Inside Ankle Pain (severa) evenings and mornings.

by Fitzgibbons
(Queensbury, NY, USA)

I broke my 5th Metatarsal several months ago. Initially I had NO ankle pain - but have now for some time. The INSIDE of my ankle (left) hurts extremely bad after I've walked on it at work all day. Evenings - if I sit for a while - it hurts to the point that I almost fall - yesterday morning I did after about 8hrs sleep. I cannot understand why if I only had (1) broke bone this pain persists and gets this bad - and why it's on the inside - not outside where I broke my 5th.

I don't like going to the doctors (nothing against you if your one) - just don't want to waste my time, their time, or spend money unnecessarily. What should I do?

Injury Occurred:

- Running;
- Ankle rolls when I stepped on a washed out section of pavement;
- Inside ankle never hurt until a few months after initial injury - but will not improve - driving me nuts!

Thanks,
Frank

RESPONSE
Hi Frank,
It is hard to explain why a pain occurs if the area cannot be examined by a doctor, but the first question that I have is what kind of treatment did you have for the fractured fifth metatarsal? I would assume at the very least you were in a surgical shoe or a cast boot.
The purpose of each is to immobilize the foot (and thus the ankle) during the healing process. This immobilization and lack of motion in the ankle joint may have created a stiffness in the ankle that is now the source of your pain. Just a guess.
I know nothing about you in terms of weight, age, activity level, etc. but depending on your age, depending on whether you are overweight or not these could also be factors.
Getting more specific, if you were in some kind of device for immobilization, that caused your foot to excessively flatten out (pronate), this causes an overstretching on the inside of your ankle (as well as a jamming on lateral side of the ankle), but this overstretching creates a mal-alignment in the ankle joint and in theory could be the cause of your pain.
I understand your concern, that there was no history of trauma to your ankle but yet it hurts, but by the same token I see people all the time who have foot and ankle pain with no history of trauma. Sometimes musculo-skeletal parts just begin to hurt usually due to arthritis type origins or what we call biomechanical problems, issues with the way you walk.
So, here is the recommendation. If your pain is severe, if your problem has been going on for some time and does not appear to be responding, then you really need to bite the bullet and seek medical attention. You will not be wasting your time, nor the time of your doctor. I consider "chronic" pain to be any pain that has been present for 2-3 months, showing no signs of improving. Situations like that are a very legitimate reason to seek medical care.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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