My husband's ankle?!
Question: My husband broke or fractured his ankle like six years ago playing basketball. So much so that the bone came out of his skin. He had surgery, and recovered fine. Recently it's been swelling up. I don't just mean a little swell, I mean huge, and it hurts he says. He works on his feet all day, and I'm really worried about it. I told him to go to the doctor, but he's too stubborn. What could be causing this to happen after so long?
Thanks in advance.
Answers: My husband broke or fractured his ankle like six years ago playing basketball. So much so that the bone came out of his skin. He had surgery, and recovered fine. Recently it's been swelling up. I don't just mean a little swell, I mean huge, and it hurts he says. He works on his feet all day, and I'm really worried about it. I told him to go to the doctor, but he's too stubborn. What could be causing this to happen after so long?
Thanks in advance.
Any open fracture of the ankle would need to be fixed using some kind of metal fixation device. If the ankle is now intermittently swelling, I might ask if the metal was ever removed? Was it supposed to be?
In this case I might recommend an orthopedic surgeon (the one who did the surgery?).
Clearly an ankle sprain can cause the same symptoms, but the history for open reduction internal fixation (what doctors call ankle surgery with fixation) may be very important here...
http://www.freemd.com/Ankle-Sprain/sympt...
Best