Four Sprained Ankle Symptoms
Four Sprained Ankle Symptoms
Suffering a sprained ankle is a common injury among athletes in many of our favorite sports. And while the severity of a sprained ankle will vary, these four sprained ankle symptoms are indicative of the injury.
Pain - Sprained Ankle Symptom #1
If you have a sprained ankle, you'll know something is wrong immediately. Why is that? Pain. Immediate pain will follow the injury immediately, making it the most obvious symptom of a sprained ankle.
Usually, the worse the sprain, the worse the pain. You may also experience a sort of numbness if the nerves around the ankle were stretched at the time of injury.
Swelling - Sprained Ankle Symptom #2
Ankle sprains also cause swelling. The level of swelling depends on the level of damage to the ligament. Since swelling will often worsen, we want to elevate the ankle as soon as possible. This will minimize the swelling.
Instability - Sprained Ankle Symptom #3
If you have a sprained ankle, you may feel like the joint is "loose." You'll feel unsteady and prone to wobbling. You may also want to avoid putting weight on the ankle, for obvious reasons.
Bruising - Sprained Ankle Symptom #4
When the tissue bleeds under the skin, we have bruising, which causes the typical black and blue effect around the injured region. We actually do not use bruising as an indicator of severity when it comes to a sprained ankle.
Going Beyond Sprained Ankle Symptoms to Diagnose the Injury
The best way to diagnose your injury is to have a physical exam in the office. Although you may have used the 4 symptoms above to verify the fact that you do have a sprain, we will examine the cause of the sprain and use the examination to assess your injury.
Initial Diagnosis May Include:
Gently moving the heel forward and backward
Pressing upon the joint to gauge the location of the sprain based on tenderness
Secondary Diagnosis May Include:
MRI. This gives us a view of the tissue that we can't get from an x-ray. Usually we don't have to employ an MRI for a basic ankle sprain.
CT Scan. This is another method of pinpointing the exact location of the sprain. It gives us a great view of the ligaments.
Need to know more about sprained ankles? Check out additional posts from the blog.