Lasting foot pain over a month after injury- thoughts?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Sometime in mid-July I managed to fall down one stair and land on both of my feet sideways. I was trying to avoid a table as I fell so I fell straight down rather than forward, if that makes sense. I ended up falling so that the outside of my feet rolled inward and bore my entire weight as I landed on them. </p>

<p>They both instantly swelled up and I couldn’t even walk to the couch. I ended up staying on the floor and icing them until my roommates carried me to my room. I assumed I just rolled my ankles funny and they would be fine. </p>

<p>About two weeks later (yes, I know I shouldn’t have waited that long but I was out of state) I was still in pain so I went to urgent care. X-rays showed no breaks and no major ligament issues. They wrapped my foot (at this point it was only one that was in pain) and gave me some pain meds. </p>

<p>Now it’s been over a month and the pain is still lingering. It’s just a dull, achey pain (enough that I’m in pretty bad pain after walking fairly short distances) but it’s pretty annoying considering I’m starting school in a few days. I tried calling my GP for an appointment but she couldn’t get me in until next week and I’m going to be switching insurance on September 1st. At this time, I don’t know if she’s in my new network or not so I scheduled one but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep it. If it persists, I will make a new appt when a doctor in my new network (if she’s not). </p>

<p>Has anyone had an injury like this before? Is it normal to keep feeling pain a month later? I’ve never hurt my foot this bad before- I generally hurt my knees. I don’t know if it takes longer to heal because I’m walking on it or if the urgent care might’ve missed something. Thoughts? </p>

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<p>And yes, I am accident prone. I’m used to hurting myself. 23 years old and I still can’t manage to navigate stairs :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>Soft tissue injuries (sprains) can take longer to heal than broken bones. It wouldn’t hurt to have them looked at again but after two weeks, a fracture should have shown up on the x-ray. </p>

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<p>Whoops- I forgot to say what the doctor DID say. She said that I likely bruised the bone and sprained it pretty bad. </p>

<p>Thanks, 2016BM. </p>

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<p>Romani, I had a bad sprain about 13 years ago and it took months to heal. Just so you don’t feel bad, I didn’t go to the doctor either – I was sure at the time that it wasn’t a break by the way it hurt (and the parts that didn’t hurt)-- and I iced it, kept it elevated and wrapped it. It improved over time but it took months for the swelling to go down – actually it never quite did go away entirely. If you look at both ankles side by side, the one that had the sprain is still a little puffier, but it’s complicated because I’m a lot older than you- and at the time of the sprain I was quite overweight & I also got edema sometimes, so it’s kind of hard for me to know what part of the puffiness is attributable to the old injury. </p>

<p>Anyway, i had that ankle wrapped for months while I went from hopping to hobbling to limping to merely favoring it. And then there was a long period of time when the ankle would be relatively fine most of the time, but bother me in cold weather. My weight was part of the issue - fortunately I got serious about dieting and took off the excess weight about 10 years ago.</p>

<p>But the ankle still bothers me at times. Just weakness & tenderness. I started doing yoga last year and that’s when I noticed more ankle issues- of course with yoga I was putting different stresses on it than before. But the point is that my left ankle is just weaker than my right, and seems much more prone to get re-injured. Again, I’m a lot older than you and at my age I am grateful every day that I don’t have severe arthritis – and at age 60 I just take it for granted that occasional mild joint pain is normal. </p>

<p>WebMD says a sprained ankle can take from about 6 weeks -4 months to heal – but then it also says, “Rehabilitation (rehab) exercises for an ankle sprain can be done at home to promote proper healing and prevent chronic pain and instability. When rehab exercises are not followed after a sprain, the ankle can become weak and unstable.” – so I guess that it can be a lot more than 4 months for people like me who didn’t know we were supposed to do rehab exercises. Link: <a href=“Sprained Ankle: Symptoms, Treatment, Recovery Time, & More”>Sprained Ankle: Symptoms, Treatment, Recovery Time, & More;

<p>Please don’t let my experience scare you – I’m not talking about persistent severe pain – just trying to let you know that I think that “over a month” is pretty normal. Do you still wrap it with an ace bandage? If not, I would suggest that you do that, or get one of those neoprene braces. I did wrap my ankle for a long time after the injury – not every day, but if it was bothering me or if I knew I was going to have to be walking a lot. As long as the ankle was wrapped, it never really bothered me - I think it just needed extra support. </p>

<p>And check out those rehab exercises on WebMD. Here’s another link: <a href=“http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/rehabilitation-exercises-for-an-ankle-sprain#”>http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/rehabilitation-exercises-for-an-ankle-sprain#&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Also you and I are lucky. My grandson rolled his ankle last December-- he just tripped over a small toy on the floor. It turns out that toddlers do not “roll” their ankles; they break their tibias. Apparently their muscles are stronger than their bones at that age. Poor grandson had to be in a full leg cast from toes to thigh for a month, then another month in a boot. Actually I should say, “poor grandson’s caretakers” – because the kid got his mojo back pretty quickly. </p>

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<p>I had a similar injury about six weeks ago–just one foot involved, though. I went to urgent care, and they diagnosed a bone contusion (deep bone bruise). No mention of a sprain, though I knew I had one.</p>

<p>A week later I went to my physical therapist for another matter. She took a look at my foot and sent me straight to an orthopedist who specializes in feet. In addition to the contusion and sprain, I had an avulsion fracture–this is apparently where the stressed ligament pulls a small piece of bone out of the bone it is attached to.</p>

<p>The orthopedist put me in a walking boot for three weeks and sent me back to the physical therapist for PT twice a week for four weeks. She mostly used modalities to reduce swelling and gave me strengthening exercises to do every day. Based on this experience, I would suggest you see a specialist, if you can swing it, to see if there is anything else going on. I would also recommend physical therapy. </p>

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<p>I concur with seeing a specialist. You don’t always get the most detailed examination and best care at an urgent care facility.</p>

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<p>I had a bad ankle sprain when I was 18. I had pain to some degree for 2 years afterwards. Unless your insurance will cover a bunch of dr visits, I’d deal with it on my own.</p>

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<p>Thanks, everyone. </p>

<p>I still have not received much info on my new insurance. I do know that most services are covered at my U because I’m a student once classes start. I assume that since my insurance is through my school that that will have to be where I go anyway. I’ll give it a few more weeks and then I’ll go back to the doctor/specialist. </p>

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<p>Is the pain staying the same or getting worse or is it slowly getting worse? That would be something to keep track of. In fact, consider writing down on planner/calendar when the pain seems worse & what you are doing. That could be helpful when you go see a doctor.</p>

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<p>I also had foot pain that hung around and still comes back occasionally. Doctors found nothing notable. A podiatrist suggested some expensive and useless shoe inserts after saying a cortisone injection might help but only temporarily. I already knew that, btw. A chiropractor seemed to think a year of adjustments would help. Pass. And, I had a series of laser pain treatments. Also useless. Tylenol is good as are some pain relieving creams and potions.</p>

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<p>It’s not uncommon to feel random pains for longer than a few months. Mine lasted a year and I didn’t “trust” that ankle for much longer. There can be tiny tears and the nerves are acting up (imagine the workload your feet tackle and the various movements.) Wrapping helps. It restricts the movements of the various pieces. (And swelling, which also affects nerves.) Ice is generally the initial response, warm can help with later pain. If your x-rays showed nothing alarming, I’d be reassured. Think about the exercises mentioned. Find comfy shoes. Sometimes close-fitting boots help. (Back then, light work boots were so popular, anyway.) </p>

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<p>romani!! I have the same thing. I dropped a very heavy dog ramp on my foot on July 20 and it is STILL sore. I can’t even put on a closed shoe. I had two x-rays and they didn’t show a fracture–the doctor said it was a bone bruise. My interweb research suggests that it could be up to 2 months before it is better. It is the worst!</p>

<p>Hope it gets better soon!</p>

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<p>The pain is pretty much staying the same. I’m also getting some lower back pain but I’m pretty sure that’s from a slight limp in my walk.
I already go to a chiropractor for an unrelated issue. He’s upped my sessions to help me with this and that’s been tremendously helpful for my hips and back (no, I don’t pay per session). </p>

<p>Just to clarify- this isn’t actually my ankle, it’s the sides of my feet. The whole outer edge with the right one being much worse than the left one. </p>

<p>Sally, I’m so sorry :(. </p>

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<p>There are like 20 muscles and a pile of ligaments and tendons in the foot. They get damaged. Rolling the foot can pull fascia apart and that takes a long time to heal because it doesn’t have much blood flowing through it. Same can happen with ribs, btw. Can take 6 months to heal. </p>

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<p>I broke my thumb and tore some soft tissue in December. It still hurts, still looks deformed and swollen, and it is still weak to the point that it interferes with normal function. </p>

<p>In your situation, I’d really want to see a specialist. </p>

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<p>Recovering from a broken ankle and torn ligament, plus accompanying surgery here. Lots of family ortho issues over the year have taught me something- seeing a foot/ankle orthopedic specialist may yield different assessments, information and recommendations than seeing an urgent care generalist. X-rays are at times a bit ambiguous and it can also matter who reads them and what their experience is. Concur that re-visiting this as soon as possible is in your best interest. You may just be in for a gradual recovery, as you have experienced thus far, but it would be a shame to miss something that could make a difference. Hope you feel better soon. I get how demoralizing the discomfort and slow progress can be. </p>

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<p>In the meantime, do wrap that foot! Either that, or wear boots that give a lot of support. Just think about all of those tiny bones and muscles in the foot and how much weight and stress they bear every day. I was very happy to keep my foot wrapped because my daughter was a dancer, and I was used to seeing dancers wrapping feet, ankles or knees, or wearing braces, during class and rehearsals. Obviously they weren’t dancing on serious injuries, but they understood that they needed to take action to prevent mild strains from getting worse. </p>

<p>And when you aren’t walking, keep the foot elevated as much as possible, especially if there is still any swelling. </p>

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<p>My S did something similar. A bad sprain/strain can be as painful as a break. He wore a brace and also did PT, ankle-strengthening exercises. I would definitely try to see a specialist or at least a PT. I am also pretty sure your back pain may be from changing your gait due to the foot pain. It’s all related :)</p>