Ankle injuries are extremely common with the most common ankle injury being a sprained ankle.
Twisting an ankle can happen at any time and to anyone. Something as simple as walking on an uneven footpath can result in a rolled ankle and leave you with an ankle sprain.
Within the foot and ankle, there is total of 26 bones, with anyone of these bones susceptible to fracture as a result on an ankle or foot based injury.
The tissues that connect these many bones to each other and hold them together are the tendons. If an ankle is twisted or hit these tendons can become strained or torn and this is what is referred to as an ankle sprain.
Whatever the ankle injury they are generally placed into a category based on the kind of tissue that is injured. If it is a bone injury then we refer to this as a fracture, if it is a ligament then it is a sprain, if it is a muscle then it is a strain or tear and if it is a tendon then we refer to it as tendonitis.
When it comes to the treatment of either a sprain or fracture the first response is to rest the injured area, elevate it as much as possible and apply ice. Most importantly though is keeping weight off the affected foot or ankle.
The corrective intervention that will be required will be dependent upon the level of damage. In some cases, manipulative therapy with appropriate rest may be all that is required. For more dramatic cases surgery may be the chosen pathway to repair ligament damage or to stabilize a fracture.
Early diagnosis by a podiatrist will assist in the speed of recovery from an ankle injury.