How to Diagnose a Sprained Ankle
A sprained ankle is the stretching or tearing of ligaments in your ankle. Your ankle is a joint and the ligaments hold that joint and bone into place, preventing it from making unnatural movements. Sprained ankles are common sports injuries but you could also get one tripping or falling over something. There are three types of ankle sprains. A Grade 1 sprain is the mildest and only involves slight stretching of the ligaments. Grade 2 sprains involve some partial tearing and Grade 3 sprains, the most serious, are a complete tear of the ankle ligament. If you think you are suffering from a sprain in your ankle, follow the steps below to have it diagnosed.
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Instructions
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Recognize the symptoms of an ankle sprain, including swelling and bruising in your ankle. A sprained ankle will hurt when you try to put weight on it. You may also have a hard time moving your ankle. Some people say that during an ankle sprain injury, they heard the joint pop.
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Seek medical advice. Your doctor will want to know the exact details on how you injured your ankle. He will evaluate your ankle through a physical exam. He will check for tender areas on the ankle and move it around to check your range of motion. Any time you feel pain during the exam, you should tell your doctor so that he can note it.
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After the physical exam, you doctor will probably run a few tests to verify the ankle sprain and rule out any more serious conditions. He may have X-rays taken of your ankle to rule out a broken bone. In some cases a computerized tomography (CT) scan or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan is used to determine the severity of the ankle sprain. Both of these scans show a little more detail about the soft tissues that surround your ankle and can identify any tissue damage.
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