Exams and Tests

When a doctor evaluates your ankle, the main task is to determine if you have fractured a bone or if the joint has been damaged sufficiently to have become unstable. Joint instability often suggests multiple fractures, a fracture with a ligament injury, or sometimes ligament injury alone.

• The doctor will seek a history of the injury and will ask the following. These questions are important because different mechanisms of injury are associated with different fracture patterns.
  
  
  • Where does it hurt now?
    
    
  • How long ago did your injury happen?
    
    
  • Does your knee, shin, or foot hurt also?
    
    
  • How did the injury happen?
    
    
  • Did your ankle turn in or out?
    
    
  • Did you hear a crack or a pop?
    
    
  • Were you able to walk immediately after the injury?
    
    
  • Can you walk now?
    
    
  • Do you have any new numbness or tingling in your leg, ankle, or foot?
    
    
  • Have you had previous ankle fractures, sprains, or surgeries?

• The doctor will perform a physical exam, looking at or for the following:
  
  
  • Evidence of bruising, abrasions, or cuts
    
    
  • Swelling, bleeding, and tissue damage
    
    
  • Pain, deformities, and the grinding or movement of broken bones of the knee, shin, ankle, and foot
    
    
  • Pain, excess looseness of a joint, or complete tear in ligaments
    
    
  • Fluid in the joint and joint stability
    
    
  • Seeking a pulse and looking for injured arteries
    
    
  • Testing sensation and movement in both your ankle and foot
    
    
  • Ankle x-rays if a broken bone is suspected
    
    
  • X-rays of your knee, shin, or foot depending on where pain is