Hello all,

I was working take downs in early September and my left ankle gave out an audible "pop" and quickly swelled.

I thought at first I had re-injured an old ligament injury but this felt different. It felt like the actual ankle joint moved and snapped back into place and it was very painful.

An X-Ray showed no fracture and I allowed it to heal for a few weeks. I then went back to class and it popped again during guard passing drills. So I let it heal for even longer, went back to class again and re-injured it.

Now I've been out of class almost three months because of this injury. I went to a sports doctor and he thinks the joint simply shifted and gave me a big rubber band with which to do exercises. He doesn't think anything else at this point will help but he's not quite sure what might have happened either.

So I'm going to list out my symptoms for analysis by the highly-qualified Bullshido medical staff hoping that someone else has had or seen this type of injury before. I'm looking for advice on getting this thing to heal so I can start training and competing again.

Symptoms:

- Painful when flexed inward at the joint.
- Painful when impacted from jogging, walking down stairs or off of obstacles.

Again it's not in the ligaments but in the joint. I've been downing Glucosamine and using the band but I don't feel much improvement. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks...

Any swelling? Tender spots?

SOunds like you separated/relocated your ankle. Now the ligaments and tendons are stretched, and the the bones are slightly worn. You possibly shifted some cartilege as well (thhat would casue the pain while walking/jogging etc.) Basically, your ankle is now "separation-prone." I am not a doctor, but the same thing happened to my right shoulder. (Separated 5 times in two years) now it pops in and out fairly easily. You can have surgery to tighten the connective tissue, but if you tape/brace the **** out of your ankle during practice you might be ok. If you avoid separating it long enough, the tissues will eventually tighten up again. Depending on your age that can take a very long time tho.

The fact that your ankle is a load-bearing joint makes it more complicated than my shoulder. As long as I avoid juji-gatame and don't fall on it wrong I'm usuall OK. THat ankle thing sucks.

Yeah I'm hoping time will heal things up but I've been missing a lot of training and it's bugging me. I suppose I'm better off waiting than developing a chronic injury though. I'm going to go to class today and only work on guard attacks to keep weight off of the injury. I'm going to try taping the joint really solid today to see if that can help prevent a re-injury too.

Jekyll: No swelling, but the joint area is painful if twisted. The pain actually feels like it's deep in the joint.

definately sounds like damaged cartilege. Tape it good.

Hope this helps: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/ankle/anklesprain.htm

Massage helps loosen scar tissue? No wonder my massage seems to give me more flexibility.

I would consider going to see a physio for stability exercises.

What ever is wrong with your ankle, I would imagen that the muscels and tendons around the joint have been loosened making it much more unstable and more likely for you to stress the joint.

Oh and take it easy training, I did a similar thing to my knee and kept training lightly on it, then it gave way in class when someone caught one of my kicks and I fell dislocating my elbow. Hopefully I should be able to train again in a couple of weeks.

Thanks guys I'll check things out...

My trademark can be found here, (http://www.achillesmed.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ASO_ankle_brace_white&Category_Code=AB&Product_Count=2) Aso Axis ankle brace. I've played a lot of years of soccer and the horsie game and had my fair share of ankle injuries. That brace holds a hell of a lot better than any taping job I've ever done/had done. Anywho, that's about all I know.

Looks awesome. Thanks.

another thing to get flexibility and strength back. Get a balance board, or make one by getting a piece of plywood, and a croquet ball (a wood one cut in half.) Attach the half of the ball on the bottom of the plywood in the middle. Stand on it and rotate and balance. Brought myself back from a dislocated ankle many years ago, as per my sports doc advice...works well.

Aaron

another thing to get flexibility and strength back. Get a balance board, or make one by getting a piece of plywood, and a croquet ball (a wood one cut in half.) Attach the half of the ball on the bottom of the plywood in the middle. Stand on it and rotate and balance. Brought myself back from a dislocated ankle many years ago, as per my sports doc advice...works well.

Aaron

That's a really good idea. I've been doing balance work by walking curbs, boards, etc. but this sounds like a better solution.