Chiropractor Questions Sprained ankle

After healing from a sprain, why do I still feel pressure in my ankle?

I had a sprain when I fell in the bathroom about 3 months back. Everything has healed now, but I do still feel a little pressure on my ankle. What could be causing this?

20 Answers

A sprain can take a full year to completely heal. It is going to be weak for quite some time. There are dietary supplements that you can take to encourage healing.
Your feet are shock absorbers and can take about 15 times your body weight. So, when you injure them, they still have to provide the weight bearing as you heal.
Scar tissue formation could be the leading cause of the pain. Chiropractic adjustment with Graston (soft tissue technique) can help.
During the healing, it will develop some scar tissue. That is a possibility. Proper therapy and specific exercises will help to recover.
Chronic pains from a sprained ankle are common in ankle sprains that do not heel well. Depending on the severity of the sprain, 3 months ago is not that long ago and it is reasonable to have continued symptoms. Chiropractic therapy and/physical therapy are two good options to assist in resolution of your ankle symptoms.
Hi,

This is a really good question and this question can be answered after you go to get an evaluation at your chiropractor.

When you had your strain, your body had to compensate for the lack of motion due to the muscle strain so your whole body had to compensate by overactivating other muscle around or maybe you walked more on the other ankle to avoid pressure and pain in the affected ankle. Even after the signs of strains are resolved (no more swelling, redness, pain, etc.), you still have to make sure that your body is back in the right place, including your spine, pelvis and, obviously, knees, ankles, and feet.

The pressure you still feel could be caused by overactive muscles, scar tissue, or sequela from your strain, which didn’t heal completely. Sprain/strains take a long time to completely heal sometimes (over 12 weeks is not uncommon), but you need to make sure that no nerves or muscles or joints around aren’t still needing some attention and possible chiropractic adjustments, muscle work, or strengthening exercises.

I would advise you to go seek the opinion of a chiropractor who then, after evaluating you, will be able to give you the exact cause of that lingering pressure.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Jessica Grichy, DC
There may have also been a tendon strain which takes a while to heal and can cause inflammation of the ankle. Search for a practitioner (chiropractor, Physical Therapist, etc) who utilizes ART (active release therapy) to assess and treat your ankle.
It might be misaligned.
There could still be swelling in the ankle due to scar tissue that remains and gets in the way of the mechanical motion of the ankle. Doing exercises to regain as much of the range of motion as you can should help with that.
you could have some joint dysfunction secondary to the injury that caused the sprain that needs to be evaluated by a properly trained chiropractor
Could be the bones are not lined up right and a chiropractor that does extremities can help
First off, if you’re still feeling anything different with the sprained ankle, then clearly it hasn’t healed completely — if it was healed, it wouldn’t feel any different from the other ankle at all. Secondly, even if it feels like it’s back to normal, unless it’s been adjusted at least a few times by a chiropractor who knows how to do that well, there is still joint dysfunction that will likely result in future discomfort or dysfunction.
Did you ever rehab your ankle after the sprain? The pressure could be coming from imbalances in your joints. Once you injured the ankle, your knee and hip can also be affected. I would suggest ankle rehabilitation, or, if you are a Planet Fitness member, try to use their Total Body Enhancement (it is a vibration plate that helps with proprioception [knowing where your body is in space]).
Sometimes the joints in the foot can become misaligned when you sprain the ankle. A chiropractor trained in foot adjustments such as myself, can help you.
Ankle sprains can heal as far as pain over a span of 6-8 weeks, but there can be residual pain that exists for another few months, mostly due to the remodeling and scar tissue that has occurred to repair the area. The ankle joint must be put through specific exercise at this point to stabilize the ligaments and other soft tissue in the area. This can be as simple as one-leg stands and balance disc exercises for proprioception. Depending on where the pressure is and the intensity of it, give it some good stretches and strengthening before going to the doctor. If there is still pressure after another 4 weeks or so, have it X-rayed to check it out.
You may have some structural damage that may take longer to heal and/or could even be permanent. Also, it is very likely that you misaligned some of the foot joints upon spraining the ankle. I would have a doctor of chiropractic take a look at it and see if it can be adjusted.

Respectfully,
Ankles can take up to 32 weeks to totally heal. Be sure to have an X-Ray done as soon as possible
Even though the s pop rain has healed, the ankle is probably still fixated or lacking mobility. A chiropractor who is well versed in extremity adjusting can help. You may also need orthotics for shoes.
Appears to be a subluxation of your ankle. Get adjusted. Extremity adjusting does wonders.
Did you have an X-ray to rule out a fracture? If not, that is a possibility. Depending on the degree of sprain it could take a couple more months for the strength to return 100%. Do you have full range of motion to the ankle or does it feel restricted on certain movements? If so, there could be a joint misalignment and fixation, which a chiropractor can take care of.