Have Stress Fracture In Left Foot And Shooting Pain In Ankle. Anything Serious?

Posted on Thu, 14 Nov 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 Answered on

Tue, 3 Dec 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I believe I have a stress fracture in my left foot, as is the suspicion of my PCP who I saw regarding this 2 weeks ago. She referred me to podiatry for further follow up and did have an x-ray which did not show the a fracture. My appointment isn't until this coming Tues 11/19, however since then, I have started to develop shooting pain that almost feels like nerve pain. I'm not sure if something is getting pinched or inflamed. It starts at my ankle and will shoot down my foot literally causing me to reflex/jump. It isn't constant, but frequent enough to be aggrevating. It is also hurting more to walk today. I try to avoid extra walking as much as possible and have been icing my foot which does help most days. I am having a lot of pain today in general with it along with the shooting pain. Is there anything I can do as I want to avoid going into the ER as much as possible. I have issues with headaches/migraines so I try to avoid taking ibrophrofen as much as possible as I don't want to cause damage to any organs. I just don't want to cause inadverdent damage by ignoring it until my appt with the podiatrist

Answered by Dr. Vivek Chail (4 hours later)

Brief Answer: Please find detailed answer below Detailed Answer: Hi XXXX, Thanks for writing in to us. I have read through your query in detail. I understand that you are having a lot of pain and discomfort to your left ankle and foot. You are doing the right thing by consulting a podiatrist and getting it confirmed. The ankle joint and foot have small muscles, ligaments and nerves, apart from small bones. There might be some inflammation which is causing the pain. As you are trying to avoid taking oral pain killers like ibuprofen, you can try what is popularly known as the RICE treatment. It is a simple method and can be followed by any adult. You are already doing less physical activity and icing. Let me explain it in a bit more in detail. RICE is the following: Rest Ice Compression Elevation Rest is most important to avoid any kind of pain or worsening of symptoms. Do not put any weight bearing on your hurting ankle foot. Your foot is inflamed and even walking can cause further pain and discomfort. Ice application may be followed as a 30 minute ice bath every 4 hours during the day for best results. After immersing your foot for 15 minutes you should remove if from ice and allow it to warm up to prevent ice injury. Your pain may increase for the first few minutes initially but will soon disappear. Compression is also necessary by wrapping the ankle in an elastic bandage. Please remember the compression should neither be too tight nor too loose. You can keep your foot at an elevation while lying on bed. Keeping the toes at a level above your nose usually helps. Apart from the above, you may use pain killer sprays or ointments having pain killer and muscle relaxant combinations. Hope your query is answered. Do write back in case of doubts. Regards, Dr.Vivek

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar