Ankle Pain - Foot Problems Message Board

Navig8tor · 07-20-2003, 07:39 AM

I have a recurring pain on the inside, top portion of my ankle. The pain is actually more on the side of my leg adjacent to the top of my ankle bone. I believe it's brought on by running.

Two weeks ago I ran 3 miles and felt fine. However, about an hour after I finished my run, I experienced a dull pain and slight swelling across the top of my ankle and foot where the leg meets the ankle. I took some Motrin and went about my business.

Two days later it was time to run again. This time I did 1.5 miles without a whole lot of pain on the ankle but I could feel it. That was 5 days and half a bottle of Motrin ago. It is still swollen and pretty painful now.

The pain is centrally located in that little depression right beside the ankle bone. It's like IN BETWEEN the ankle and the achilles tendon. That little depression in there, only it's on the inside of my leg rather than the outside. I can walk on it but with a dull pain. IT's a really intense pain when I poke it with my finger. Not really black and blue like a sprain either. In fact I notice no discoloration. Just slight swelling and pain.

I've been a runner for over 20 years and I've never had an injury like this. I've sprained ankles before but it's always been on the outside of the leg. I don't know what caused this becuase I had no traumatic injury. No "ankle rolls", no potholes on the road, no jumping or quick cuts. It was just a steady 3 miles on a flat surface.

Any ideas.....I think it's way too low on the leg to be shin splints but I haven't a clue otherwise. I have to go back to work tomorrow and I'm worried about my boot pressing on it. I've been on vacation....

littlelulu1937 · 07-21-2003, 10:20 PM

I checked what seemed to be the location of your ankle pain in my Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, & it sounds like the Abductor Hallucis Muscle. Does that sound right?

Navig8tor · 07-22-2003, 02:00 PM

Not being a doctor and only being able to see a "from above" view of this muscle, I'm not sure if you're right or not. However, my pain is located right where the largest portion of this muscle meets the ankle. That's if I'm seeing this picture correctly.

I had to look this muscle up to even know what you were talking about. What I read says the muscle in question is used to flex and abduct the big toe and support the arch. I have zero arch pain and no pain in the big toe either.

This is the best way I know to describe the location of my pain. And by the way, it's been 9 days since I first felt the pain of whatever the injury is. It's still swollen and painful and I haven't ran a yard since it happened.

Lay your right foot across your left knee. Your right ankle will be facing up obviously. Put your finger directly in the center of your ankle bone. Now, trace your ankle bone DIRCECTLY back towards the Achilles tendon. As soon as your feel the slope of the ankle bone stop, your finger will be in a little crevase. My pain is RIGHT THERE. Using your ankle bone as a clock (gotta leave your right ankle on your left knee) the worst pain is actually at 4 o'clock, right on the edge of the ankle bone and along that little crevase between the ankle bone and the achilles tendon. The Achilles itself is fine as well. No achilles pain. No arch pain and no big toe pain. Something else I just noticed today is another central location of pain. If you run your fingers down the shin bone, you can feel a little notch between the top of the ankle and the bottom of the shin. I've got some pain in that little notch as well. Not sure if it's the top of my ankle or the bottom of my shin that actually hurts. Hard to tell with the swelling.

I haven't been to the doctor. I was hoping it was just a strain and that it would go away. However, it's still swollen with just a smidge of discoloration. It is however painful to walk on at times and I'm on my feet probably 10 hours a day. I'm sure the boots I wear at work aren't helping any. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I don't have a stress fracture.

2manypills · 07-22-2003, 03:38 PM

my 11 year old daughter was having similar pain after playing sports of periods of activity.i felt meybe it was growing pains or mild sprain,so i took her to the dr.,who sent us to a orthopedic spec. who suspected something called tarsal coalition,had had a mri done and was right.a tarsal coalition is a abnormal connection of bones,it can be fiber,cartalige or bone.it can be inside or outside od a joint or otheer bones.most people dont ever know they have the problem unless they are very active and injure the area.with my daughter the growth was bone and her activity caused small fractures in the area that didnt move normally.there is info on orthopedic web sites

littlelulu1937 · 07-22-2003, 06:18 PM

Well that's how "triggerpoints" work. It's generally a "referral" pain. Thus, neither your big toe nor achilles heel would feel the pain if your Abductor Muscle were involved as it doesn't refer the pain to those two areas.

The pain area (& trigger points) for this muscle would be primarily on the inner side of the heel & short way up the inner ankle, sometimes as far up as the first metatarsal.