He examined my foot by pressing at different areas to see if there was pain. He then took an x-ray of my foot to confirm that there was no bone fracture.
His diagnosis was that the inversion sprain has resulted in a stretch or tear of the ligaments. The doctor was very patient and showed me pictures of foot anatomy while explaining to me where the injury was. He told me that there are three grades to the severity of an ankle sprain. Grade 1 & 2 are just stretch or partial tear of the ligaments, while grade 3 is complete tear and would never fully recover unless undergoing surgery. X-ray will only display bone structure and not the ligaments, and only MRI can determine the severity of the sprain. However, this is normally only done on sportsmen who need to get back to their games quickly and not really necessary for layman like us.
I asked him that since i am still able to walk without much pain, then does it mean that it was not a grade 3 sprain? He said that it is indeed unlikely that there was a complete tear of the ligaments, but one should not rule it out completely. He said i am still able to walk because there is a tendon at our inner heel that can support our walking, and our normal body reaction would avoid the pain and place pressure on the inside of the foot when walking. I realised that is exactly what i am doing and hence i am limping.
He also told me that a lot of times, people associate pain with recovery; yet, a complete healing of the ligaments would take about 6 weeks even though we may not feel much pain after about 10 days or so. That was the misconception that many people have and resume to normal activities after about one or two weeks, when the sprain is actually still not fully recovered. That was why some patients never recovered properly and would suffer from side effects.
He prescribed a anti-inflammatory medicine and told me to continue the R.I.C.E treatment (which i did so when i was in KL) - Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. He said i should definitely reduce walking about and keep my leg elevated for most times. If i put my leg down for extended hours, the gravity will cause the sprained ankle to swell up. That was why we normally would find the swelling subsided when we wake up in the morning but get worse as we go through the day. He also recommended to continue using ice to reduce the swelling.
I then told him that i am flying to USA in economy class. He then shook his head and said that was gonna be very bad. He told me to somehow figure out how to keep my leg elevated during the flight, and also recommended me to buy a walking cast to protect my foot when i am walking around in LA.
The entire treatment (and a crash course on ankle ligaments sprain) cost RM500 and he gave me 14 days MC! I am gonna claim the amount from the company, and also wanna find out if i can make any insurance claim for it. As for the 14 days MC (which i really wonder if it is necessary since it doesn't seem to be that serious), i am contemplating about asking my boss if i can change my annual leave for the LA trip to MC instead. Then i'd save my annual leave. If i can really do that, then it will turn out to be a blessing in disguise!
Labels: life
