Self Care Articles

Is this your symptom?

• Injuries to the foot or ankle
• Injuries to a bone, muscle, joint, or ligament
• Excluded: muscle pain caused by too much exercise or work (overuse). Covered in Foot Pain and Ankle Pain care guides.

Types of Foot and Ankle Injuries

• Fractures are broken bones. They can be caused by a direct blow, twisting injuries or falls/jumps from a height and landing on the feet. If a bone is broken, it will be hard to put full weight on the foot or ankle. There will be pain and swelling. A broken ankle is one of the most common broken bones in adults. It can be hard to tell an ankle break from a bad sprain. Falls from a height can also cause breaks in the long bones in the feet.
• Dislocations happen when a bone is pulled out of its joint socket. Dislocation of the ankle often happens with fractures of the joint. It may need surgical repair.
• Sprains are stretches and tears of ligaments. These often occur in sports injuries. Ligaments in the foot are stretched and pull away from the bone they are attached to or even snap. The Achilles tendon, a large tendon at the back of the ankle and heel, can be sprained or ruptured (snapped).
• Strains are stretches and tears of muscles. These can range from minor to severe tears. They cause a lot of pain, swelling and bruising.
• Muscle Overuse. Muscle pain can occur without an injury. There is no fall or direct blow. Muscle overuse is from hard work or sports.
• Muscle Bruise from a direct blow.
• Bone Bruise from a direct blow.
• Skin Injury. Examples are a cut, scrape or bruise. Puncture injuries happen often in the feet, such as stepping on a nail or broken glass when not wearing shoes.

Pain Scale

• Mild: you feel some pain, but it does not keep you from most normal activities. Work, activities and sleep are not changed.
• Moderate: the pain keeps you from doing some normal activities.  It may wake you up from sleep.
• Severe: the pain is very bad. It keeps you from doing all normal activities.