Ok, so I’m a dancer and for 14 years was a gymnast as well, so my ankles take quite a good beating. I’ve sprained my right ankle 8 times or so, and the last time was quite serious. I came down hard on the side of the foot, and ripped through two ligaments, while in dress rehearsal for a showcase. My dance instructor, who was also in the piece, carried me off the stage and made me go to the hospital, because my ankle swelled immediately to the size of a grapefruit and turned purple, and she thought it was broken.
I, stupidly of course, wanted to go home, because we were opening in two days for a six-show showcase, and I was in 11 numbers, including 6 I’d choreographed. But I went to the doctors, and they took X-rays. They said I’d torn two ligaments, and sustained a severe lateral sprain. They gave me an Air-cast, crutches, and told me not to put any pressure on the ankle for 10 days, and wear the cast for 14, plus physical therapy with my trainer and a brace for when I could finally get back to dance and gymnastics training, which was at least a few weeks away (and that with limitations). I was devastated.
However, the showcase was very important, and nobody could possibly have replaced me in time to learn everything. So, I took the next day off from dance, and used the crutches during the daytime, but I performed all six shows with the brace (not Air-cast) on. I was careful to follow instructions when I wasn’t dancing, however. I knew it was a bad idea physically, and it was the most painful experience of my life. I rubbed this ointment on the ankle every night that my gymnastics coach had given me a few months before to numb a wrist injury in competition – it made the ankle numb enough to dull the pain a little, and I laced it tight before each number. Obviously I didn’t perform in top form, but it was better than nothing.
I know it made healing longer, and harder, but I had to do it. Afterward, I followed all instructions, went to PT (and got my earful of criticism for dancing), and did everything I was asked to do.
But, it has been a year and a half, and I’m still having problems. The ankle doesn’t hurt anymore just walking or anything, but it swells up every time I workout (because of gymnastics, I got into a twice-a-day workout mode that I haven’t broken even though I don’t practice the sport anymore), and sometimes I’m seized with instability that’s hard to control. I can also, when I flex my foot, move the foot from side to side and feel and hear a definite “pop” on the lateral side of my ankle, like something is sliding in and out of place. My other ankle does not do this, nor do the ankles of any of my friends, so I’m pretty sure it isn’t normal.
Does anyone know what might casue something like this?

Tags: Ankle, Anybody, Chronic, Know, Might, Problem, What