You just fell and turned your ankle and are in a great deal of pain. The ankle is swelling and bruising, but you do not know if you have sprained or fractured your ankle. Obviously if it’s a fracture you have to go to the hospital, but a sprain you can wait and maybe treat yourself. The first twenty four hours of an ankle sprain and an ankle fracture are very similar. Now, the fact is the only way to determine if you have fractured or sprained your ankle is to go to the hospital or the doctors office and get an X-ray.
Here are some simple questions to ask yourself to determine the difference:
On a scale of 1-10 what is the pain? Is it tolerable? Generally a fractured ankle will be about an 8-10 on a scale. You will be unable to sleep and the pain will throb. With an ankle sprain the pain is much more manageable. You will be able to hop around without too much trouble.
Are there blisters by the ankle? If your ankle starts to blister because of the swelling, those are fracture blisters and you have a fractured ankle. Go to the hospital!
Where is the swelling? In ankle sprains the swelling tends to be more below the ankle joint, in the heel region. While with ankle fractures the swelling will be uniform and above the ankle.
Can you bear weight on it? Even if it is an exagerated limp, if you can bear weight on the leg even a little, it is most likely you sprained the ankle. If you are incapable of bearing any weight on the ankle, then you need to go to the hospital.
What are the treatment differences between an ankle sprain or ankle fracture?
Well,with an ankle sprain a lot of times you will be a lot better in seventy two hours, and really you can treat most of them yourself:
Where as an ankle fracture you may or may not need surgery. But, you will be off your foot generally for as long as 6 weeks in a walking boot or cast. You will also need crutches, although there are alternatives to crutches that can make the experience of not walking on your foot easier:
So good luck with your treatment. I hope this article helped you.