Severe Ankle Pain

[kaiowas]

After injuring my left ankle while practicing round-off saults last year I took a long period of rest with many visits to physiotherapists and doctors that resulted in cortisone injections followed by a great deal of balance, proprioception and strength training for that foot from Nov 08- Mar 09. Having been back at Gym and getting back into tumbling I was starting to get the round-off flip, a difficult transition for me after learning saults first and not use to the sitting back position after my round-off for the flip. Anyway after doing countless round-offs before without even a slight twinge or ache in my left ankle I line up to do a round-off flip, I was hesitant and slowly come out of the round-off leaning forwards instead of backwards and slam my feet into the ground to compensate for the lack of momentum resulting an immediate stinging pain in both my ankles but committed to the flip still jump backward and land a poor flip with my weight pushing down on my wrists to land on my already painful ankles. My feet were both facing forward and I don't think anything rolled during the round-off.

The pain is on the outside of the ankle in the small crevice in what I think is the anterior talofibular ligament in both ankles. However, my left ankle (the one I hurt last year) no longer has any pain (this happened two days ago) but I cannot walk on my right foot without excruciating pain. Both feet hit the ground at the same time with what I'm thinking would have been equal weight. However, I think the faster healing time and lack of pain in my left foot could be related to the months of strength and balance training I have done over the past few months, I did some on my right foot but not as much as my left and I think this is the result of why it still hurts and why it will now take me at least another month or two of rest before it heals. Very disheartening for me as I had just gotten back into it, my physio tells me I should find anther sport.

But I like to think the healing time for my left ankle is a result of the copious amounts of balance and strength training I did and goes to show that joint preparation does work.

[braindx]

Do you have full range of motion?

I sprained my ankle way back when, and didn't take my rehab seriously and ended up with a lack of about 10-20 degree ROM on my left ankle so when I take it to the limit it sometimes swells up again.

That's the most important part after getting the pain/swelling down.. then the strength and proprioceptive work to get it back up to par.

[Coach Sommer]

You immediately exposed your ankle to too much volume in your training upon your return to training. My recommendation is to greatly reduce your volume and to gradually increase the work load on the ankle. It is quite normal for a connective tissue injury to require a year or more to completely heal.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer