# You aren't my doctor, etc.: What's up with my foot & ankle?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-arent-my-doctor-etc-whats-up-with-my-foot-ankle/690803>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 15, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-arent-my-doctor-etc-whats-up-with-my-foot-ankle/690803 "2014-06-15T02:26:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-arent-my-doctor-etc-whats-up-with-my-foot-ankle/690803/1 "2014-06-15T02:26:48Z")

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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!)

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**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-arent-my-doctor-etc-whats-up-with-my-foot-ankle/690803/2 "2014-06-15T04:02:32Z")

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I am not, etc., but I think that generally the pain and stiffness in adjacent areas has the same effect as a splint - i.e. restricting movement, thus protecting the injured area.