Injury recovery lesson recently learned

[XR650L_Dave]

The injury was not from riding, but it certainly had a hell of a lesson.

Twisted my ankle pretty badly (turned a better name for it?), it rolled while stepping half on-half off an unseen edge, the SNAP was pretty remarkable, from that and initial pain I was sure I broke it.

Was able to hobble inside and got it in ice cold water in minutes, and kept it there for several hours, once in awhile pulling it when the cold was a bit too painful.
Bucket was deep enough to cover well above the ankle.

Took 600mg Ibuprofen too.

The swelling was fairly mild and by that evening I was walking pretty well. Am limping a bit 5 days later, but so much better than I expected.
Any thought I had about how maybe I really hadn't bent it over all that far were dispelled as the bruise blossomed.

I know that yeah get some cold on it to help stop swelling and all that, but I had no idea how effective it could be.

 

[MVI]

No trip to get an x-ray ?
You are very lucky guy if that heals up with ice and IBU.

 

[Roger Ball]

In favor of the X-ray. I had a similar sprain (?) years ago and did as you did. A later, unrelated X-ray showed that there had been, indeed, a broken bone that could have been corrected to alleviate the occasional pain that I have today.

 

[katbeanz]

Great info, K, thx, bye.

 

[XR650L_Dave]

No trip to get an x-ray ?
You are very lucky guy if that heals up with ice and IBU.

@Roger Ball : In favor of the X-ray. I had a similar sprain (?) years ago and did as you did. A later, unrelated X-ray showed that there had been, indeed, a broken bone that could have been corrected to alleviate the occasional pain that I have today.

I've been thinking about it... not sure which way I'm going to go.
How many days later is too late, I wonder?

 

[MVI]

You can go anytime. If they need to "break it again" to align it, sooner is better than later.

 

[matty]

I would get it X Rayed Pronto, I twisted my ankle and badly bruised my right foot about 15 years ago, i did the ice thing and you are quite right it works.
But Descovered only last year the upper part of my foot had fractured and healed, they were convinced, and were confused as to why i had ignored this injury without seeking medical help.(it hurt for weeks)
Freak accident, i acctualy fell over a five bar gate i was opening the top hinge broke and gate flopped over, funny .. well it might have looked funny but it hurt like hell i remember. Get it Xrayd dont be stupid like me the and " It will be RIGHT" attitude.

 

[MVI]

Orthopedic surgeon told me I was lucky I only Broke the Tibia and Fibula back when I wrecked in Big Bend NP.

He said Breaking bones in the ankle is worse as if they don't heal up correctly, you can have pains for many, many years.

Go to a specialist, especially since X-Rays don't cost that much.

 

[XR650L_Dave]

I've been ill trained by breaking toes a couple times and having them go 'yeah- nothing we can do. Here're some painkillers'.

I've asked the doc about it, usually he replies pretty quickly.

Thanks all!

 

[MVI]

Same.
Broken Toe. Nothing to be done.
was told "Wear a good shoe"

Ankle is a different animal.

 

[XR650L_Dave]

Discussed with DR, he said based on my description and rate of recovery and range of motion, did not break something.

Hopefully he knows his stuff.

 

[MVI]

So what caused the , remarkable SNAP sound? Any idea?

 

[MVI]

I'll add , glad it is not broken

 

[XR650L_Dave]

So what caused the , remarkable SNAP sound? Any idea?

I think it was like a giant knuckle crack, the joint was pulled apart and it lowered the fluid pressure enough to create nitrogen bubbles in the fluid.

 

[skibum69]

Snap could be tendon or ligament too. Soft tissue injuries can be far worse than broken bones. The ankle joint is pretty complex, you definitely should get an x-ray and further examination to make sure you get everything lines up properly to heal.

 

[Shinyribs]

I think it was like a giant knuckle crack, the joint was pulled apart and it lowered the fluid pressure enough to create nitrogen bubbles in the fluid.

Used to roll my ankles all the time as a kid. Figured I was just clumsy/not watching where I was going or just had weak ankles. Basically grew up in work boots and had a physical therapist ( friend of my dad , they used to build prosthetics) tell me to stop wearing tall lace up boots. Light, low shoes build up ankle strength. Turns out he was right.

As far as the crack goes, I did that about 7 yrs ago. Got tangled up getting off a pretty large backhoe and was either going to faceplant or just had to jump. Fell about 6' , badly rolled my ankle and heard that loud pop. Assumed it was broken as pain was bad enough to make me vomit. I was alone so just had to chill where I was until I could take care of things. Ended up just propping it up on a wall ( and apparently taking a nap for a couple hours...) til I gathered my composure. Range of motion seemed unaffected, so I took that as I sign that I actually didn't break it. Laid out of work for a week as I have a pretty physical job. Ladders and crawl spaces weren't happening. The next week I went back to work and was minding that ankle. Didn't feel good, but wasn't too bad. By the time Friday came around it was becoming fairly painful again. Whatever, I'll rest it over the weekend. But I got stuck with a particularly chatty customer and was standing in his backyard unable to get away from him. While standing there I felt the ankle shift 😬 Yeah, that was more than a sprain.

Assumed it must have been broken all that time and the shift was bones moving around ( obviously not a doctor) so I'm figuring at this that I've really screwed the pooch. Turns out it was dislocated and the shift was things going back in to place. That might be your case as well, but yeah, an x-ray might not be a bad idea really. I got lucky and everything healed up fine, might not be the case if you've got bones that have shifted around.

 

[Yinzer Moto]

Last year I was practicing crossing muddy logs at an angle. I was jumping about a 18” tall log. On one of the crossings, things went wrong and I threw a leg out to dab on the ground, when I came back down. I was transferring most of my body weight toward that foot. As that foot traveled down, myself and the bike were in the air, the bike traveled sideways a bit and the foot peg traveled back under my foot. My foot was coming down at high speed with most of my weight on it and just my toes caught the peg. This bent my foot up, where my toes almost touched my shin. I almost threw up from the pain. The top of my foot is where the pain was. I dug some crutches out from storage to get around. I went to the clinic to get some X-rays and surprisingly nothing was broken. A week of crutches. A couple weeks off the bike. Probably 2 months before it quit hurting if I had to quickly dab the foot on the ground.

 

[XR650L_Dave]

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!