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[elsie]

Why would an ankle hurt (very badly) only when being walked on? I have no awareness of having sprained it. It does seem slightly swollen on the outside of the ankle, but that's the only outside indication. The pain is in kind of a ring around the front of the ankle/top of the foot.

I teach in a building across campus from my office. This morning I walked to class, and as I went, the pain became worse and worse, until I finally limped badly and painfully into class. It stopped hurting during the 50 minutes of the class period, which I spent at the desk, but when I headed back to my office, I started out okayish but was limping very badly by the time I entered the building where my office is. Is this the sort of thing that needs emergency care, or can I wait the two weeks until I can see my orthopedist?

[dellaroux]

Bones in the foot are very dense in some places and very tiny in others, and those making up the ankle can break or get tiny splits (greenstick fractures) without much provocation.

I'd get it looked at and hope they ask to have it X-rayed right away.

You don't want to be walking on it unsupported if there's something wrong, and it may need casting.

Don't run, walk, to the nearest clinic or ER and have them check it out.

You can also do the CHIPs thing, (ColdHotIcePack) that sports medicine goes on and on about, as a temporary pain reliever with aspirin.

I'm not a fan of the cold going on for too long because I think getting the area warmed up and circulation moving back through helps move nutrients to the area and lets things heal faster.

But--bottom line--any pain that goes on for any serious length of time is telling you something is wrong and you should do something about it.

Listen to your body and do what you can to help it out.

[entwife]

I developed something like this about 10 years ago - bad ankle pain with walking, swelling (and redness) on the outside. It came on with no apparent injury, went away in a few days, and have not returned. It most have been some sort of inflammation ... I was in grad school, poor, and stupid, and I just waited it out.

But, small fractures can behave like this as well, so you probably should check it out.

[elsie]

Oh dear. And I've got a major conference in Atlanta next week. This isn't a good time to be hobbling if there's a fracture. I'm having trouble even calculating when I can get to the emergency room.

[dellaroux]

Oh dear. And I've got a major conference in Atlanta next week. This isn't a good time to be hobbling if there's a fracture. I'm having trouble even calculating when I can get to the emergency room.

Just drop it all and go.

Hobbling and injury without prior care during a conference will be much worse by the time you get there than hobbling and injury with whatever you may need taken care of before hand....if you can even get there by then.

And masochism is out of fashion as a qualification for sainthood these days.

I'm the little clock ticking on the shelf here, telling you your body is talking to you and it's time to take care of it!

[entwife]

Ask about a walking boot(aircast) - these things really work and will give you some mobility for the conference. If you want to be really bad, you can just buy one on the Internet yourself.

Airlines and airports have great services if you request a wheelchair. You may feel weird, but you will be comfortable

[elsie]

It actually ended up being not too bad today. I'm not sure why, except that the weather was marginally better today than yesterday, which was very wet and cold.

[dellaroux]

Could be arthritis, then.

Let us know when you get it checked out.

[oldadjunct]

I developed something like this about 10 years ago - bad ankle pain with walking, swelling (and redness) on the outside. It came on with no apparent injury, went away in a few days, and have not returned. It most have been some sort of inflammation ... I was in grad school, poor, and stupid, and I just waited it out.

But, small fractures can behave like this as well, so you probably should check it out.

Don't exclude the possibility of gout, which I always related to dissolute libertines in Restoration England until......

I had similar symptoms a few years ago:  unexplainable and significant pain in the ankle and foot, swelling, tenderness.  If you do not have excruciating pain, probably it is not gout.  An aside, I was very seriously injured and in treatment when I went to my doctor and said something like, "I know this is crazy but the most painful thing happening is in my foot/ankle I don't want the bed sheets to even touch it.  I can't sleep anymore."  (This from me in an upper body brace for weeks under major pain medication and otherwise sleeping fine).

Bad news gout is chronic.  Good news, it is generally controlled through diet.  Better news, unless your friends read lots of Restoration Lit. they won't think you are a dissolute libertine. Unbelievably, because I have read so much Restoration Lit. this was actually a huge concern of mine, causing me to not acknowledge the condition and simply saying really silly things to excuse my obvious pain and near inability to walk.

None of this to say that I am neither a libertine nor dissolute, mind you.  I thought it was my soul, not my sole that would pay the bill.

[entwife]

None of this to say that I am neither a libertine nor dissolute, mind you.  I thought it was my soul, not my sole that would pay the bill.

Oldadjunct, this is a good one!

OP, good luck - hopefully this will go away. Just in case though, I would pack at least a light brace or an elastic bandage for the conference trip!

[elsie]

At this point I'm leaning toward arthritis, especially given that the pain is definitely associated with weight-bearing. As soon as I'm off it, it no longer hurts. After five minutes of being on it, OW!

[history_grrrl]

elsie, I'm not sure what sort of pain you're feeling (dull ache? twinge?), but one possibility is nerve entrapment. I've had this a few times over the last twenty years or so, just in one foot, and it's been successfully treated with a cortisone shot.

[elsie]

Often it's a hard twinge, what I call a bad step. I'm walking along and all of a sudden my ankle and top of my foot hurt very badly, but then the next step will be okay. On a bad day, like I had Tuesday and Wedsnesday, all the steps were bad steps, so that it kept twinging, from my office building to my classroom building.

[hulkhogan]

You might also consider doing calf stretches. If you have tight calf muscles, the muscles in front (ankle and shin) will compensate to make your foot roll properly as you walk. The fact that your pain goes away once you stop walking might be an indication of muscle tightness.

[history_grrrl]

Often it's a hard twinge, what I call a bad step. I'm walking along and all of a sudden my ankle and top of my foot hurt very badly, but then the next step will be okay. On a bad day, like I had Tuesday and Wedsnesday, all the steps were bad steps, so that it kept twinging, from my office building to my classroom building.

That sounds very much like what I had. There's some nerve that runs across the top of the foot (can't remember the name). Although I felt the horrible twinging on top of the foot, in front of the ankle, it turned out that the origin of the nerve compression was closer to the area near the big toe and the toe next to it -- so that's where I got the shot. If this is what you have, you might be able to feel the nerve if you just run your finger along the top of your foot or press with your thumb.