Forums >Running 101>Inside Ankle Pain: Is it a sprain or posterior tibial tendinitis?
I am unsure if my injury is an eversion sprain or posterior tibial tendinitis, and I would really appreciate it if anyone could have some valuable diagnosis, insights or advice on my situation. First off, I'm a swimmer and I have very flexible ankles when it comes to pointing my toes. I am currently running track and I run with the sprint team because I run the 200 and 400 meter races. I ran two weeks on a treadmill before the track season started in order to get in shape for the track season, and I had no issues whatsoever. I injured my ankle towards the end of last week, the first week of the season (may I add that I was wearing the same pair of shoes as when I was running on the treadmill). It hurts when I wake up in the morning and it hurts when I warm up at track practice, but the pain is tolerable when I sprint, although it does hurt after the sprint and feels like it swells up and tightens up. It is also very uncomfortable to climb stairs and mildly uncomfortable to turn my ankle in. I have read that posterior tibial tendinitis makes it hard to do toe raises and stand on the tips of the feet, but I do not have any of those problems, nor is there any major popping associated with tendinits. My normal walking is slightly affected, as it is uncomfortable to always take full strides, but it does not necessarily hurt to walk from class to class during the school day. I have seen an athletic trainer at my school to treat it, but no diagnosis has been made as to what it is. There definitely is swelling on my inner ankle and especially directly above the ankle around when the beginning of the calf muscle would connect to the shin. I've been taking NSAIDS since this injury happened several days ago, and I tried to run on it at practice yesterday. The running part was not as uncomfortable as when we customarily do warm-up drills involving high knee runs and quick feet. I figure that I injured my ankle doing these drills that I am not accustomed to doing, as my coordination is not very good and I am an athlete in the water, not on land. As of today, I took practice off and will do so tomorrow so that I can ice and rest it.
I had something like this and was stupid and kept running on it, thinking somehow it would magically get better. In the end, I had to take a full month off. Even the dr's prescribed steroid anti-inflammatories couldn't beat it. if it's tendinitis or a sprain, you're not going to make either better by running on the ankle. I am pretty sure rest is the solution to both. and ice.
I would suggest going to a doctor to find out.
I've had both of those issues in the last year, the posterior tibial tendinitis I took a month off, and had therapy. Which is basically just stretches. After a month off, iwould tape my foot up for extra support, and it still was a little painful but not bad and I was told I would not do anymore damage.
I Sprained my ankle pretty bad last summer on a Friday. Luckily I had a PT appointment that day for elbow tendinitis, and my therapist was a runner. He Suggested just taking the weekend off and see how it feels Monday, and it didn't feel bad to run so I just kept running. He Pointed out that you usually sprain your ankle side to side, so it should not hurt or do any damage front to back, which is the running motion, so I stayed off the trails and just ran on the road after a month or two it felt better. Good luck to you!