Ankle injury- bone bruise?

[sooch90]

Hey guys,

My ankle has been bothering me for about 6 months now, and I wanted to get some opinions on what the problem might be. Back in February, I had one practice where I tweaked my ankle while vaulting, but I kept vaulting because I was really frustrated and wanted to get some jumps going (bad decision). Anyway, so I talked to my school's trainer and she said that it was probably a bone bruise where my leg connects to my foot (haha the ankle). More specifically, I think she said the bone bruise occurred between the Tibia and the Talus

http://images.conquestchronicles.com/im ... /ankle.jpg

Basically, she thinks I must've some how stepped during a vault in a way that the Tibia made contact with the Talus or something and formed some sort of bruise there. She said the only way to heal it is by not aggravating it. So for the past 6 months, I've been getting an achillies taping almost every practice in order to keep the Talus and the Tibia from getting close to each other while I vaulted or ran. Now, for the past 6 months, the pain has still been there, although it's lessened a bit. Whenever I step in a way that really decreases the angle between my leg and my foot, it starts to hurt. Now, for the past month, I've been staying off it completely and haven't been running at all (I've been lifting and stuff), however, the bruise is still there. I'm getting a little anxious because it's taking so long to heal. I really want my ankle to be completely healed by the end of the summer.

So does anyone have any experiences with bone bruises? Any tips? Or maybe any other ideas of what this injury might be?

Thanks!

[BobbyMoVault]

I never trusted my athletic trainer at my high school after he told me I probably pulled my hamstring when I tore my lateral meniscus in my knee...

I tore it playing football my sophomore year of high school. I felt a weird pop and some pretty bad pain around the back of my knee. My knee also locked up on me and i couldn't move it either direction. My trainer didn't do any ligament or menisci tests to see if anything was damaged even though the pain was in my knee. I showed him where the pain was and he said "That's your hamstring, you probably just pulled it and thats what the pop was." I went to an orthopedic surgeon the next day, he did one test and said "You tore your lateral meniscus. Let's get and MRI and see how bad it is because you may need surgery." Sure enough my lateral meniscus was not only torn, but shifted out of place (which is why I couldn't move my knee at all) I had to get surgery and was barely cleared at the start of track season.

My advice would be to get a second opinion from an orthopedic surgeon or a podiatrist. I wouldnt always go by what the athletic trainer says and I would trust a doctors word over theirs.

[ifavault]

As a physical therapist reading your injury description, it sounds like it might be a "high ankle sprain" in which you have strained the tissue/ligament that stabilizes the tibia and fibula (Syndesmotic ligament).

When you describe pain that develops upon closing the angle between your foot and lower leg (dorsiflexion), this creates a separation of the tibia and fibula because of the shape of the talus...if the syndemotic ligament (connection) between the tibia and fibula is injured, this separation will cause you pain because of stretching this tissue.

Please see this page for a description: http://orthopedics.about.com/od/sprains ... smosis.htm

Picture: http://www.sports-injury-info.com/image ... gament.jpg

You may also want to have an x-ray to rule out some kind of fracture.

Good Luck.

Sincerely,

ifavault

[sooch90]

Thank you so much for the replies! They are very much appreciated!

Ifvault, if it were a high ankle sprain, where would the pain be? Or could the pain be in many different places? The pain I experience is specifically where the point between the tibia and the talus

thanks again for the replies! Hopefully I'll be able to get it checked out by a doctor soon

[ifavault]

Even though the term "high ankle sprain" is used, it does not necessarily refer to pain up into the shin region. It simply refers to a sprain of the ligament higher than the more common one down around the lateral malleolus (outside ankle region).

Pain you are having in the junction between the tibia and talus could be indicative of this high ankle sprain even if you personally consider this "low"...(it is still higher than a sprain of the more common ATFL (anterior-talo-fibular-ligament).

The syndesmotic ligament maintains the connection of the tibia and fibula. Think of an upside-down zipper that becomes loose as you "un-zip" upwards from the bottom. A high ankle sprain would be a bit like loosening the zipper down near the foot/ankle allowing the tibia and fibula to separate a little bit with ankle dorsiflexion. Additionally, any weight bearing could cause separation of bones as the force of body weight (especially during running) would drive the talus into the tibia and push the malleoli (ankle bones that you can feel) apart. This would stretch/stress the syndesmotic ligament and cause pain.

Hope this helps. Again, this is just a general guess based on your initial description. I'd be curious what you find out after you have it checked out.

ifavault