What should I do to treat my injured ankle?
Head, Department of Orthopaedics,
St. Stephens Hospital,
New Delhi
Q: I am a 24 years old boy. I weigh 88 kgs and exercise daily. I lost my balance while running, one day. My foot turned badly and my whole body weight was on my left ankle when I fell. I showed this to a doctor. He told me it was nothing serious and that I will get well soon. Its been 6 months now and it is paining a lot. I have been told that theres a fracture in my ligament. A doctor has asked me to get an MRI done. My entire leg is paining because of this. Could you tell what I need to do to get rid of this? Is there any operation that needs to be done?
A:From what you describe you seem to have a ligament sprain. Your use of the expression ligament fracture is confusing. A fracture would indicate a break in the bone. You need to clarify if there is any fracture. The diagnosis of ligament sprain is always clinical. X-rays are required only to exclude any associated fracture. Sprains may be of three different grades:
- When few fibres of a ligament are torn causing pain and swelling but there is no instability.
- When more fibres of the ligament are torn with greater swelling and some degree of stress opening of the joint.
- When there is a complete rupture of the ligament with gross instability as assessed by stress X-rays