How to treat injuries caused by twisted ankle?

One of the vulnerable and most injured areas of the leg is the ankle, which bears a large load when moving. Often, when walking, you have to hurry and speed up the pace, especially if this happens in high-heeled shoes, then the risk of injury increases significantly. Therefore, the question is: “I twisted my leg, my ankle is swollen, what should I do, how to provide first aid and how to treat the injury?” very relevant.

Symptoms

Factors that lead to an ankle sprain can have serious consequences: rupture, sprain, or fracture of the bones that form the joint.

Main signs of injury:

1. severe pain when supporting the injured leg;
2. inability to move the foot or fingers;
3. unpleasant sensations that intensify when touching the area of ​​injury;
4. swelling, swelling of the ankle, hemorrhage;
5. local increase in temperature.

Symptoms of a bruised ankle

If your ankle is injured, it may be a symptom of a serious injury:

1. stretching,
2. Rupture, tear of ligaments,
3. Dislocation, subluxation,
4. Fracture.

Stretching

If you twist your leg and as a result of an incorrectly distributed load, an ankle sprain occurs. The severity of the injury depends on the number of tendons injured and the number of torn fibers in each tendon.

Stretching is accompanied by the following symptoms:

• Pain that practically does not bother you at rest,
• Slight swelling in the area of ​​injury,
• Difficulty walking.

A sprain can affect one or more ligaments at the same time.

Tear, rupture of ligaments

With such damage, the following, more intense, symptoms are observed:

• Swelling in the ankle area,
• Inflammation and hematoma of the tear site,
• Strong pain,
• Instability in the joint.

When ligaments are torn or torn, the foot can move in different directions, which can lead to serious complications.

Dislocation, subluxation

Dislocation has several degrees of complexity, depending on the symptoms:

• Joint dysfunction
• Swelling of the ankle (in severe situations - swelling of the entire foot),
• Hematoma,
• At the time of injury, a click occurs in the joint,
• Painful sensations when walking (if complicated, the pain radiates to the knee).

Fracture

A fracture is a severe degree of damage to the ankle and occurs when landing unsuccessfully on the leg during a jump from a height, falling, or running. With closed fractures, dislocation and swelling of the foot are primarily observed, as well as the following additional symptoms:

• Sharp, severe pain on movement and palpation,
• Deformation of joints,
• Bruised ankle
• Unnatural mobility
• Ankle swelling,
• Bruise,
• Numbness of the limb.

Read also: Swelling of the ankle joint: causes and treatment

When your leg is swollen, you need consultation and help from a doctor, you will need to take painkillers, and the doctor will put a plaster on your ankle.

Diagnostics

Before deciding what to do when you sprain your ankle, you need to undergo the necessary examinations so that the doctor can make a diagnosis and determine a treatment regimen. The following measures will help to distinguish a fracture from a dislocation and bruise:

• collecting anamnesis and determining the nature of the injury to the ankle joint, examining the site of injury;
• palpation of the ankle and assessment of range of motion of the foot;
• X-ray in different projections;
• Ultrasound, MRI, CT of the joint;
• if necessary, puncture;
• consultation of narrow specialists.

The nature of pain in various pathologies, accompanying symptoms

Ankle injuries

The most common type of traumatic ankle injury is a sprain or subluxation of the foot. When walking, running, or jumping, you may step on your foot awkwardly and twist it inward, overstretching the ankle ligaments. The more fibers are damaged, the more severe the nature of the damage and the more pronounced the pain symptoms. In addition to pain, the leg will react with pronounced swelling, and often a bruise appears.

Fractures are less common in this joint. However, jumping or falling from a great height can cause a fracture of the heel bone or ankle. The symptoms are similar to those of a dislocation or sprain, but much more intense. You cannot step on your foot, and when you feel the injured joint, a sharp, unbearable pain occurs. The heel thickens and seems to turn towards the outer surface.

Arthritis of the ankle

The general name for all inflammatory joint lesions is arthritis. Depending on the type of microorganism that causes it, arthritis can be viral or bacterial. When measles, chickenpox or gonorrhea spread throughout the body, it can also affect the joints. A characteristic rash appears around the affected joint, and the skin over it changes color. The patient often complains of aching pain in the ankle, but motor function is preserved. Similar symptoms are characteristic of tuberculous arthritis.

However, if there is intense bursting, throbbing pain in the joint, this may lead the doctor to think about purulent arthritis. With such a reactive course of the disease, general health worsens, fever, chills and a feeling of weakness occur.

Osteoarthrosis (arthrosis) of the ankle joint

Professional athletes who subject their ankles to sprains and hyperextensions over and over again develop degenerative osteoarthritis over time. Due to multiple traumatization of the surfaces of the ankles, fibula and tibia, their surface loses its natural smoothness. Physiological sliding in the joint is disrupted, movements become more and more painful, ankles swell, which even affects the choice of clothing and shoes.

However, not only athletes are susceptible to arthrosis; nowadays, more and more young people complain of pain in the joint after rest, which goes away with movement, as if they need to “disperse”. In the early stages of the disease, joint destruction can be stopped and slowed down.

Other causes of pain

Among other etiological factors of pain in the ankle, experts note flat feet, tendinitis, and a disease with the unusual name “heel spur.” Varicose veins, neoplasms in this area, or osteoporosis can cause similar symptoms. In addition, wearing tight shoes for a long time also causes discomfort in the lower leg.

Ankle pain: diagnosis

Diagnosis of ankle pain

After interviewing the patient, examining the joint, determining the degree of its mobility and swelling, and after gentle palpation of the ankle, the specialist prescribes an x-ray examination. This simple method reliably shows:

• violation of bone integrity, fracture line,
• narrowing or fusion of the joint space,
• osteoporosis (thinning bones),
• osteonecrosis (bone destruction),
• bone osteophytes (protrusions).

If a more detailed diagnosis is necessary, computed tomography (CT) is prescribed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to examine the ligaments, cartilage and other non-osseous elements of the joint. For vascular pathologies, such as varicose veins or thrombophlebitis, it would not be superfluous to perform an ultrasound with Dopplerography. As a rule, a general and biochemical blood test is prescribed, paying special attention to the leukocyte formula and the value of C-reactive protein.

If arthritis or arthrosis is suspected, a joint puncture can be performed, followed by a cytological examination of the resulting fluid.

Which doctor treats ankle pain?

If symptoms similar to those described earlier occur, it is recommended to consult a traumatologist, orthopedist, surgeon or rheumatologist. Doctors of these specialties will conduct an examination, perform the necessary diagnostics and, if indicated, refer you to an endocrinologist, gynecologist or rehabilitation specialist for additional studies.

First aid for an ankle injury

Algorithm for first aid when a person twists his leg:

1. Free the lower limb from shoes, remove socks, stockings and other things that may interfere with blood flow.
2. Lay down or sit the victim.
3. Apply cold to the damaged area for 2 hours at intervals of 10-15 minutes.
4. Offer the patient painkillers, provided he is not allergic to them.
5. Apply an elastic bandage to the joint.
6. Do not allow a person to step on a limb with an injured joint.
7. Help the victim get to a medical facility or call an ambulance.

The ice must be crushed into small pieces and wrapped in a towel.

The leg turns in at the knee when walking

Another unpleasant symptom of ligament weakness is that the leg twists at the knee, but there is no serious injury in the form of dislocation or rupture of soft tissue. but this does not mean that such a condition can be ignored.

It is worth understanding that at the moment when the leg twists at the knee while walking, extreme stretching of the joint capsule occurs. Since it consists of very dense connective tissue that does not have sufficient elasticity and stretchability, the process of its deformation gradually begins.

The joint capsule loses its ability to fix the position of the heads of the bones. The process of formation of primary instability of the knee joint begins. A large range of mobility of the heads of the femur and tibia leads to excessive load on the cruciate and collateral ligaments. They, in turn, begin to stretch and deform. This leads to degeneration and weakness of the ligamentous apparatus.

If the leg is systematically twisted at the ankle joint, then the patient may soon develop:

• habitual dislocation of the knee joint;
• deforming osteoarthritis (gonarthrosis);
• sprain and rupture of the posterior or anterior sacral ligament;
• bursitis or tenosynovitis;
• chondropathy of synovial membranes;
• many other unpleasant diseases.

In order to prevent such complications, it is important to conduct timely examinations and begin effective treatment.

Possible consequences

Depending on the factor that caused the damage, the following complications may occur:

1. A sprain of the ankle ligament is a microtrauma of collagen threads at the cellular level.
2. Incomplete tear - one or more ligaments are damaged.
3. Complete separation of the ankle joint ligaments with detachment of torn fibers from the joint and injury to surrounding tissues.
4. Subluxation.
5. Dislocation is a violation of the capsule.
6. Ankle fracture.

First aid for a bruised ankle

An ankle injury is unpleasant and very painful, in which case it is important to know what initial actions need to be taken.

General emergency measures if your ankle is sprained and swollen:

1. The person is in pain and possibly in shock and must be reassured to prevent the patient from worsening the injury.
2. Immobilize the injured limb.
3. Eliminate the load, keep the foot at rest.

Depending on each specific injury, there are individual recommendations for emergency assistance.

Stretching

1. Take off your shoes, carefully place your foot in a horizontal position, preferably on a hill, immobilize and ensure comfort.
2. Apply a cold compress (do not use heat!).
3. Clamp the ankle with a tight bandage, fix it to the shin at a right angle. It should be taken into account that the bandage should not compress the blood flow. Remove it after 3 hours.

Additional treatment for such minor damage is often not required.

Tear, rupture of ligaments

If a ligament rupture occurs and the foot is swollen, you need to take a comfortable position and place the injured leg above the horizontal level of the body; for this you can use a pillow or bolster. Also, when an ankle is bruised or a leg is swollen, the following measures must be taken:

• Apply a cold compress for 15-20 minutes to relieve pain and swelling, then repeat the procedure after 1 hour.
• Fix the ankle with a tight tourniquet, so that there is an angle of 90 degrees between the damaged area and the lower leg.
• Take anti-inflammatory and painkillers (Ibuprofen, Nimid), it is recommended to first consult with your doctor.
• In the future, you can use an anesthetic and anti-inflammatory ointment to treat the injured area (Diclofenac, Ketoprofen).

After this, you should go to the emergency room or district clinic, where the necessary treatment will be prescribed.

Correct implementation of all instructions will prevent the development of complications and will significantly shorten the rehabilitation period.

Dislocation, subluxation

In case of dislocations, you need to know how to treat and what to do before doctors arrive:

• Place your leg in a comfortable position by placing a bolster or small pillow under it.
• Secure the ankle, preventing movement.
• Apply a tight bandage or splint, making sure that the blood flow is not compressed and numbness does not appear.
• To relieve primary painful symptoms, it is allowed to take an anesthetic drug (Analgin, Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Nimesil).

Read also: Cream for swelling during pregnancy

After this, consult a doctor so that a specialist can prescribe a rehabilitation regimen depending on how severe the twisted foot was.

Fracture

A fracture is a complex injury that requires urgent medical attention, but initially you will have to deal with this ailment on your own:

1. Immobilize the limb, prevent bone displacement.
2. If bleeding occurs, apply a tourniquet above the fracture site.
3. Treat the wound with hydrogen peroxide, iodine, chlorhexidine.
4. Apply a splint: secure the injured ankle with a bandage, inside and out, to any available material (stick, board, etc.). This will help prevent the broken bone from moving. Only in this position can the patient be transported to the hospital.
5. Take a pain reliever (Analgin, Ibuprofen, Nimid).

Important! It is strictly forbidden to set a fracture yourself without the necessary experience and knowledge.

Treatment at home

After receiving the results of the examination, you must adhere to the recommendations of a traumatologist and consult with him regarding the possibility of using alternative medicine techniques.

Drug treatment: tablets, ointments

Pharmacy medications should be taken according to the regimen prescribed by the doctor, taking into account concomitant diseases.

Main drugs:

1. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Ibuprofen, Diclofenac) - reduce inflammation and reduce pain. Contraindicated for acute gastritis and other gastrointestinal problems.
2. Locally on the second day you can use gels with NSAIDs, cooling agents based on menthol, camphor, and heparin.
3. Short course diuretics to reduce severe swelling.
4. It is important to supplement the basic principles of treatment if a person has sprained his leg with vitamins and minerals, which ensure normalization of blood flow in the joint area and strengthen blood vessels.

What to do if a child twists his ankle?

If your child shows signs of injury to his ankle, you should try to help him and find out the circumstances of the incident. You should not allow your child to lean on a sore limb or straighten it independently if the child has dislocated his leg. It is necessary to give him painkillers (according to his age). Secure the joint with a figure-of-eight bandage and apply cold to the ankle.

You should definitely show your baby to a doctor and take a picture, as self-medication can worsen the child’s condition.

Rehabilitation

If your leg has been in a cast for a long time or bandaged with a tight bandage, then before you begin to fully lean on it and walk, you should develop and strengthen the joint.

To restore blood circulation after removing the cast and reducing the consequences of the injury for 5-7 days, the doctor prescribes physical therapy:

• UHF;
• laser;
• magnet;
• electrophoresis;
• mud applications.

Massage sessions will also help strengthen the trophism of muscle tissue. The course of procedures begins with a healthy leg with a gradual transition to the diseased limb. Massaging techniques for the left and right legs can be performed at home after a bath or in the evening before bed.

Mobility of the injured joint will be restored through physical therapy exercises. They must be performed twice a day, starting with warming up the whole body, stretching, and gradually moving on to the main part - developing the ankle joint.

Basic exercises:

• Pull the tips of your toes away from you and towards you.
• Stand so that your heels are connected and your toes point to the sides. As you inhale, rise up, exhale - the starting position.
• Rotate your feet in different directions while sitting on a chair.
• Grabbing objects from the floor with your fingertips.
• At the end of the exercises, gently pull the socks towards you, stretching the calf muscle.

All movements should be performed without pain and with a gradual increase in repetitions and approaches.

The full effects of the damage disappear within a few weeks.

I sprained my leg and it’s swollen, what should I do? About ankle injuries

One of the most common injuries is an injury to the ankle joint. As a rule, the leg is tucked inward, outward. This is accompanied, there, by swelling and severe pain. The important thing here is that if you twisted your ankle and stood up, limped there, and you can move on, the likelihood that you suffered a fracture is not great.

Then it looks at how long a person walks, how much he limps, how severe it is, and when the hematoma or bruise in the ankle joint appears, how severe the swelling is. There are stages according to the classification of damage to the ligamentous apparatus of the ankle joint, and depending on the stage there are different treatment methods. It is still better not to engage in self-diagnosis and self-medication.

It is necessary to contact a specialist who will give normal, sound recommendations: you need a plaster, you don’t need a plaster, there’s a brace, you can walk on crutches, you can step on your leg, when to start rehabilitation, what procedures and when you can start. It is better to contact a specialist, still do not self-medicate.

Another question is when a fracture did occur, either the outer or inner ankles broke, or both ankles together. For young and active patients, yes, there, and well, and for middle-aged patients, such fractures are most often operated on. It is necessary to clearly restore the anatomy of the ankle joint in order to avoid earlier development of arthrosis in the future. Because, one way or another, this fracture is still considered intra-articular.

When even a slight displacement, and fusion even more so with a slight displacement, changes the biomechanics of movement in the ankle joint, and this leads to arthrosis developing earlier, yes.

And yet, surgical treatment and reliable fixation allow for more functional treatment: earlier development of the ankle, earlier stepping on the foot, shorter rehabilitation, better long-term functional result.

Only fractures with little or minimal displacement can be treated with the patient in a cast. Or, if he has, of course, contraindications for surgery, yes. There, diabetes mellitus, the patient is an experienced smoker, neuropathy of the lower extremities. Here you need to look and weigh: the patient’s age, his social status, and other facts. But still, more often lately, yes, it’s not like the last time, for the last decades more aggressive surgical tactics have been used, because the long-term results are still better.

If the patient does not allow touching, there is such swelling, then there is a high probability of a fracture. You don’t have to try to fix anything yourself, yes. Firstly, it is terribly painful, and secondly, it may not work. It is better to call an ambulance, with some external, improvised means, to immobilize the ankle, even in the position in which it is, and the ambulance will take the patient to the hospital, to the traumatology department, and he will be provided with professional assistance.

If you sprain your ankle and can move on, then you can calmly come there and limp home. The first three days are effectively cold. There, for 15-20 minutes, you apply cold to the area of ​​the ankle joint or where it is swollen, and naturally, somehow, well, still try to limit your mobility there as much as possible. If it causes discomfort. If there is swelling or pain, then you don’t need to walk much, it’s cold.

Well, bandages, they do not bring much stability to the ankle joint, but still, a tight, incorrectly applied bandage can lead to even more swelling there. Therefore, it is better there, elevated position of the limb, cold, painkillers, a couple of days at home. And then everything will depend on how the person walks: whether it will hurt, how much the swelling will increase or decrease, what kind of hematoma there will be. This is if you don’t get to a specialist.

In the acute period, it is still difficult to estimate how many ligaments are damaged, which ones are damaged, how unstable the ankle will be later, how often it will twist. In the acute period, it is important to remove the pain syndrome, if demobilization or fixation is necessary according to the classification. There, three to four weeks in a cast, then rehabilitation, and then the long-term results of this injury are assessed.

That is, if nothing bothers a person after six months, he has completed a rehabilitation course, recovered, walks, has forgotten, then there is no need to look for any problems or diseases. If, six months after the injury (I’m not talking about a fracture, about damage to the ligaments) there is pain, discomfort either during physical activity, or playing sports, or during normal walking, or going down or climbing stairs, it’s better to contact everyone here -to an orthopedist so that he can check stability tests.

The stability of the ankle joint revealed damage. And still, after this, the person will be sent to physical therapy classes, and special balance exercises, and all sorts of different devices: a hemisphere, a ball, with a computer, in a game form. But it is important to exercise the balance of the muscles and ligaments in the ankle joint, which will give the muscles a good workout and allow them, perhaps, to take over some of the damaged ligaments that were damaged during the injury. Comparatively, a small percentage of patients undergo surgery after ligament damage.

Preventive measures for ankle injuries

To avoid stress on the joint, you should follow the rules:

1. Follow a proper, balanced diet with the exception of salted, smoked and canned foods.
2. Limit smoking and alcohol consumption.
3. Control your weight.
4. Exercise moderately and use joint protection to prevent your leg from twisting.
5. Wear comfortable shoes appropriate for the season and low heels.
6. Treat chronic diseases in a timely manner and strengthen the immune system.
7. Observe safety precautions at home, on the street and in the workplace.
8. At the first sign of damage, when the foot turns in, consult a doctor.

A leg injury can lead to unpleasant consequences if you ignore visiting a doctor and start a self-selected course of therapy. To avoid complications in the future, you should undergo an examination and follow the doctor’s recommendations.

Reasons why the ankle twists when walking

Above, we have already examined the general reasons why the leg twists when walking calmly on a flat surface. But this is a generalized division into two large groups of supposed pathological changes. In fact, the reasons why your ankle twists when walking include many aspects. They can provoke the development of certain diseases, or can lead directly to tissue deformation.

Let's look at the most common reasons why the ankle twists and what diseases can lead to the appearance of this symptom:

• ankle sprain;
• fibrosis of the ligaments and tendons of the ankle;
• plantar fasciitis;
• destruction of cartilage tissue in the heel;
• incorrect placement of the foot in the form of transverse, longitudinal flatfoot and clubfoot;
• valgus and varus deformity of the leg;
• deforming osteoarthritis of the ankle or knee joint;
• weakness of the ligamentous apparatus;
• habitual dislocation.

These diseases can develop gradually, or they can occur spontaneously, for example, after another injury. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out timely diagnosis when the first clinical signs of trouble appear.

It is also important to exclude from your life risk factors that lead to ankle twisting when walking, jumping and running. If you want to know why your ankle twists when walking, then try to immediately apply the information presented below to your life; believe me, this will help you discover a potential cause already while studying this article.

So, why does the leg twist when walking - what causes the prerequisites for the appearance of this symptom:

• in the first place is the wrong choice of shoes (mewed lasts, worn out insoles, poor lacing, unevenly worn soles);
• second place is traditionally occupied by excess body weight, which provokes improper distribution of static and kinetic load on the foot when rearranging the legs;
• third place - a sedentary lifestyle with insufficient physical activity on the muscles, ligaments and tendons of the lower leg and foot (this leads to their partial degeneration and loss of elasticity);
• the fourth factor is a disruption of the innervation process against the background of lumbosacral osteochondrosis or tunnel syndrome with compression of the sciatic nerve in the popliteal fossa);
• the fifth aspect affects the process of blood supply (impaired blood microcirculation, stagnation of lymphatic fluid lead to disruption of the trophism of muscles and ligaments, as a result of which they become weak and incapable of fixing the joint).

These are not all the reasons why the ankle twists; in addition to the listed aspects, it is important to exclude increased physical activity, destruction of joints and their structural parts, scar changes after sports injuries, the formation of contractures, shortening of one limb against the background of deforming osteoarthritis of the hip or knee joint, joint dysplasia and many other factors.