Unsure about ankle instability- not sure on what do?
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6 years ago I badly sprained my left ankle. I say badly because it took months to get better. This injury wasn't managed properly from the beginning- as in I was given crutches and told it would resolve in 2 weeks. Up to now I've had 3 separate blocks of physio averaging 12 weeks- the latest completed in May this year.
This year I've been to see two orthopaedic specialists. The first one I saw in January, confirmed that there was laxity in the ankle and did an MRI to check for ligament and cartilage damage. He said the scan found that there was ligament damage- high grade tear to the ATFL and thickening and scarring to CTFL. He prescribed my recent course of physio and said it should resolve all my issues of pain and instability and if not then I'd need surgery. I had a review in May as physio did not improve my symptoms. He then told me that he is unsure of the issue and that scar tissue is likely causing my issues and that a steroid injection would be the next step and if that didn't work then surgery would be needed to fix the instability.
I recently went to see another specialist for a second opinion. She was very thorough, checked the range of motion, did a stress x-ray. This surgeon said that although it feels wobbly, the tests do not indicate any instability (at least structurally). She also said it was possible scar tissue was causing my symptoms and said that a steroid injection may also help. She also said that she'd happily do exploratory surgery as she's found that the scans don't always show the full picture.
I can't help but think if I go for the injection it's going to be a stab in the dark and hoping for the best since no one is confident that scar tissue is the cause. The surgery however makes me just as uneasy as they might not find anything. All in all it's beginning to feel like this is as good as it's going to get and I'm back at not knowing what's wrong.
I guess I'm posting this to see it anyone else has been in a similar situation and if there was anything that helped resolve it? Thanks in advance!
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madilyn06724 Nikiti-02683
Posted
hi! about a year ago i went through a very complicated ankle injury with a high grade tear of my atfl and ctfl, along with a peroneal tendon. the damage to my ligaments was supposed to heal in 2-4 weeks but instead took about 4 months to figure out what was really wrong. i went through many painful physical therapy sessions before finally getting surgery. after that it took another 8 months to fully heal. I'm not sure what the best option may be in your case, but i will say that you may waste time and money trying different methods when you actually just need surgery. i hope you heal soon and your troubles are resolved.