Really Bad Ankle Bone Pain, Need advice.

Hi Everyone

Just got back from 2 days at Perisher, the snow especially on Friday was incredible.

Anyway the point of this thread is the incredible pain I’m getting on my inside ankle bone on my left foot (feels like the bone has been hit by a hammer and feels very bruised when touched, the rest of my foot/ankle is fine). It’s severely limiting my enjoyment of snowboarding and I’ve had to leave early a couple of times as the pain became too much.

A bit of history on the problem:

Earlier this season I went to the snow for the first time and hired a pair of boots for 3 days, I suffered a fair bit of pain all over but figured that’s just what snowboard boots felt like. Around 4 days after I got home my left inside ankle blew up to the size of a cricket ball and went black/blue and I had a bit of a limp for a couple of weeks. I went to the doctor who gave me voltaren tablets and an xray (which didn’t show any problems)

About a month later I went to the snow for the second time this time armed with my own new Burton Ruler boots (seem to be a good fit nice and tight on toes without being too painful) My ankle bone was a little tender going into it but I figured it would be fine. Unfortunately 30mins into it the same ankle pain was back and I pushed through the following couple of days in huge pain.

This weekend it was pretty much the same story I even tried wearing a wetsuit type material ankle brace and got really desperate and shoved a washing up sponge into my sock to try to provide some more padding.

Once the pain starts it hurts whether I’m riding or just sitting there and chairlift rides are not fun. Once I take the boots off the intense pain remains for a couple of hours before reducing to being very tender to touch with a slight limp which gradually goes over time.

I’m open to any advice. This has happened with 2 different types of boots so maybe I have a weird shaped ankle bone. I’ve been planning a week overseas snowboarding but it would be a waste of time until I can get this fixed. The boots were purchased off the net so if I need modifications I’ll need to take them to a 3rd party.

Thanks in advance.

Doesn’t sounds good, mate!!!!!

Maybe ya got a hairline fracture that needs another radiologists opinion?????

Boots off the net is not a great idea either!!!!! It pays to get them from ya local no matter what the price!!!!!

Ya should get this one over to Health & Fitness so the meds can post their opinions for ya!!!!!!

Thanks for the reply Mizu, yeah really annoying I’ve become thoroughly addicted to snowboarding this year and feel I’m progressing well but having the constant pain isn’t helping.

Yeah in retrospect would of purchased from a store but had a couple of things going against that at the time main thing being my ankle was swollen so when I tried them on they all hurt to a degree and the couple of stores I did visit didn’t have my size/model in stock and said they couldn’t get them in.

Hadn’t noticed the health and fitness subforum, if the admins believe this post fits better over there please feel free to move it.

sounds like a boot problem. I had a bit that rubbed just over the ankle bone (bit that sticks out). When i first tried the boots I didn’t notice it. The first day riding was fine but after I took the boot off my ankle was sore. The next day it got worse and then it got to the point where riding was really painful. I had my insoles reshaped (given more padding under one side to lift the ankle bone higher than the point that was rubbing it. That helped a lot. You might want to get a larger pair of boots next time. People always say size down so that when the boot packs out it will be perfect. You can go a different way: buy soft boots from last year for real cheap that are the right size, so they fit great right out of the box. After 40 days you buy another pair of softies.

The problem with your problem is, your ankle is bruised and you won’t really know if something works or not since it is so tender. You need to take a long break (a month or two) to let it reset, then try custom orthotics or a looser boot. Do not buy online - you need to go into a shop and try to figure out which boot will not pressure the point that hurts

That really sux man!

I had something a bit similar during this season. It was the outside ankle bone getting sore on my front foot and it was so painful I wasn’t having fun riding. I had ridden my boots for 80+ days without pain so it was really weird. I tried a sponge and painkillers but nothing seemed to be working. I asked Jeremy about it at the shred and he suggested it might be my binding strap. Seems an obvious thing to try but I hadn’t thought of it yet. Anyway, I shortened the ankle strap one notch and the pain was reduced immediately. Super stoked that something so simple fixed it and I didn’t have to buy new boots. This is maybe not the solution for you but it’s worth checking whether it could be the inner part of the binding strap putting continued pressure on your ankle bone.

Thanks for the advice Gamblor and Dan,

Gamblor, Just before the weekend in a panic I ordered a set of superfeet greens after reading similar things to what you mention (they didn’t arrive in time for my last minute dash to perisher last weekend so haven’t tried them), if they don’t help I’ll use them in my other shoes and look into some custom footbeds, I’m really really hoping something like this can fix it up as the pain really dampens the fun I’m having snowboarding. You are 100% correct on the problem being in it’s current state my ankle is going to hurt in most situations so it’s very hard to test. Having said that it seems to have pulled up a bit better this time, it’s still sore today but I’ve been icing it so it’s only slightly puffed and bruised.

Dan83, ergh so you feel my pain! glad you we’re able to sort it out with a binding adjustment. Whilst on the mountain I tried loosening my top strap as well as loosening my boot. Unfortunately in my case it didn’t seem to help much with the pain and I felt pretty wobbly initiating turns. I’ve also been wondering if my stance setup (width/degrees etc) would make a difference. The thing going against this is that the pain can come on during the walk from the carpark to the slopes ruling out the board to some degree.

If I was to take a guess I’d say I have a weird shaped foot/ankle bone which sticks out and it happens to be causing a really bad pressure point with the two different types of boots I’ve worn (in day to day life I’ve never worn shoes above my ankle before)
I’d say I did a pretty good job of hurting it with the hire boots and it’s never completely repaired before topping up the pain with my own boots the 2 other times I went.  I’m hoping the xray result is correct and there’s no break or fracture and it’s just severe bruising. I forgot to mention after a long day I feel a similar feeling on my right foots inside ankle but it’s no where near as painful as my left foot and disappears nearly instantly.

It’s at the stage where I’m willing to pay a fair bit to get this sorted out as I’m wasting money by leaving the mountain early each day and have bought way to many packs of frozen peas while down there!

Thanks again

I might keep this thread here for now, as it could be a boot fit problem. I’ll also get Becky to have a look at it here.

At the very least I would suggest getting the boots punched out at the source of the pain. As you didn’t buy your boots from a store, this will likely cost around $60. Basically we need to identify exactly where the pressure/discomfort is, and create room in the boot at that spot. Most good stores should be able to do this for you.

Worst case scenario, you might need different boots.

You probably need to give your ankle time to heal. You might have bruised the bone or similar; if you keep hurting it, it’s never going to heal. I’ll let Becky give you advise on this.

Thanks for the input rider, Glad to hear there may be a permanent type solution available. When I look in the boots I can see what I would suspect is the culprit, It’s a very hard section just where the boot start curving from the leg to the foot and it appears to have black stains on it from rubbing against the boot liner, it would pretty much line up with the problem section of the ankle. I have no problems paying a store for a fix if they are confident that’s the issue.

Seeing as the season is over now I will probably go easier on the ankle for a while, I’ll give squash a rest and take it easy whilst walking/gyming/surfing. Hoping to head to Japan in January so would love a solution by then.

I look forward to hearing from Becky

Thanks again.

No problem, mate. Where are you located?

Cronulla NSW 2230

But work in the Liverpool area so either of those options work. I know you know your stuff so also willing to travel based upon your recommendations.

Cheers

Could you make it over to Bondi Junction? Darren Morgan at STM is great at manipulating boots.

Yeah I value your opinion so would make a day trip out of it if that’s what you recommend. Is this something I should get done soon or do I need to wait until my ankle calms down completely? (though it really isn’t as bad this time as it had been on other occasions) I work in schools so have until next week off.

I’m also worried that my first real test situation would be while overseas with 7 days on the slopes booked (I’d hate for it to flare up again on the first day) I guess I could spend a day walking around here with the boots on.

Is this a fairly common problem/fix or do you think it will require multiple attempts?

I’m not sure of any snowboard stores out your way or if they even offer this type of service. I know STM do adjustments like this on a regular basis. Make sure you make an appointment with Darren. He is in most days. 

I’d aim to get the boots fixed sooner rather than later. Having a bit of discomfort is OK, so you can pinpoint where they need to make adjustments. You should be able to fix it on the first attempt but it’s hard to say for certain.

Becky has appointments all day today. She said she will reply to you tomorrow.

Thanks again, I’ll give Darren a call soon and book in a visit, definitely worth getting it sorted out as other than the pain I’ve absolutely loved my first season of snowboarding and plan on having many more in the future!

No worries about Becky I appreciate all your advice.

Hi drc13….

It’s hard to say for certain without seeing your ankle, but sounds like the bone you are talking about is the ‘medial malleolus’ which is actually the bottom part of your tibia (the inside shin bone) that forms the ankle.

If there was no mechanism to your injury, its unlikely to be a ligamentous injury (good news). I’m no expert when it comes to ill fitting boots, however, I’m not totally convinced (though it can’t be ruled out) only a few days of riding would cause such severe blue/black bruising and such severe pain lasting as long as yours has.

Do you have point tenderness exactly on the bone? What movements hurt?

I think your best bet is:
1. Take Jeremy’s advice re boots!!
2. Get a physiotherapist to assess/treat it properly.
3. Perhaps invest in an MRI. This can be quite costly, but not all fractures show up on xray! If no abnormalities are detected, I’d guess it’s a bone contusion- that is, bruising of the bone. This can take time to heal!

Take care and let me know if you need any more advise.

Becky.

Hi Becky

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I just googled the medial malleolus and that would appear to be the main problematic bone.

To give you the full story I spent a few days on the slopes learning with hire boots with plenty of newbie stacks but nothing that felt too serious (I’ve sprained my ankles plenty of times in the past and it didn’t feel like this) I did leave after the weekend with very sore bones both ankle and feet but I put that down to the hire boots.

A few days later I had a game of squash (so it can’t of hurt that bad) and seemed to get through that unscaved, it wasn’t until the next day after a walk that I really started to notice the pain and took my shoe off to see my foot looking like this (it went black/blue a few days later).

For the next few weeks I had a slight limp (from a pinching feeling just below the ankle bone) but all the pain was located on this inside side of my foot/ankle the outside section wasn’t in any pain at all so after I had the xray I tried not to worry about it too much. A few days before I was next due to hit the snow it was generally feeling ok (just slightly painful/bruised to touch) so I hit the snow with my new boots and almost immediately (within 30mins) had the ankle bone pain back. I pushed through for the next few days and fortunately this time I was only left with the bruised feeling and not as much of a limp.

It was pretty much the same story for last weekend, whilst I was down there I couldn’t take any pressure on the bone and it hurt for the entire drive home and next day but to be honest today it doesn’t feel too bad unless I put substantial pressure on the bone which gives the same bruised feeling.

I’ve taken Jeremy’s advice and called Darren this morning and will be going in to get my boots looked at this weekend.

In the end I’m really hoping it’s a simple case of bruising of the bone and not giving it enough time to heal before setting it off with ill fitting boots. I won’t be on the snow until January so hopefully that’s enough time for it to fully repair before going back out with modified boots to allow for whatever is different with my ankle bone.

I do have one final question, if it is just a case of bruising and taking in the fact that compared to how it has felt it’s actually not too bad this time, should I be doing things like icing the ankle daily or is it simply a case of sitting back and waiting for it to sort itself out?

Thanks again really appreciate the help and advice from this great forum.