My wife just pointed out to me that my right ankle looks somewhat deformed. At least when compared to my left. The bone is about twice the twice of the left and protrudes a good bit from the foot.
This happens to be an ankle that I sprained quite severely about 10 years ago. But like the tough guy I figured I was, I never went to the doctor assuming it would heal in due course.
My wife (who has no medical training whatsoever) suspects that I had actually broken the ankle rather than sprained it. She also believes that the deformity is from not getting any treatment and that it could have long term repercussions.
My question is for anyone who knows anything is whether there is anything I can do about this now. I suppose I could see my orthopedist and tell him what happened. But my guess is that he would say “E-Diddy, you f****d up!” and send me home.
Anyone have any experience with this type of things?
In 2000 I broke my foot (correctly, I snapped the fitfth metatarsal from where it attaches to the ankle). I walked on it before it was seen by a medical professional. He told me that, while I was quite stupid to have done it, walking on it was the best thing I could have done, because I reset the bone. By the time I saw him, it would have required surgery to reset it.
You may have had a broken bone. You may have had major tendon damage.
IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT IS WRONG - GO TO A DOCTOR!!!
I have sprained many an ankle. I also broke my heel once (the heel is part of the ankle joint).
When I broke my heel, the instant I hit the ground I knew that this was not an ankle sprain. Unbelieveable amount of pain.
Now 11 years later, my one ankle is larger than the other. I do have some restriction of movement. I can only walk about 5 miles in a day before it starts to swell and hurt.
If you have any doubts, go see a doctor. Don’t know what they can do, except suggest physical therapy at this point, but go see one.
I broke my ankle last year, in three places all at once (trimalleolar fracture). The instant it happened I knew that this was no ordinary sprain, even though I had never sprained or broken anything in my life. But I heard a loud cracking noise as my foot twisted around almost the entire way to face backwards (to the outside).
There was no choice in walking on it - there was absolutely no way that was going to happen, as Rick posted, it is an unbelieveable amount of pain.
Happily, I went straight to the hospital, had surgery to put in pins and a plate, and went merrily on my way (two days later). These days that ankle is bigger than the other, and misshapen, though I like to think it’s partly because of the hardware. I refer to it as my “cankle” (term around here for a calf and ankle that are indistinguishable, though mine is not that bad).
To make a long story short, if you had broken your ankle 10 years or so ago, it’s possible - as someone else posted above- that you walked away, though you would probably have been in extreme pain, that lasted much longer than your average bump or sprain. Did you hear a cracking noise that would indicate bones snapping?
So, to conclude - next time you see your doctor, ask!
A friend of mine from college had a similar thing, only hers was her wrist. Her Dad was of the “oh, it’s just a sprain,” type, and when she fell off her bike he just iced it, wrapped it, and sent her on to school. A decade later, worsening pain and an odd clicking noise sent her to a doc. They did an x-ray, discovered the old break that had healed wrong and the bones were rubbing together. She had surgery where they re-broke the arm, set it properly (with pins) and she had a cast for a while. She’s been doing good ever since. So this does seem to happen to other people. An orthopedic is probably your best bet.