. JMHO, IANAD.
OK, now that I’ve completed my rant, the thing that surprised me was the amount of pain from the cellulitis/wound infections after my cat bites last year. The cellulitis didn’t look all that impressive compared to picture I’ve seen (or horses whose legs were so swollen they were perfectly round), but I was mighty cranky even after a metric shit-tonne of ibuprofen.
I accidentally slammed my left index finger in a sliding glass door. The kind where the edge of the door fits into a bit of a pocket to keep weather where it belongs. I tried to act sort of nonchalant about it since there were a lot of people outside next door, but it felt like I blacked out for a second. It hurt for months, and ached for a couple years. I still get twinges every now and then. Probably should have had it looked at but there was no skin breakage, or even any swelling or bruising. Probably not much they could have done for it anyway.
I have sprained my ankle once and my foot once. Neither hurt as much as I would have expected… although in both cases the pain was bad enough that I knew I shouldn’t walk on it, and went to the doctor. I usually find that things hurt me less than I would assume, but I’ve yet to have a severe injury or other painful conditions, so that rule will be broken sometime…
A lot of sports therapists and orthopedists would agree with you. This is why I went with a wrap instead of a cast that the doctor at the clinic I went to suggested. (Japanese doctors tend to be very conservative, if not old-fashioned in their treatment suggestions.) He didn’t give me any exercises to do, but I went through range of motion exercises and strengthening exercises on my own just about every day. Frankly, the only reason I went to him was to see whether I had any bone damage or ripped ligament tissue. The tendons and muscles will heal on their own, but ligaments might need surgery. And given that he kept pushing for a cast, but didn’t give me any non-surgical advice, I probably won’t be going back to him if I have another injury.
I did extra PT with my previous wrist injuries too. After I got the casts off, I had physical therapy for a couple of weeks, but I also did a bunch of work on my own. The doctors were impressed by how much flexibility and range of motion I’d retained. I’m sure it was because I made a habit out of stretching and working through as much of the range of motion as possible several times a day, and I wasn’t afraid to hurt a bit in doing it. I’m still limited in mobility by my standards, but since I used to be more flexible than most people, now I’m down to “normal” range.
I fell off of a pair of platform sandals and sprained my ankle a few years ago. OMG that hurt like a mother… Ankle all black and blue, had to wear a house slipper for a couple weeks cuz I couldn’t get a normal shoe on. That’s what I get for wearing platform sandals at my age… :rolleyes:
I knew having my wisdom teeth pulled would be the worst pain of my life, and I was right. The vicoden worked for a while, then it started keeping me awake instead of knocking me out like I wanted. Advil just didn’t cut it…
One more thing that surprised me but maybe shouldn’t have was the aftermath of getting my metatarsals walked on by a 1500 lb horse. It didn’t hurt as much as an ankle sprain - I was still able to rip the horse a new one for being rude and then gimp to his pasture - but the swelling persisted for a long, long time. My shoe on that foot felt a bit tight for months from thickening in the soft tissues, and it was more than a year before it didn’t hurt on rainy days.
Interestingly, I took a radiograph of the foot at work and the vet didn’t find anything broken (I know, I know), but there was remodeling suggesting that I had some old fractures in a couple of my toes. I have been stepped on a lot by horses, but I haven’t ever gone to the doctor for problems with that foot (had the other radiographed once), so I’m not sure what the story is with those toes.
There are so many ankle sprain stories here that I have to post my experience.
The sports trainer where I went to college was a pretty sharp guy and did testing (experimentation) on injured soldiers at their training camp. The system that he came up with for rehabilitating a sprained ankle was very effective.
First, get your foot into a bucket of icewater as fast as possible. (I know this is so cold as to be painful.)
After about an hour of that he would wrap your ankle tightly with two horseshoe shaped pads surrounding the sharp ankle bones on each side of the foot. (don’t remember the name of these bones, though I think they are processes on the tibia and fibula). The open end of the horseshoe shape of these pads (after being wrapped very tightly) would force the edema (swelling fluid) out of the ankle joint and up into the lower leg. He actually used a ‘boot’ with velcro straps to cinch the wrap even tighter around the ankle.
This was the whole crux of the treatment (and another painful thing to have to endure). Getting the fluid out of the ankle joint before it had time to ''settle" would turn the calf black and blue but the ankle joint was only lightly affected. With most ankle injuries the thing that takes the longest to heal is the body trying to rid itself of the edema. If this edema settles in the joint, where blood flow is very limited, it breaks down slowly to eventually find its way out of the joint and to be carried away by the blood stream. By forceing as much of this as possible away from the joint, healing is sped up dramatically.
I appologize if this does not make much sense but I did the best that I could describing the process. Needless to say the old addage of RICE or ICE or even PRINCE, does not tell the whole story. If you upgrade the “I” ice and the “C” compression it will make a world of difference in the recovery rate. A simple plastic bag of ice resting on the ankle and an ace bandage is relatively ineffective.
Litterally, the compression should be as drastic as you can withstand, especially early in the process. If your foot is not throbbing you don’t have it tight enough.
This process is actually quite a lot for most people to endure, but if you are an athelete in training it could put you back in the gym in 3-5 days after a bad sprain.
Actually, in a sprain causing lesions/torn fibers in the ligament(s) involved, the healing of the ligaments - replacement of lost collagen fibers with scar tissue and subsequent remodeling of scar tissue - is what takes the longest. This process is not complete for weeks at the bare minimum to many months. Wrapping an area tightly will decrease edema due to Starling’s hypothesis (regarding the balance of forces acting on fluid in capillaries) - reducing pain and increasing range of motion - and stabilize the joint, but it will not make the torn fibers heal in a few days. I agree with you, though, that it is easy to wrap too loosely with an Ace bandage - with Vetrap and Elastikon, I was able to all but immobilize my ankles and push most of the edema back into circulation. My foot wasn’t throbbing, though.
Also, the joint capsule is watertight and does not allow fluid to enter or exit, so edema can only settle around a joint, not in it. It’s true that trauma can cause inflammation of the synovial lining, leading to increased production of synovial fluid, but this is separate from the edema in the surrounding tissues.
That’s exactly how I sprained my ankle last year. Mine was grade 2, fortunately, though and I was out of work for a couple of days and then back on crutches. The ankle is still not the same. It’s thicker than the other and tends to swell and hurt a little after my long runs. I’m lucky though in that I’ve strengthened my ankles quite a bit with exercise and conditioning, so it actually feels more stable than it ever did before.
As far as pain goes, it was pretty bad, but not as bad as the corneal ulcer by bacterial keratitis I experienced. Even the dimmest of light caused excruciating pain, so I could do nothing but lay in bed wearing a sleep mask. But that wasn’t all…even the slightest movement caused excruciating pain. Try not moving your eyeball at all, even with your eyelids closed. It’s impossible. Especially if you manage to fall asleep from exhaustion and stop actively trying to keep your eyeball from moving. So, I laid in bed transitioning between moaning pitifully and screaming in agony. Don’t cry though…please, no tears. That would be very bad.
I had two birth inductions sans medical pain relief. The eye infection was more painful than that by a magnitude of monumental proportions. It’s on the order of “death would be preferable.” I have no idea why or whether this just means I am an epic wuss.
Out of curiosity, about how soon after an ankle sprain can you run again?
I’m guessing not for at least a couple of weeks. I hope I’ll at least be able to walk briskly in a week or so. I feel disgusting. Maybe I’ll take this opportunity to lift weights on my upper body.
I don’t know, actually. It took a couple of months to heal well, but I re-injured the ankle while whitewater rafting about 2-3 months after the initial sprain. I didn’t start running again until a year and a half later because I had lost interest.
IANAD, so I assume it really depends on how bad the tear was. You didn’t say how bad your sprain is. A grade 1 tear is going to allow you to run again sooner than a grade 3 tear, obviously. And if your doctor gave you rehabilitation exercises doing those religiously will get you back on your feet sooner as well and reduce the chances of re-injuring a weakened ankle. Healing time means your muscles lose conditioning and your tendons lose elasticity, so your foot structure will be less supportive and your range of motion will be compromised. That can enhance the risk of injury once you get back into your usual activities.
So, give your body some time to heal and start reconditioning your foot and ankle before you hit the ground running.
Your ankle may be weak for quite a while; I’d suggest discussing running with a doctor. Possibly some extra support would help. Has it been confirmed to be a sprain yet?
Back to the OP: I’ve never had a “pop” when spraining an ankle… something I’ve had FAR too much experience with :smack: (though at least the last time, it happened AT THE ORTHOPEDIST’S OFFICE :p) but several doctors have told me that they can be MORE painful than an actual break. That last sprain, I remember hurting like HELL later that afternoon even though I got it RICEd pretty promptly AND took a Vicodin.
More painful than expected: Well, childbirth hurt quite a lot. I’d been warned that it would, obviously… but I’d also been told that pain relief was a) available, and b) effective. Availability turned out to be rather problematic (time between request and receipt: 2.5 hours), and b) turned out to be a sick joke.
Several medical tests involving a glorified cattle prod. Ranging from ow to ow to ow to OHGODMAKEITSTOP. That was on one leg.
Then they did the other leg.
That sucked.
The time I got my finger caught between the top of a chair leg, and the flimsy plastic chair seat which was NOT properly attached to the chair leg… this occurred when I was trying to pull the chair forward and popped my tush off it to do so. Imagine most of the weight of a non-skinny adult woman, coming down on ONE FINGER. That’s the only time I’ve ever nearly barfed with pain. As I was sitting down at a cafeteria table full of strangers, I’m very glad I held it in. I think the shriek of pain was enough.
Less painful than expected: Oddly, my gallbladder. Yeah, it sucked, but it was not nearly as bad as any of the above-mentioned. I would definitely choose it over childbirth!
For what it’s worth, it was a grade 2 tear. The doctor I visited said that the pop sound made it a little closer to a grade 3 than a grade 1.
And Mama Zappa, yes, it was a sprain, albeit a bad one.
Urgh. I just want to walk normally, dammit. I hate taking the elevator instead of the stairs, and I hate how long it takes me to get from point A to point B. It’s so freaking aggravating. Did I ever mention that I’m an absolutely horrible patient?
Luckily, I have a treadmill. Maybe in a week and a half or two I’ll start walking. Very slowly. I wish I had a recumbent bike or something that didn’t require a lot of weight on my ankle.
