Causes and Symptoms of Ankle Fracture

First, we will discuss about the causes of ankle fracture.

When you stress an ankle joint beyond the strength of its elements, you injure the joint.

(i)             If only the ligaments give way and tear, you have sprained the ankle.

(ii)           If a bone gives way and breaks, you have a fractured ankle.

(iii)          Fractures can occur with simultaneous tears of the ligaments.

Other causes of the fractured ankle include rolling the ankle in or out, twisting the ankle side to side, extreme flexing or extending of the joint, or severe force applied to the joint by coming straight down on it as in jumping from a high level.

After that, I will tell you about the symptoms of the ankle fracture so you will understand the injury more easily:

Immediate and severe pain, Swelling, Bruising, Tender to touch, Cannot put any weight on the injured foot, and Deformity ("out of place"), particularly if the ankle joint is dislocated as well.

The most common symptoms of the ankle fracture are:

             (a)Pain is the most common complaint. Often the pain will not come from the exact area of the fracture. It is usually pain in the ankle that stops you from walking.

            (b) Swelling frequently occurs around the ankle too. This suggests that there could be either soft tissue damage with possible blood around the joint or fluid within the joint itself, most likely blood.

            (c) In severe fractures, you may see obvious deformities of bones around the ankle. Your skin may be stretched over an underlying broken bone.