What are the symptoms of a sprained ankle and fracture?

Many friends like to exercise, but strenuous exercise can easily lead to accidental sprains. If the situation is serious, it can also harm the health of the bones. In fact, it is very common for a sprained ankle to result in a fracture. The patient will feel obvious pain because of the broken bone, and will not be able to walk anymore. Timely treatment and fixation are required.

Overview

Long-term, repeated, mild direct or indirect external force concentrated on a certain point of the bone may cause ankle fracture, also known as fatigue fracture, due to the stimulation of repeated force. Ankle fractures often occur after long-distance marches or long-distance running. The fractures are mostly located in the bones that bear the body weight and are often repeatedly acted upon by muscle force, such as the second metatarsal and the lower 1/3 of the fibula, as well as the lumbar vertebrae and ribs.

Causes of Ankle Fractures

1. Direct violence: such as a car hitting the calf and causing a tibia fracture;

2. Indirect violence: when you suddenly kneel down, the quadriceps muscle contracts violently, causing patellar fracture;

3. Accumulative strain: Long-distance marches can easily lead to fractures of the second and third metatarsal bones.

4. Pathological factors: Osteoporosis in the elderly is one of the direct factors leading to ankle fracture dislocation.

Symptoms of a Broken Ankle

Symptoms of a broken ankle develop gradually over the first two to three weeks. Unlike other chronic injury symptoms caused by overuse, the symptoms of ankle fractures tend to stay in the same location and are more painful. Patients usually experience forefoot pain after prolonged or strenuous exercise, which disappears after a few seconds of rest. In subsequent training, the pain occurs earlier and more severely, to the point where they cannot exercise. Touching the swollen area can cause pain, and they even feel pain while lying in bed. In the early stages of the disease, X-ray examinations usually cannot show fractures, so it is easy to miss or misdiagnose, and a follow-up examination and filming is required two weeks later; CT examinations can intuitively show the location and range of the fracture, and are also of great value for follow-up after injury; MRI examinations are of great significance for the early diagnosis of stress fractures because they can clearly show the fracture line and edema and bleeding in the medullary cavity and surrounding soft tissues.

Treatment

Treatment of ankle fractures, including immobilization, rest, and medication, is beneficial for

Fracture recovery. After the fracture heals, you should pay attention to the amount of exercise and exercise techniques according to your physical condition, do sufficient warm-up exercises, and avoid running and jumping on hard surfaces. In traditional Chinese medicine, external application of bone strengthening and repositioning patches can better promote healing and callus growth, and is suitable for patients with wound healing. Pay attention to a nutritious, balanced and comprehensive diet, and appropriately supplement with vitamin D and calcium. For patients with delayed union or nonunion, surgical treatment can be considered.