left ankle pain?

[nature runner]

My left ankle on the outside and up the outside of my leg to the outside bottom of calf is giving me weird sore and stiff pains. When I get up in the morning it is very stiff and painful. As the day goes on the pain eases off but it stays sore all the day in the same area? When I run it doesn't bother me til after the run. I've soaked my ankle in epsom salt and put icy hot on it and so on for about a week now. It's been going on about two weeks after I stepped in a huge hole in the ground at work in the grass. It's funny I can trail run and encounter all of that, but my feet feel the terrain before something like that happens and I can adjust for it. Not saying it was entirely shoes that made me step in whole. I was getting off a 12hr nightshift, and had been up for 22 hrs. I was waving by to my co-workers and disappeared lol. All they heard was my face smashing my lunch box lol!

 

[C. Beth Run.]

Ouch!! My ankles tend to get

Ouch!! My ankles tend to get achy too. It helps to use my foam roller. (I know,that's my answer to everything!) I noticed that my lower leg on the outside had a really tight spot that I wasn't getting with my normal calf rolling. I've been making sure to roll the outside of my lower leg, and I think it's helping with the ache I get on the outside of my ankle. I've started rolling the inside of my lower leg too; might as well keep it all loose down there!

Also for strength & flexibility I try to remember to do my favorite ankle exercise: When sitting down I pick up one foot and "write the alphabet" with my toes. It gets my ankle moving in all sorts of angles. Stretches it dynamically and also strengthens it.

But with yours happening from stepping in a hole you may have more than muscle tightness; you might have pulled something. Rest as needed, and ice it.

 

[Liesl]

Ouch, reading that made me

Ouch, reading that made me cringe. My brother broke his ankle (completely snapped in two) stepping in a hole hidden by grass.

As C.Beth says you probably just overly stressed it, pulled something or bruised something. It should clear up in a week or two. Hopefully anyway!



How do you run and stay active when having to work such long hours and without much sleep? Or are those hours only occassionaly? My run this morning wasn't easy after a long and tiring week with not enough sleep.

 

[Nyal]

Does it ache at night? You

Does it ache at night? You may have PT. If so, you need to rest it until it stops hurting or it will become a weaker foot. And trust me, you don't want that.

 

[nature runner]

Nyal wroteoes it ache at

Does it ache at night? You may have PT. If so, you need to rest it until it stops hurting or it will become a weaker foot. And trust me, you don't want that.

Excuse me for sounding dumb but what is PT? It does ache at night and it's really bad in the morning.

 

[nature runner]

Liesl wrote:Ouch, reading

Ouch, reading that made me cringe. My brother broke his ankle (completely snapped in two) stepping in a hole hidden by grass.

As C.Beth says you probably just overly stressed it, pulled something or bruised something. It should clear up in a week or two. Hopefully anyway!



How do you run and stay active when having to work such long hours and without much sleep? Or are those hours only occassionaly? My run this morning wasn't easy after a long and tiring week with not enough sleep.

I really have to make myself go, but I love to run, and yes I work 12 hr swingshift all the time.It's like 3 or 4 nights then a day or two off then 3 or 4 days and same. That is what drives me to attend school, so I can one day get a better job.

 

[Nyal]

It's either Peroneal

It's either Peroneal Tendonitis or worse, much worse Peroneal Tendonosis.

 

[twinkletoes]

I have been nursing the same

I have been nursing the same thing in my left ankle for a couple of months. At first it hurt like mad and stairs were brutal. Did RICE of course, but then discovered kinesio tape and it immediately felt better (when taped that is- used alot at first) though I kept running on it. So, while I hardly notice it now, I still wake up with the stiff pain first thing in the morning which goes away after a walk to the kitchen. I do continue to tape both my ankles on long runs (9+ miles on a rocky, hilly trail) and occasionally work the trigger points in the area- they're some real zingers.

 

[LavaRunner]

If you have soreness in the

If you have soreness in the mornings then you have inflammation. If you have inflammation then you are doing damage by not rectifying what is causing the inflammation. There are two tendons on the outside of the foot called the perennial tendons, it almost sounds to me like you have tendonitis in one or both of those tendons caused by TMTS or some form of overuse or trauma. The Achilles tendon also inserts around the entire ankle bone and if that connection is getting inflames that is a warning sign.

I’d say ice it a lot, in fact over ice and keep the inflammation down and let it heal.

Pain is your guide. If it hurts, stop doing whatever hurts. Don’t take anti-inflammatories and mask the pain then run, that’s a recipe for a torn tendon. Any inflammation where a tendon connects to a bone can also cause the bone to create new cells in an attempt to strengthen the bond and you can end up bone spurs that are problematic. On top of some minor tears of my Achilles I also fractured the bone spur where the tendon pulled on it.

Try using Ice massages, I love them. Healing my Achilles has really opened my eyes to what has been going on in my feet and all that I have been ignoring.

 

[nature runner]

  Thanks for the insight all,

Thanks for the insight all, I have actually sprained that same ankle five times in the past while running shod on trails. I have always been a nature runner, never was a street runner much. I don't like being around people or traffic were someone can throw something at you, which has happened around here alot. People are so back woods that if you are doing something healthy they scream out the window faggot? I guess if you are a runner around here you are gay or a lesbian, I hate to think what I am labled as a barefoot runner lol! Nature trail running has always been my thing, I don't run races but I do pace myself and run the distances of an actual race. With trails come hazzards like holes with leaves over them that have gotten me before after a heavy rain. Maybe from all the falls and sprains it has set up something in there? Who knows?

 

[twinkletoes]

I have sprained my left ankle

I have sprained my left ankle twice also NatureRunner, coincidentally, within a few months' time and on the same trail. The second time in February, it popped the talus out and looked like I had a golf-ball sticking out of the top of my foot. I just got used to it being wonky and kept running on it until the transition when it really started bothering me. My phys therapist friend worked it back in, and that's when the tendonitis started up. I do think a sprain creates a weakness.

Like LavaRunner says, the area is too close to the achilles to ignore and at first I was terrified that it was achilles tendonitis; I had ice packs on my legs even at work. After I learned to relax my knees more, my calves calmed down & so did my achilles; I'm sure it's peroneal tendonitis but it's very mild. Maybe if I took more than 10 days off...heel lifts off a step every day help to strengthen that area too.

 

[twinkletoes]

Thanks for the ice massage

Thanks for the ice massage tip LavaRunner.

I ran on a sore right ankle last Sunday and should have heeded the ache- at mile 6 of 10, after a huge steep hill, something went very wrong in my ankle and my foot suddenly wouldn't bear my weight. It was the longest four miles back to my car EVER. I am such a dumbass for running on it right after reading and posting here. Well, I don't have much of a choice now....

 

[peacekaren]

Sounds like a peroneal tendon

Sounds like a peroneal tendon injury to me, too. I dealt with that last year. Start with rest, ice, compression and elevation. Take Advil and keep off of it. (But don't take Advil so that you can run on it.) After a couple days of ice, switch over to heat or alternate heat/ice. I also found it helped to soak my ankle in a hot tub.

Once the discomfort isn't too bad, you can try these exercises.

http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/library/sports_health/peroneal_tendon_strain_exercises/



Be patient. Tendon injuries can take a long time to heal.



Hope that helps.



Peace,

Karena

 

[nature runner]

Thank you all for the input,

Thank you all for the input, I will check out those excercises Karen. I have been icing, and also soaking in hot pail of epsom salt. Hopefully this will be gone soon. I have been on a couple of bf hikes with a little soreness afterwards, but not real bad like before.