Tonight, I kicked a board while barefoot, whacking my fourth toe (equivalent to ring finger - ring toe?) pretty hard. No biggie, until a couple of minutes later. As soon as I started to walk, my leg started to really hurt just above the inside of my ankle, and the ankle joint itself was suddenly painfully stiff. I walked a few more feet to see whether the stiffness was just a kink that needed to be worked out, but no. When I sat down, I could see some swelling beginning on the front of my ankle, on the interior (is that properly called medial?)
As a veteran of any number of minor foot and ankle injuries, I decided that this doesn’t call for an emergency room visit - no point in sitting for hours, getting an x-ray and an elastic wrap, and being referred to an ortho sometime down the road. I took an anti-inflammatory, put an ice pack on, and elevated my foot; and then wrapped it with my own Ace bandage. If it doesn’t get better, I can get in to see an orthopedist pretty soon, without a referral from the ER.
Since this started - about 3 hours ago - the pain has lessened and the stiffness isn’t so great, but I’m also experiencing pain on the other side of my ankle - just below the protrusion where the fibula meets the bones of the foot - and a bit of achiness toward the ball of my foot. No bruising that I can see, and the swelling is still pretty modest. So now, I’m curious. Any theories on what I could have done to myself this time? (It just seems so weird to me that my ankle is so involved immediately after I stubbed my toe!)