I sprained my ankle last friday playing football, I went over on my left ankle, it bent inwards. I felt something snap, I thought I had broken my foot at first. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt. I was down for about 3 minutes then I got up and tried to run it off. After 5 minutes I knew I couldnt continue so I sat out.

I had ice on it Fri night for a bit. Then saturday too. On sunday morning I went E.R. I felt I was rushed through. Doc only looked at my foot for about 2 minutes, then I had x-ray. They told me x-ray was fine and sent me home.

Its now almost a week on and I'm still getting quite a bit of pain, which I suspect is very normal. I've got swelling on both in inside and outside on my ankle, and a little round the heel too. I've got bruising inside ankle and outside and above the ankle on the outside of my leg. Also the bruising runs along the outside of my foot almost near my toes. The bruise is light blue.

I suspect I've torn my ligaments. So I understand I'll be out of football for a good 5/6 weeks. With work I've been on my feet virtually since I done the injury. Only time to rest, ice and elevate ankle was during the evening.

Has anyone got any advice on when to start exercising my ankle?

The best advice I can give you is to go see an orthopedist who specializes in the ankle. Going to the E.R. is not enough. Some injuries get missed by ER docs because they just don't see enough of them so they misdiagnose ("its just a sprain- stay off of it for 4-6 weeks"). Especially if you want to get back to football, get the earliest appointment you can get to confirm that you don't need any additional treatment.

Definitely get a second opinion. The fact that you heard a snap is not good. It could be that you completely tore a ligament or damaged a tendon or something. I would definitely get in to see a foot/ankle specialist asap.

I agree that you should see a podiatrist or an orthopedic surgeon. But, it does sound like a grade 2 or 3 ankle sprain. That swelling and bruising are typical for that type of injury. It is actually good to walk on it. You should also start strengthing exercises after the pain and swelling subsides a bit. I would suspect that an orthopedic specialist would send you to PT - which is very important. Grade 3 sprains often lead to ankle instability which means you will probably sprain your ankle over and over and over, each time causing more damage. Then you are looking at surgery to tighten the ankle back up (I had that). Doing PT after the injury can really help avoid having an unstable ankle.

Sorry to hear about the ankle, they are no fun. I agree with everyone else who has posted that you should see an orthopaedist asap. I sprained my ankle 12 yrs ago (and your description of your ankle sounds like how mine was). Well, I went to Urgent Care and took xrays and showed no broken bone (so they said) and sent me home with no instructions for follow up or seek PT. Now 12 years later (and a couple of small "twists") I'm having terrible problems with it and MRI showed it still had tears in it, ligaments stretched out with some laxity, thickening of the ligaments, scar tissue, loose bodies and fluid. PT was ordered and after 8 visits ortho has decided to do ligament repair of the ATFL. This will probably be in Dec and is not coming soon enough.

You should definitely get a specialists opinion and examination. Good luck and keep us posted!

I sprained my ankle last Tuesday too, it bloomin hurts, been a whole week now and it still hurts, supposed to be joining the Army and have my physical test coming up, so frustrated that I can;t do any running for a while.

Anyway hope you get better soon!

I went to docs and they told me pretty much what I expected. RICE, take pain killers and come back if swelling and bruising hasnt gone within 2/3 weeks.

Needless to say the swelling has gone down drastically. Its now been 11 days since the incident. There bruising is still there not slowly fading.

How long should I give it before i start light training? Does anyone have any links to ligament strengthening exercises I should be doing?

Thanks

To the top!

Can anyone shed any light on what work I should do on my ankle before returning to football practise?

There isn't any way to strengthen the actual ligaments. You can only strengthen the muscles in the lower leg that can help support the ligaments. Your doctor should be able to recommend exercises, or give you a referral to a physical therapist who can set you up with an exercise program. Are you on a team with an athletic trainer? If so, they can also help with exercises.