ankle injury help

Hey all,

Unfortunately experienced my first ankle injury about a week ago. Was bouldering indoors on a roof when I fell. The fall was expected but my body pivoted a little more than I expected during the fall and so I landed too far forward, and it felt as if my right foot went a little too far towards my shin direction.

I did some research and it doesn't seem like either an inversion or eversion sprain at all, since there was no lateral component to it. I'm no anatomy guru, but I looked up and it seems that "dorsiflexion" is the position that hurts to bear weight, flexing the foot upwards.

Its been about 10 days. Walking around I experience zero pain/discomfort. Going down stairs usually gets a twinge while stepping down with the left foot, since it forces the right foot to flex and bear weight. I tried wrapping it with an ace bandage, but it seems like it didn't really provide the kind of support I needed. Anyone else experience this kind of ankle injury before and know if I need to see someone, ice it, or just walk carefully and no falling for a month or so?

Thanks!

If I am understanding I did something similar (also bouldering in the gym) the pain was in the ankle right below the shin. Sounds similar, flexing the foot up (like stretching a calf hurt).

I found that after 2-3 weeks I was pretty good but then I would step funny and stress it. After about 6 weeks I had no more pain ever with weird twist while hiking to the crag. I didn't ice or heat or anything just rest and stretching.

My take away was stop bouldering. Ropes are more fun anyway.

10 days in is a bit late to change anything.
Generally you ice for the first couple days, wrap it (compression reduces swelling which aids in healing) take lots of NSAIDs and then slowly start to become more weight baring.
OR you can do what I normally do (MANY sprained ankles in my history) which is skip all the practical advice, load up on vitamin I and just drag that sucker behind you until the pain goes away.
I should add that acupuncture has really worked magic for me with physio stuff.

Parker Wrozek wrote:If I am understanding I did something similar (also bouldering in the gym) the pain was in the ankle right below the shin. Sounds similar, flexing the foot up (like stretching a calf hurt). I found that after 2-3 weeks I was pretty good but then I would step funny and stress it. After about 6 weeks I had no more pain ever with weird twist while hiking to the crag. I didn't ice or heat or anything just rest and stretching. My take away was stop bouldering. Ropes are more fun anyway.

Yep this sounds like exactly what I'm going through. Did you mean that after 6 weeks you were fine, or after 6 weeks you stepped funny and messed it up again?

Thanks!

If you Google, "Ankle Impingement", does that sound like what you may have?

smurray47 wrote: Yep this sounds like exactly what I'm going through. Did you mean that after 6 weeks you were fine, or after 6 weeks you stepped funny and messed it up again? Thanks!

After 6 weeks I was good. No more little twinges of pain. I didn't exactly take it easy on it though.

you dont need to see someone unless you lose feeling, circulation, or have intense pain >7 out of 10.

ice, rest, move through pain free range of motion. (dorsi/plantarflexion, ev/inversion, ankle circles etc, to get blood/fluid moving to clean out left over inflammatory response)

start doing single leg balance.
progress to unstable surface.

rope climb, no falls for at least another week or two.

youll be fine

LongRanger wrote:If you Google, "Ankle Impingement", does that sound like what you may have?

Yes! I figured it had a name and I just didn't know what it was called, thanks!

I'm not sure if just doing nothing will help you in the long run. I am battling through this myself, and went to a chiro for therapy. The big takeaway with ankle injuries is that it'll be easy to reinjure unless you strengthen. The pain I have is still around, albeit less - I'm coming up to the year anniversary of my own bouldering accident.

You most likely don't need surgery, but if you do go to someone, they may prescribe specific exercises for you to do (PT) to bring down the inflammation. I've also been perscribed things like ice every day, rather than just the first few days.

Good luck, hurt ankles suck!

There is absolutely no way you will gain any insight from comments here. Your injury is specific to you. If you don;t give it due respect, it won;t heal and you may have a bigger problem. No climbing for a while, chill out, and if it's not better see a doctor. Its your ankle bro, come on.

Russ Keane wrote:There is absolutely no way you will gain any insight from comments here. Your injury is specific to you. If you don;t give it due respect, it won;t heal and you may have a bigger problem. No climbing for a while, chill out, and if it's not better see a doctor. Its your ankle bro, come on.

Haha i appreciate the advice. I didn't come here with the expectation of given an online x-ray or anything. These folks have been actually been super helpful. I was wasting time looking into ankle sprain stuff when it turns out what I have is ankle impingement. I don't intend to allow it to fester, I just figured this would be a relatively common injury in bouldering (which I don't do very often), and that I could get some experiences.

Acupuncture!!! You'll be right as rain in record time.