Delayed ankle injury for running - brazen plea for medical advice

[Alien Crouton]

After a 4-mile run yesterday, I felt fine all evening... then I woke up this morning barely able to walk on my right ankle. It feels stiff, a little locked up, painful when I put weight on it, but not swollen or visibly inflamed. I add distance to my runs very gradually to avoid this sort of thing, but it happens to me a few times every year, costing me 3 weeks of training time when it happens.

What could be going on here? I'm baffled by the sort of injury that could seem fine for up to 8 hours post-exercise, and then turn into something awful overnight while I'm asleep. Have been to doctors but all they want to do is throw ibuprofen at it (which helps a little in the short-term but doesn't help me understand how to avoid it).

Thanks in advance. God, I love a board that doesn't get its knickers in a twist over asking medical questions. Smells like freedom.

[MsRobyn]

I have this problem, too. I sprained my ankle rather badly last summer and am still feeling the aftereffects. I'm reasonably sure the ankle is permanently damaged.

What the nice physical therapist told me was that, when you run or walk or do anything on your feet, your ankles swell, which is probably stabilizing the ankle enough to kill the pain until the swelling goes down.

It may be worth it to you to see a specialist in sports medicine who has probably seen a lot of this type of problem and who can take care of it and make proper recommendations.

[Alien Crouton]

bump

IANAD, but fellow sufferer. Sounds like tendonitis to me. First time it happened, I had no idea what was going on. I woke up one morning and just collapsed from the pain when I tried to stand up. It was scary enough that I went to the ER on crutches to get X-rays. After a long wait in agony, the doctor came in, mumbled "pulled tendon", then threw a tensor bandage at my head as he walked out the door. Gee, thanks.

Thinking back on it, I remembered awkwardly catching my balance after slipping off an unusually high street curb the night before. There was an initial shock of pain as my ankle twisted, but that faded quickly so I assumed I hadn't done any real damage. Follow-up with my family doctor confirmed that you may not always know when you've injured yourself until inflammation of the tendon sets in. Also, the damage permanently weakens the tendon, making re-injury more likely.

After 5 years and 3 bad re-lapses that had me using crutches, then a cane for about a week, I've learned not to push my luck when my ankle starts to feel a little stiff after walking or running.