Ankle/Fibula issues?

LorinaLynn
LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
edited October 2024 in Motivation and Support
No, I haven't been to a doctor yet, and yes I will if it continues. :smile:

I have a problem in my lower leg, not in the shin, so I don't think it's a shin splint, but on my outer ankle right above the knobby part of the ankle bone. It feels almost like a bruise... mostly sensitive to the touch, like if I bumped it, or when crossing my leg up across my knee to tie my shoes or something. It's been a little tender for a couple of weeks, starting around the time I was helping my sister rearrange furniture. I thought I might have whacked it on something and bruised it, but there's no visible bruise. But it never bothered me when running.

Until today. I went for a short run after stretching inside, just two miles, mainly on sidewalks/some street, at a pretty decent clip of 7mph (8:30 min/mile), considered stretching it into a three mile run, but after about a mile, the ankle started to hurt. Thought it would feel better as I kept going, but it didn't, and has been sore since. Mainly one small area along the lower fibula, but a dull ache all over the ankle. Range of motion is normal, doesn't bug me when I'm pointing/flexing my toe or rotating my ankle. Tender when walking, but moreso when turning/twisting my leg, like getting out of the car. With this being a short week and all, I'm probably not going to get to a doctor, so I'm just planning on taking it easy the next few days and sticking to the elliptical or bike if I need to do some cardio, and stick with upper body strength training.

Since I'm a "do as I say, not as I do" person, I have googled symptoms, and it seems most in line with a stress fracture. :sad: Has anyone here had one in the fibula?

Mostly, though, I just want to whine and vent a little.

Replies

  • traceracer
    traceracer Posts: 303 Member
    I have a similar problem but it is on the top of my foot. Someone suggested it might be gout! I need to make an appt.
  • adriayellow11
    adriayellow11 Posts: 140 Member
    Hmm I have had a lot of trauma to the lower legs. You should get to see a professional like you are thinking. Even if the pain goes away the problem or cause may still be there lurking to come at you again.

    I had a stress fracture in the tibia not fibula once. A year after my chiropractor would check it with a tuning fork to make sure it was still healed b/c it was still really painful when I started dancing on it again. I have ankle pain where you have it now regularly and my chiropractor and my physical therapist tell me my fibula gets out of place and causes that. But everybody is really different and it's really hard to say what your issue might be.

    Rest, ice it if that seems to make it less tender. Most importantly get it checked by someone you really trust (get some friends to refer a good PT or Chiropractor)
  • adriayellow11
    adriayellow11 Posts: 140 Member
    I would ask whomever you go to see also if you have reason to work on loosening your peroneal muscles. Sometimes tightness there can cause problems to keep coming up.
  • rajivdubey
    rajivdubey Posts: 382 Member
    I guess you must give it a rest for a bit and try a different think like Biking/Spinning till your ankle becomes alright!
  • chubbybunnee
    chubbybunnee Posts: 197 Member
    I broke my fibula in that area a long time ago.It was a clean break and rested in the right place so we just casted it. Even after it healed, it hurt just like you explained! It sounds like a stress fracture to me. You wont know unless you have an x-ray, but the pain you have is what I felt after it was healed. It took a year for the pain to go away completely. I had to elevate it at night and use ice and Nsaids for inflammation and eventually it went away.
  • kunibob
    kunibob Posts: 608 Member
    It does sound like it could be a stress fracture, though there are other possibilities as well. I had a very specific sharp pain in my left foot, right along the bone, that felt like a stress fracture, and even my doctor thought it was a stress fracture at first. We just finally figured out the problem: an injury in my hip was affecting my stance when I was running, which put stress on the muscles on my foot, with was putting a lot of stress on one particular tendon. The good news is that with physical therapy, it's almost gone now.

    Definitely keep an eye on it, and you may want to try icing it regularly if you haven't been doing so already. It might help, regardless of what it is!

    Good luck!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Thanks, everybody. It's feeling better today than it was last night, and I think the biggest "problem" right now is that I feel aware of it and I'm thinking about it too much.

    But I'm definitely going to take it easy for the rest of the "year," and if it's still bugging me next week, get it checked. I don't want to go now because I haven't been to the doc at all this past year, so I haven't paid into my deductible. If I go now, it'll be out of pocket. If I go next week, it'll still be out of pocket, but at least it'll go into 2012's deductible. :grumble:

    It probably has something to do with running on the sidewalks in my neighborhood. There's no tree lawn, so everywhere there's a driveway, the sidewalk dips down, which makes for quite an uneven surface. Plus, once hunting season started (and I'm not sure of what's what or when it ends), I've stayed off the wooded trails. Don't trust people around here to not mistake me for a deer or bear or turkey. :tongue: I also wonder if the roads are harder in the cold months, if sunshine and warmth makes pavement just a little bit softer.
  • SueGremlin
    SueGremlin Posts: 1,066 Member
    I'm gonna go with stress fracture, too.
This discussion has been closed.

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