Pain 2 years after fractured malleous

Foot care
1

Hi im just wanting some advice or to see if someone has had similar issues.

I broke my left lateral malleous at about thr ankle joint with a high ankle sprain. Non didplaced so pretty straightforward but it was mismanaged to start with tho.

I had a cast on for 6 weeks and when they took off my cast the didnt rexray it, they just sent me home to start physio. After 6 weeks and ROM / weight bearing wasnr improving i went to my GP to investigate what what happening, where the ultrasound revealed high ankle sprain and the bone wasnt fully united. I got referred back to the hospital fracture clinic but i took my results to a different hospital (i wasn't going back to the same one)

So after about 6months of scans / xrays etc i then got referred to orthopedic clinic. My weight bearing got better but ROM in dorsiflexion didnt. At the ortho clinic 9months post injury they told me the bone only had 5mm left to heal so its not the bone thats causing the issue. I had a cortisone injection to see if that helped (nope)

They have now done a arthroscopic debrigement of the scar tissue with possible impingement of the high ankle sprain, which didnt get rid of the pain in dorsiflexion. They ordered another cortisone injection a month ago and still didnt work. Now i have just had ANOTHER ct scan to look at the bone again. So im now 2 years on and still get swelling and limited ROM in dorsiflexion. And not to mention extremely frustrated as 2years post injury and i still having issues.

Would it be worth getting a 2nd opinion?

2

Hi Lauren,

My take is that your medical treatment to-date is not working well, and it is past due time to get a second medical opinion on your condition.

You didn't give much detail on your existing ankle symptoms, pain levels, swelling, walking difficulties, or other indicators of ankle problems (but you did mention you are limited in dorsiflexion ROM). So it would be difficult to speculate further on what is actually wrong and what treatments might help you get better.

I would advise though that time is not on your side, so acting sooner than later is probably in your best interests.

Good luck to you.

3

Hey

Thanks for your reply. The difficulties i have with my ankle is pain and swelling with weight bearing. I have good ROM in all directions including dorsiflection when not weight bearing but when i start walking on it thats when i get pain with ROM. I think They are now looking into if its a malunion