Ankle Pain: Most Common Ankle Injuries & Treatment Options
Ankle Pain: Most Common Ankle Injuries & Treatment Options
Ankles play a big role in the foundation for human movement. They give us the ability to successfully navigate our bodies throughout our daily activities. When there is dysfunction in the ankles, that dysfunction can translate to the shins, knees, thighs, hips, and even the lower back.
There are several common causes for ankle pain. We’re going to talk about seven different causes of ankle pain that we treat quite often at our clinics.
Inversion Ankle Sprain
The most common cause that we see is inversion ankle sprains.
An inversion ankle sprain is when you roll your ankle inwards when a person makes a quick and sudden shift of movement while their foot is planted on the ground.
This movement results in stretching and tearing the ligaments that surround the outside part of the ankle. As well, the tendons that cross the bone can get overstretched or they can even tear when you roll your ankles over.
This is common injury in athletes such as basketball players and soccer players, as well as people who are physically active in general.
With most sprains, you feel pain right away at the site of the tear. Often the ankle starts to swell immediately and may bruise . The ankle area is usually tender to touch, and it hurts to move it.
In more severe sprains, you may hear and/or feel something tear, along with a pop or snap. You will probably have extreme pain at first and will not be able to walk or even put weight on your foot. Usually, the more pain and swelling you have, the more severe your ankle sprain is and the longer it will take to heal.
Eversion ankle sprain
The second cause of ankle pain can be an eversion ankle sprain.
This is when you roll your ankle to the opposite side. It can only happen if it’s a person land on somebody else’s foot or object, causing it to roll the opposite inwards.
Even though it is harder to do this type of injury, it’s still quite common in certain sports such as basketball. Likewise, the pain experienced will be located on the inside of the ankle rather than the outside.
Ankle Instability
Third cause of ankle pain can be ankle instability. Now this links in a little to ankle sprains injuries.
Somebody that chronically and repetitively sprain their ankles, whether it be through sports or during daily activities they continue to do, their ligaments and tendons will get really lax with time.
This means all the support in and around the ankle start to loosen up, the bones will no longer be able to stand in the spot that are supposed to be, causing sliding and slipping.
Once this happens, you’re at much higher risk for more sprains and strains that can lead to rubbing between the joints, and can cause the development of more serious conditions and a lot of pain.
Achilles tendonitis
The fourth cause ankle pain can be just back of the ankle. We’re looking at the Achilles tendon.
The Achilles tendon is the band of tissue that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. Achilles tendonitis is inflammation within that tendon.
Achilles tendonitis an injury caused by the overuse of the Achilles tendon. The structure of the Achilles tendon weakens with age which make it more susceptible to injury. Repetitive tugging and straining on this structure causes inflammation, pain, and in certain cases, you can start to see thickening of that tendon.
We want to be able to catch before it turns into this.
Symptoms of Achilles tendonitis include ankle pain, mild ache in the back of the leg and/or above the heel after practicing any sport activity. More severe pain can be present after running or stair climbing. It is also possible to experience tenderness or stiffness, especially in the morning that may or may not improve with mild activity throughout the day.
Ankle Inflammation
Now it is time to look at ankle pain caused by inflammation.
So any time you are on your feet for long periods of time, or if you’ve had previous injuries or if you have poor circulation, all of these can cause inflammation within the ankle joint.
When you have inflammation it takes up space that it’s not supposed to, and their sheer pressure of it or the space is taking up can cause pain in the area.
Arthritis in the ankle
The sixth cause of ankle pain that you can experience is from arthritis.
Arthritis normally develops over time due to wear and tear, after you’ve had previous and repetitive injuries in the area, or overweight individual who has lot of compression on the joints and the ankles can develop arthritis.
It is also very common in athletes. If they are using their legs and their feet repetitively the cartilage inside of your joints can start to wear down causing arthritis to develop.
READ MORE: Exclusive DNA Testing for Knee Arthritis at PhysioChiroWellness
Flat feet
The last reasons why you could get pain in the ankle is due to flat feet.
A flat foot is a very common condition that we see in a lot of people. There are two main bones that sit right under the leg: the heel, or calcaneus, and the talus. When someone has flat feet, the top bone (talus) can start to veer inwards and I’ll actually change the angle in which ankle is positioned. This change can cause a lot continuous ankle pain.
Treatment Options for Ankle Pain
Some of the treatments that we have can involve some hands-on massage in and around the ankle. We would work on the muscles that travel up the calf and the side of the leg that help with stability. We want to be to strengthen those muscles that support the ankle and make sure that stability is there so that we don’t continue to injure it.
Orthotics can help to support the Arch of the foot if the arch is falling to the side or if there is instability in the ankle creating that pain.
Chiropractors can assess to see if there may be joint restrictions in the ankle. if pressure builds up because there’s instability, chiropractors can do some adjustments, as well as, soft tissue therapy in and around the ankle.
There is also taping options. So there are lots of different types of taping options. We can use athletic tape in some cases because it is a little bit more rigid, and this could help if there’s a lot of instability. More flexible tapes such as kinesiology tapes, or KT tape, can help to rebuild some of the strength in the ankle.
Acupuncture helps with healing and with pain. Acupuncture would be done locally in the ankle to stimulate blood flow to the area and to heal it clear of any inflammation. So if you have an ankle that’s always hurting, when we remove the needles a lot of people will notice decrease in pain afterwards.
What to do next?
There you have it! We broke drown several different types of causes for ankle pain a couple different options for treatment.
The best thing to do is to come into the clinic find out what might be causing your ankle pain. We can do an assessment for that and figure out what type of treatment options were best for you and go from there if you have any other questions please contact us, give us a call, contact us through social media and we’d love to see you.
How Can PhysioChiroWellness Help?
At PhysioChiroWellness Integrated Health Centre our highly skilled practitioners work together to create fully integrated health solutions that may include physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, naturopathy, medical aesthetics amongst others. Our professionals will work together towards achieving an optimal health for all our patients through a holistically approach when treating any condition or pain they may present. This service is provided in our Ajax, Mississauga, Newmarket, & Vaughan clinics and can be booked at any time.