Ankle anatomy associated with your injury may be specific to one ligament, or a combination of ligaments, or a combination of ligament, muscle, bone or tendon…
Whether your ankle has been sprained or broken, it is imperative that you get a correct diagnosis and grading of your injury to avoid ongoing ankle pain…
For example, it is commonplace to have a diagnosis of sprain, when there is in fact a sprain to the ligaments, but missed in the x-ray read was also a Talar bone break; missed due to swollen tissue in and around the ankle and foot…
Your ankle anatomy needs to be intact because:
- The ankle has a lesser blood supply; if anything is missed during diagnosis it can take an agonizingly long time to heal…
- Can remain damaged permanently if not properly looked after…
- Is a major weight bearing joint and can impede your mobility. Long term, if left injured, could completely immobilize you…
Ankle Anatomy Of
3 Common Sprains…
As illustrated here, the three ligaments most commonly involved in an ankle sprain are the PTFL ATFL and CFL…
If you refer to the illustration, you can see these ligaments and perhaps visualize the movement that would be involved in injury…
Usually, in ankle sprain, the foot and ankle is involved in an inversion movement that takes one or more of these ligaments past their normal range of motion…
These are the most common ligament injuries to the ankle…
The extent of injury depends on:
- The trajectory of the body during the fall which will determine how one or all of these ligaments will be stretched or torn…
- The body weight to strength ratio of the ligaments and other tissues…
- The anatomical arrangement of ligaments – human bodies always carry anomalies; it is less common to find a text book body than it is a body with anatomical oddities; which can show up in any anatomical structure in the body…
Talar Bone Trauma Obstructed
By Swelling…
Often, it is emergency room docs that treat sprains…
The majority of these sprains are of the common variety, however, there are a few that present as a sprain, which may be correct, but not the whole story …
Some of them will have Talar bone fractures also contributing to the damage and be a continual cause of pain and swelling long after the sprain has healed…
The view of the break on x-ray gets obstructed by the part of the inflammatory process known as swelling…
Swelling is the body’s defense against infection and injury and is necessary…
The purpose of swelling is to:
- Localize the injury (in other words wall it off from surrounding tissues)…
- Attempts to eliminate the injurious agent (the tissue swells around an injury to eliminate impact from the outside by adding cushioning and pressure from the inside)
- Removes damaged tissue and debris by increasing circulation and blood flow to tissues in order to promote healing…
The increase in blood flow and circulation into the area contains proteins, lymphocytes and white blood cells to clean the debris out of the area…
So if we are trying to get a visual diagnostic in the midst of this dynamic array of biochemical reactions and interactions; chances are that we could miss a small hairline fracture or even a small chip or ‘dome tear’ off of the Talar bone…
The problem with that tiny miss on a Talar bone or a Calcaneal bone is that weight bearing will not allow it to heal properly…
A broken ankle that has been misdiagnosed as a sprain will come back to haunt you in a painful way, inhibiting movement, cause ongoing, seemingly chronic pain, and in some cases, depending upon the area of the injury, could interrupt stability of the ankle joint…
Natural Pain
Relief…
Over the counter as well as prescribed pain relief medications are fast acting and potent, but what happens if you need to take them to manage your pain over a period of years, or for the rest of your life…?
You may wish to do some research and look into some natural pain relief remedies that will not have the toxic effects on your internal organs that most pain medications do after a lengthy period of time…
I have provided some basic information regarding supplementation that provides natural pain relief to help get you started – just click on the link below…
In Summary…
If you are experiencing ongoing symptoms after a sprain, it is important to get your ankle re-examined…
It could be that your Talar or Calcaneal bone is broken…
If the break is in place, it may not have healed due to weight bearing that is driving the two pieces of bone apart…
This could require four weeks in a non weight bearing cast if the bone is in situ…
If the bone has been displaced, surgical intervention and six to eight weeks in a non -weight bearing cast will be a necessary measure for the complete resolution of joint pain…
Ankle anatomy is complex and made even more so by the weight bearing feature – the whole of your body weight balanced on top of it – so being thorough with this type of injury is well worth your time and attention…!
Disclaimer – This is information on joint pain. I teach, but I do not diagnose, prescibe or treat people who contact me. You are responsible for your condition using your own best judgement combined with what you have learned. Just a heads up – bodies carry unusual differences from time to time, in saying that, you could be one of those rare and unusual beings; if you are in doubt, please contact a physician in your area, so you can rule it out.
Move Freely and Knowledgeably and Be Well!
Dr. Jo
P.S… “Greater certainty of your condition alone can be a powerful form of pain relief.”