Hi,

I feel awful signing up purely for advice. I would love to visit a physiotherapist face to face, but due to my work schedules, and the fact the injury does not prevent me from working means it's impractical for me.

Due to compound fracture of both radius and ulna back in January, I no longer play any contact sports, and switched over to "Touch" rugby.

Last Tuesday (28th July), I went over on my ankle (rolled ankle with sole facing in), hearing a pop as I went down. The pain was sharp at the time, but walked off for about 10 minutes, and went back into the game. I was entirely pain free during the game. After getting home and having a shower, it started to ache. No pain, I could still walk without a limp, but it ached, and looked swollen, so took myself to my local A&E department.

At A&E (I walked in), they checked it over, asked me to move the foot in all directions and were happy with the range of motion, the only pain was when they pressed onto the side of the ankle, because of this and the pop I was sent for X-Rays.

X-Rays came back clear, but now bruising had started to show on the side of the ankle (higher up near the lower leg). The Dr didn't seem too concerned with the pop, and likened it to cracking your knuckles. I was given a compression bandage to wear to help with the swelling.

The next day, Wednesday 29th July, it was quite sore in the morning, but as I moved around it became free and pain free. I was still able to walk without a limp.

It has gradually improved till Friday in which I watched a rugby game, so walked 2 miles, stood at a game for 2 hours, all pain free. So on Saturday I started to follow this advice

https://youtu.be/OD-p1mwqsH4?t=3m37s

So we're now up to today Monday 3rd August, 6 days after the accident. I have mild discomfort at maximum range of motion, but I can jump, stand on my toes (with some mild discomfort), jog, sprint at 100%, cut in while running at sharp angles pain free. But still experience mild discomfort/pain doing the exercises when near extreme motion. The most painful position being, foot rolled in, and pointing foot/toes up towards my shin.

Currently, bruising has pretty much gone, but there is some swelling still.

The advice by the Doctor was a little ambiguous in that he suggested, rest for 3 weeks or till I feel comfortable on the ankle.

I was looking at taping the ankle with the following method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sRtN-gngn0

And trying to play touch rugby again tomorrow, I obviously don't want to re-injure the ankle. But what risks are involved if I join in slowly, and sporadically? This is a social game run by a local club, rather than a competitive league.

Am I safe to try playing and stop if I feel any pain or discomfort? Are there any tests I can do, beyond trying jumps and standing on toes, that I can report back the results that would suggest whether my ankle is suitable to use again?

All advice is very much appreciated, and apologies for the long post, but hopefully I gave you all the details you need.

Thanks

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