Common ankle sprains can lead to chronic issues if not checked

One of the most common injuries to the foot and ankle is an ankle sprain; about 25,000 people visit their doctor or local emergency department each day after experiencing an ankle sprain.
Almost everybody has a personal anecdote of twisting an ankle, or knows someone who has. They are common injuries for athletes, but can occur with non-athletes as well; for instance, simply stepping on an uneven surface can cause an injury. Injuries can occur in children or adults at any age.
A sprain of the ankle occurs when the foot twists or turns too far in any direction. When the foot twists too far, the stress placed on the ligaments that hold the bones of the ankle together can become too great, causing them to stretch beyond their capacity or even tear. Sometimes, instead of the ligaments tearing, the energy caused from the twisting injury can even cause the bones of the ankle or foot to fracture or break.
The most common type of ankle sprain is known as an “inversion” injury, where the foot twists or rolls inward, stressing the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. About 85% of ankle injuries involve this mechanism of action. Almost everyone has probably had some personal experience with this type of injury – a basketball player landing on someone else’s foot, a runner stepping on an uneven patch of ground, or simply by stepping the wrong way off a curb.
Here’s the good news – almost all inversion ankle sprains heal quickly without much effort. Usually, simply by using RICE therapy (rest, ice, compression and elevation), the affected ankle will feel better within a week. Sometimes, formal physical therapy is added to the treatment plan to help strengthen and rehab the ankle. Doctorsestimate that about 4 out of 5 typical ankle sprains heal in this fashion and do so well that some patients can’t even remember which ankle they injured within a few months.
The bad news, however, is that if 4 out of 5 ankle sprains heal well, that leaves one out of five patients (or 20%) with a long-term problem because of their injury, which can lead to chronic issues. The tendons around the ankle can tear, small fractures of the bones around the ankle can occur, the cartilage that pads the ankle joint can become damaged, or the ankle can simply become chronically unstable, which leads to recurrent sprains.
If you have an ankle sprain, a visit to a foot and ankle specialist is probably worth your time and effort. At your visit, a medical expert can determine the severity of your sprain, take an x-ray to rule out a fracture, and teach you how to care for your injury. Again, usually one visit is all it takes to get on the road to recovery. If you’ve had a sprain in the past that isn’t getting better, or you feel like you sprain your ankle very easily, then a visit to your foot and ankle specialist is even more important; there are many things they can do to make your painful ankle better.
For more information on ankle sprains or foot care, make an appointment with a physician, like Nicholas J. Lowery, DPM, at the Washington Health System Foot and Ankle Specialists at (724) 222-5635.