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Ways To Check Whether You Have Ankle Sprain Or Ankle Fracture

Ways To Check Whether You Have Ankle Sprain Or Ankle Fracture

Experiencing pain in your ankle is quite common. It is one of the most common joints that get injured while either playing a sport or doing routine work. When it gets injured, you find it difficult to even put your weight on it. Even a light touch causes a lot of pain. Now, the question is, are you dealing with a sprain or a broken joint? Many people get confused between these two problems because the symptoms are quite similar. But, it is essential for you to know which one you are experiencing as quickly as possible so that you can heal the right way.

Ankle Fracture

There are three bones in your ankle. If any one of them breaks, you have ankle fracture. The problem is, if only one bone is broken, you may not experience a lot of pain or properly understand how severe the injury is. But if more bones get broken, you will surely lose stability in your ankle and won’t be able to walk properly at all. In some cases, ankle fracture also leads to problems such as ligament damage.

Ankle Sprain

When the ligaments in your ankle get damaged, you have ankle sprain. What are ligaments? These are stretchy bands that are quite tough and do the job of keeping your bones in place and the joint in stable condition. They stretch and move but they have a limit how far they can stretch and move. You have ankle sprain when your ligaments are stretched way beyond their limits.

Ways To Confirm Whether You Have Ankle Sprain Or Fracture

  • Can you recall the noise? In most cases, sprains happen silently or sometimes produce a popping sound. When you fracture your ankle, you will hear a ‘crack’ sound
  • Keep in mind that both fracture and sprain can cause swelling. However, if your ankle looks misshapen, then most likely the cause of your pain is a fracture
  • You will feel a lot of pain in cases of ankle sprain. In a fracture, you will most likely experience numbness or a tingling sensation
  • Another simple way of knowing whether you have a sprain or a fracture in your ankle is, touching directly over the ankle bone and the soft part of the ankle. If touching the soft part causes pain, then you have a sprain. If touching the ankle bone causes pain, then it could be you have a fracture in your ankle

 Treatment

If the ankle is broken, we will strongly advise you to get in touch with a doctor right away. Either using crutches or a cast, you need to immobilize your ankle quickly. Your doctor will try to stabilize the fracture by realigning the broken bones. If stabilizing the fracture proves difficult, you might require surgery.

For ankle sprain, you can take anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen. You will also find great relief by resting, elevating the ankle, doing compression, and icing the ankle using ankle ice pack wrap. Most sprains go away on their own and some sprains may require physical therapy.

 Whether you have a sprain or a fracture, you will benefit greatly from applying ice. At Cool Relief, we sell top quality ice packs for ankle. Not just ankle ice packs, we also have packs for knee, shoulder, back, thigh, and other areas as well. To know more about our products, check out our products’ page.

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