Hi,

I am a 29 year old amateur league football player. On July 16th 2018 I suffered an injury during a match whereby I was running with the football and was tackled from the side, the opposition player’s weight landed on my leg and my ankle suffered a sprain. I was unable to continue playing and the ankle became swollen immediately. I couldn’t weight bear the next day and went to minor injuries for an X-Ray to rule out any fractures. The X-ray came back all clear and the nurse told me I had a bad sprain. Over the next few days the ankle remained swollen with significant bruising at the side of my foot and above the ankle bone on the outside of my leg, with the bruising moving to my toes in the next week or two.

I followed the RICE protocol and once my ankle was OK to weightbear after a number of weeks I went to the physiotherapist and began a protocol of stretches, strengthening and walking.

After approx. 7/8 weeks I then progressed to running on the ankle, although still suffered slight discomfort in the ankle whilst running, mostly above the ankle bone.

About 9 weeks post injury, I progressed to football training was able to play 10 minutes of a match last week.

I am concerned that 11 weeks post injury, the pain is not completely gone from my ankle and whenever I kick the football I experience significant pain in my ankle, particularly in behind the achilles tendon (which I didn’t think was injured). I would just like to know if anyone can shed any light as to why the ankle is now painful in the achilles tendon area particularly when I make short sharp bursts of sprinting or kick a football, and how I can expedite healing of the ankle.

Also, if I plant my foot flat on the ground behind me and stretch the calf out moving my bodyweight forward, the ankle joint hurts behind the tendon and above the ankle bone at the front slightly.

If I continue to play sports will it further damage my ankle or is the pain just a symptom of the ligaments healing again? Or should I take another few weeks off altogether. There is no real stiffness in the joint apart from early in the morning or after a sustained period of sitting, moreso just a lingering pain.

Any answers much appreciated.

Many thanks,

David

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