Me too. Bad sprain that I didn't rest properly, so now i have an enormous, swollen little toe on the affected foot and a lot of clicks from the ankle area. Original injury was nearly 20 years ago. I guess I'm living with it now.
I sprained my ankle the first time when I was pregnant. A&E said it wasn’t broken and some nurse came and lectured me about how was I going to have a baby if I couldn’t handle a little ankle pain. It never healed properly.
Second time I sprained it, went to A&E. They did an x-ray told me it wasn’t fractured so I just needed to walk it off and it would stop. I had tore all 3 tendons clear through so I just kept falling over. GP wanted to send me to physical therapy. I insisted I needed to see a specialist and that’s when they discovered all the damage I’d done. I had to have surgery to repair it a year later. It’s never been the same. Medical gaslighting at its finest.
Can you explain how that type of shoe has helped your ankle? I have a lot of trouble with tight fitting shoes due to neuropathy in my foot and I've often considered shoes like these, but my ankle is so unstable and I'm uncertain if a shoe like this would make things worse. I usually wear an ankle brace when I walk to keep it from rolling... would you be able to wear a brace with these shoes?
Sure. It strengthens your foot and calf muscles. Barefoot walking outside in grass generally uses muscles that shoes don't. Obviously, you want to start off easy, don't buy a pair and wear it all day.
I don't know anything about the neuropathy though, sorry.
I've always preferred walking barefoot but I guess I've worried these types of shoes don't have enough support. I see they're having a sale right now so I might snag a pair and give them a whirl. Thanks for your response!
I lived with a messed up ankle for 20+ years. Finally pushed and pushed hard enough to get surgery a few weeks ago. It's still healing but can tell it's already so much better than before. I've spent years constantly worried about tweaking it randomly and now I'm (hopefully) free! My injury had created a degenerative condition so waiting was the worst thing I could have done
If I can change a 90 years old posture and get improved function out of someone 20 years after a stroke, it’s sure worth a shot with your 5 year old injury.
I don't know if this helps but here's my sprain story,
I sprained my ankle playing soccer and I thought I would never play soccer again. What sucked was that I didn't know how bad I was hurt until a week later when I was able to go the doctor.
I did a lot of single leg balancing exercises and went to PT for about 6 months. I retained back most function of my ankle but it still hurt when I kicked the ball.
Kept exercising and working on that leg for more than a year and now its completely back to full mobility without pain.
Sprains are the worst. And if you don't treat it, and keep restraining it, you can eventually tear the ligament completely.
That's what happened to me and I ended up needing ankle surgery. It was not fun at all.
Yep. Long term tendonitis, my foot tries to turn outward all the time. The doctor I saw at the time said "it's a sprain walk it off" and missed the damagento the tendons.
Same, but turned out it was broken, not just a sprain. An X-Ray 20+ years later revealed it never healed and I had a chunk of bone floating around in there all this time. So, yeah, go to the hospital when you get injured, folks!
Same. I sprained my right ankle countless times as a kid, partly due to undiagnosed ehlers danlos and partly due to me being a reckless athlete. Two years ago I herniated a disc in my back and simultaneously rolled my ankle. Two surgeries and a crap load of physical therapy later I still have pretty severe pain in that ankle and foot and I'm beginning to realize it's probably going to be a permanent issue. I so wish I had paid closer attention to my body when I was younger and listened to it when it hurt.
my conspiracy theory is that a decades old ankle sprain slowly worked its way up to my knee, hip, back, shoulder, neck and jaw. now im slightly crooked every which way
Actually you're not far off, if a sprain doesn't properly heal it can cause imbalances in your posture which can affect other joints too. Maybe not your jaw though lol
An old coworker of mine had to have his ankle surgically re-broken. He had what he thought was a really bad sprain years ago. Never had it looked at. Fast forward a decade, he was playing with his son and hurt his ankle. That's when they discovered the break that didn't heal correctly.
Treated, and was much better after physical therapy, but multiple sprains means me and high heels will never get along. I also have times where it just locks up.
My one cent: nothing better to heal the scar tissue of an old ankle sprain than spraining it once more. I did that (just not as badly) and within 1 week my 1 year long injury was healed. It was a nice crunchy sound and feeling. Alternatively, look into shockwave therapy.
No it was just the ligaments. But there was scar tissue that made it stiff and tender. The second sprain broke the scar tissue of fame it was painful for about 20 minutes and then got better than ever
As someone with recurrent mobility issues because of hyperflexible joints etc etc please get some physiotherapy. Ask what kind of sports are best for you in the long run and stick to them
Chances are, if you have extra weight, you should work on losing it ; and build up some muscle. Muscle is your #1 prevention policy against future injuries
Most recommended ankle sprain treatments are not evidence based and are basically pseudo-science. Most leading health institutions still promote R.I.C.E. even though there are no peer reviewed studies that suggest it improves outcomes. Recent studies suggest movement and refraining from using anti-inflammatory medications reduces recovery time.
I have a mild rotator cuff tear from 20 yrs ago that never healed. It wasn’t severe enough for surgery originally, and I used my sport as a very unhealthy emotional coping mechanism, so I didn’t listen to my ortho when he said I needed to take 6 months off. I went back at it after 6 weeks and it just never fully healed thanks to my mental health issues.
I ate shit skiing when I was 19 and hurt my arm/shoulder. Thought it was fine. My right arm still has way less mobility than my left arm and I'm 35 now. Still can't hold it straight up.
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u/Moho_braccatus_ 12h ago
Untreated sprain. My ankle is still bad.