Injured Ankle (Need some advice)

[cuchulainn]

I messed up my ankle playing basketball last night. I was able to walk fairly normally right after it happened, but as the night went on and I sat around, it swelled up pretty good and I can only put around 20% of my weight on that ankle without pain.

My dilemma is this: I injured it on a Friday around 7 PM. The health center on campus closed at 5 that day and doesn't open again until Tuesday due to Memorial Day.

If I broke/fractured something, I want to get off the foot as soon as possible, but I can't go to the health center for another 3 days.

I could go to an emergency room, but I'd need to have my roommate drive me, but it would have to be tonight, Sunday 5-8 (he has on call shift 8 pm sunday to 8 am monday and can't leave apartment), Monday before 8 (I have on call then) or I can just wait until Tuesday and go on campus?

I can still move my ankle some in spite of the swelling and it never went numb (which I remember happening when I fractured my other ankle a long time ago). It's just a bitch to get around without crutches or anything cause it's fairly stiff and I can't put much weight on it.

A decent amount of swelling did go down overnight, so that's good.

I'm just wondering if anyone has an medical experience or has this type of injury happen to them (I do not want "I had a friend who's cousin died of a sprained ankle..." bullshit. If you don't have medical training or firsthand (aka it happened to you) experience with this type of injury, don't bother posting anything, since it'll be a waste of my time and yours).

[[SD]Twysta]

I've had it a couple of times, and every time i do get it it gets worse and worse, it's just weakened and i have to do daily exercises with my left leg because my knee on my left leg is not 100% in it's correct place which causes my leg to grow different from how it should be. Just a couple of centimeters but yeah.

Get off the foot as much as possible.
Use some form of a walking stick. (Sounds rediculous i know but you'd be suprised by how much it actually helps)
Ice on it as much as possible.
Once a day (For example when you make some food, or visit the restroom), make some decent steps, it widens the veins and it makes your blood flow to that foot increase by around 25%. Blood is what you need to heal it, together with rest.

Yeah kind of basic answers but looking at the situation it's defenitely the best thing to do.

If it gets worse, arrange some kind of transport to the emergency room because it doesn't nessacerily have to be broken, but could be fractured in some form.

[Razorhead]

I had the same thing a couple of years ago. Sprained my ankle; within 5 minutes my foot doubled in size, i put an icepackage on. In the afternoon the swelling decreased, but not to normal size.
I was able to stand on it, but not as I normally would (more weight on the other foot)
Mom took me to the hospital, nothing broken. But my ligaments were "sprained?" (like when u stretch a rubber band to far; it starts breaking/tearing; this was the same)
I had to walk on crutches for a week and had a "special bandaging" (like a tight sock, so my ankle wouldn't move too much)

[ColourBlind]

Ice > Visit the Hospital & fingers crossed it isn't something bad

[woutR]

* Rest your ankle by not walking on it.
* Ice should be immediately applied. It keeps the swelling down. It can be used for 20 minutes to 30 minutes, three or four times daily. Combine ice with wrapping to decrease swelling, pain and dysfunction.
* Compression dressings, bandages or ace-wraps immobilize and support the injured ankle.
* Elevate your ankle above your heart level for 48 hours.

[mahumps]

It happened to me a lot of times when I was a child, really clumsy before, my parents usually instruct me to step on a bottle and roll it a couple of times with my injured foot. And then they would usually "hilot" that's our term. It's a special way of massaging my foot. The thing is keep you ankle moving, exercise it as much as possible. You said it got worst during the night so as long as you can, exercise your ankle. But don't make it hard for your ankle just the simple exercise.

[cuchulainn]

Well, it's already showing some signs of improvement. I'm 99% sure nothing's broken since I can support my entire weight without pain. I just can't really twist it around too much. I think it's just a pulled tendon or ligament so I'm just gonna take it easy and give it time to heal.

No basketball for awhile...

I'll see how it is around the 3rd to see if I can start running or if I should stick with biking to start.

[mahumps]

When I was a kid if that happens to me I'll do the things I stated above. But when I was in highschool if I broke my ankle or something coz of basketball my friends usually tells me "your ankle is broken coz of basketball then basketball will heal it for you". I would go play right again, like don't think of the pain, more on mind over matter. It works sometimes but there are also times that it goes worst and I have to stay home for a week or 2. lol

[dom]

Normally, if it's blue it's broken, if it's red it's sprained.

If it's sprained, keep weight off of it until it heals. If you go to the doctor's and it's sprained, IIRC, there's not much than can do other than give you pain killers and tell you to keep ice on it.

I've sprained my ankles a couple times. I went to the doctor a couple times, but it all came down to spending a couple days watching a lot of TV.

[cuchulainn]

Normally, if it's blue it's broken, if it's red it's sprained.

If it's sprained, keep weight off of it until it heals. If you go to the doctor's and it's sprained, IIRC, there's not much than can do other than give you pain killers and tell you to keep ice on it.

I've sprained my ankles a couple times. I went to the doctor a couple times, but it all came down to spending a couple days watching a lot of TV.

Well, there's some bluish-red bruising on the foot. But it's about .5" below where any of the pain is, which I found weird. I'll see how it looks Monday night and hit up the doctor Tuesday if it hasn't improved any.

[tuinman159]

I messed up my ankle playing basketball last night. I was able to walk fairly normally right after it happened, but as the night went on and I sat around, it swelled up pretty good and I can only put around 20% of my weight on that ankle without pain.

My dilemma is this: I injured it on a Friday around 7 PM. The health center on campus closed at 5 that day and doesn't open again until Tuesday due to Memorial Day.

If I broke/fractured something, I want to get off the foot as soon as possible, but I can't go to the health center for another 3 days.

I could go to an emergency room, but I'd need to have my roommate drive me, but it would have to be tonight, Sunday 5-8 (he has on call shift 8 pm sunday to 8 am monday and can't leave apartment), Monday before 8 (I have on call then) or I can just wait until Tuesday and go on campus?

I can still move my ankle some in spite of the swelling and it never went numb (which I remember happening when I fractured my other ankle a long time ago). It's just a bitch to get around without crutches or anything cause it's fairly stiff and I can't put much weight on it.

A decent amount of swelling did go down overnight, so that's good.

I'm just wondering if anyone has an medical experience or has this type of injury happen to them (I do not want "I had a friend who's cousin died of a sprained ankle..." bullshit. If you don't have medical training or firsthand (aka it happened to you) experience with this type of injury, don't bother posting anything, since it'll be a waste of my time and yours).

Call a f*cking ambulance, those people only have to work when terrorists attack and i think Bush took care of that^^

[takolin]

If it's injured you should apply "RICE".

Rest
Ice
compression
elevation.

[Doron]

kick something.

Or go swimming, it just let's your ankle levitate in the water, and you can freely move then.

I think that is the best thing, and the water pressure and temperature is good for your ankle.

[cuchulainn]

I messed up my ankle playing basketball last night. I was able to walk fairly normally right after it happened, but as the night went on and I sat around, it swelled up pretty good and I can only put around 20% of my weight on that ankle without pain.

My dilemma is this: I injured it on a Friday around 7 PM. The health center on campus closed at 5 that day and doesn't open again until Tuesday due to Memorial Day.

If I broke/fractured something, I want to get off the foot as soon as possible, but I can't go to the health center for another 3 days.

I could go to an emergency room, but I'd need to have my roommate drive me, but it would have to be tonight, Sunday 5-8 (he has on call shift 8 pm sunday to 8 am monday and can't leave apartment), Monday before 8 (I have on call then) or I can just wait until Tuesday and go on campus?

I can still move my ankle some in spite of the swelling and it never went numb (which I remember happening when I fractured my other ankle a long time ago). It's just a bitch to get around without crutches or anything cause it's fairly stiff and I can't put much weight on it.

A decent amount of swelling did go down overnight, so that's good.

I'm just wondering if anyone has an medical experience or has this type of injury happen to them (I do not want "I had a friend who's cousin died of a sprained ankle..." bullshit. If you don't have medical training or firsthand (aka it happened to you) experience with this type of injury, don't bother posting anything, since it'll be a waste of my time and yours).

Call a f*cking ambulance, those people only have to work when terrorists attack and i think Bush took care of that^^

Most of the ambulances around here idle right by the Row watching all the sorostitutes go by. Same for the tow trucks.