I am awaiting to see if I need a repair to a torn ATFL in my ankle, but the surgeon won't touch me until the severe bruising in my talus bone settles down, he said its the worst bruising he's seen without the bone snapping in half.
Is there anyway I can encourage the bruising the bone to go away quicker? I'm going mad having to stay totally off my foot!
Topical anti-inflammatories, the nice strong ones. In the US all the good ones are prescription-only, not sure about your country.
I can't PROVE that they treat bone bruising, but they cleared the skin bruising after my last knee surgery so fast my physical therapist was astounded. I mean, in a week I went from "Good lord girl, who took a baseball bat to your knee?" to a few brown marks.
How was the bone bruising diagnosed? How long has it been since the injury?
It sounds like your injury wasn't too long ago. If that is the case, I am not sure why you surgeon is even discussing an ATFL repair. A repair of the ATFL only needs to be performed with recurrent instability and recurrent sprains. There is no medical basis for repairing the ATFL because it looks torn on an MRI.
It's been 8 weeks since I injured it, the bruising was picked up from an MRI.
The ATFL repair was discussed because of a complete tear and the shocking instability in the joint. I walked 6 feet without my splint on and my ankle rolled twice on flat ground. I also can't flex my foot up or down because of the tear so I guess that's why the repair was discussed.
Flexion and extension of the joint has nothing to do with the ATFL. Ligaments are there for stability and have no function in joint motion. The severe instability is a good reason to surgically repair the ATFL.
With severe injuries to the talus, one should also look at avascular necrosis. When looking on MRI, it will appear as bruising or increased fluid in the bone. A bone scan is a good way to differentiate it from the usual severe trauma to the talus.
Why can't you flex your foot? Well, the simplest reason is swelling. Happens very often with joint injuries, the tissues swell so much the joint sticks in place.
Or, it could be a specific injury. Can you wiggle it? Can you reposition it with your hand? Is it painful to try, or does it just not work?
Why can't you flex your foot? Well, the simplest reason is swelling. Happens very often with joint injuries, the tissues swell so much the joint sticks in place.
Or, it could be a specific injury. Can you wiggle it? Can you reposition it with your hand? Is it painful to try, or does it just not work?
I would have thought after almost 9 weeks the swelling would be gone! it's still a little swollen around where the tear in the ligament is, but its 80% better on swelling than it was.
I can wriggle my toes and I can bend my foot using my hands, but it causes pain past a certain point so I don't over stretch it. If I try to just flex my foot without help, it just won't go, I can try for an hour and nothing.
Lack of strength in your ankle is something hard to assess over a discussion board. Most often it is due to pain or guarding. There are countless reasons for weakness however - tendon injury, bony injury to the ankle, nerve injury, swelling, etc. It most certainly has nothing to do with the ATFL. It is similar to someone tearing their ACL. They can still bend and flex, but the knee is unstable.
Symptoms of osteo necrosis are similar to what you are having - continued pain, limited motion, etc. Treatment is typically rest, physical therapy, sometimes a bone stimulator but there it gets much more involved if conservative things do not improve it. I wouldn't think too much ahead at this point.
What could be stopping that?
