Fast Running Blog

My right ankle has started hurting this week.  I did not twist or sprain it as far as I can remember.  The pain is on the outside of my foot, right above my heal and below the boney bump on the sides of your ankle. It does not really hurt when I run but I can definitely feel it when I am not running and for about the 1st mile or so of a run.  I can feel slight pain on it when I lean forward to stretch my calf or if I am taking off my shoe and the laces are not unloosened enough.  I made an appointment at the sports medicine place but that is not until Monday.  Any ideas and should I keep running until Monday?  It does not seem to be getting worse.

Thanks

Lots of people reading your issue but not posting.  Well, I don't have anything useful to say except for if has bugged  you for more than three days I would get an appointment to see a sports physician to get it diagnosed and start any necessary treatment.  It's better to treat injuries right away and hopefully it won't develop into anything too serious.

Ok, sorry I reread your post and see you have an appointment.  Right on! 

Brice- hard to say without knowing more info.  If you can run without much pain and without altering your stride, I would keep running.  Preferrably on soft, smooth surfaces.  It could be a twist you don't remember, or it could be an overuse injury (old shoes?). 

Let us know what the doctor says.

I have had a very similar pain to what you are describing, but don't know why.  Two summers ago, I have major plantar fascitis(sp?) and then the above the heel/below the ankle pain.  At first I thought it was bruising from shoes, but soon ruled that out (happened with all shoes, didn't heel, etc...).  So I suspected it was connected to the PF pain.  Just barely bumping it sent pain shooting through my whole body.  I probably should have gotten it checked out, but didn't.  Eventually the pain (and the PF) got better, but occasionally I still hit it weird and have the came shooting pain.  So I guess I am of no help on why it happens or how to fix it, but I figured I would say that it is probably not some mystery pain, but something others have had as well.  Get it checked out... and get feeling better.

Thanks to all of you who chimed in, I was starting to think I was making up this pain.  Any way, I went to the sports med people this morning and the diagnosis is........ early signs of Achilles tendonitis which I have read is a common over use type of injury.  Lucky it is only in the very early stages. and with some better stretching and a little rehab it should not effect my training to to much.  One interesting thing I learned about myself at the docs was that my flexibility in my ankles is not extremely great.  They measured the angle off my foot when I sat with my leg flat and tried to pull it up towards me and it came out to only 5 degrees where apparently the normal range is around 15 degrees.  So I think the high mileage, older shoes, kind of hilly courses I have been running and lack of good stretching and flexibility all helped add to my discomfort.  The good news is that there is no co-pay on my insurance to get PT so I am going to go back a few more times and get the ultrasounds and messages they give.  Thanks again for comments, not that exciting of a diagnosis but I am glad to be able to get back to running.  The guy said to wait a few more days, anyone have any thoughts on that, is he just doing his job and erring on the side of cation or is this something I should ease back into?

I have had early signs of it, and I had horrible flexibility but I am now on a stretching regimen and I'm keeping it at bay.  The good news is if you are in the early stages you can continue to train, the bad news is if it gets worse this injury is quite serious.  Only you/your doc know where your legs are on that spectrum and how much risk you want to take on.

I would just run at a slower pace and listen carefully to the feedback from the ankle. If the pain is getting worse, cross-train instead for a portion of the time.