Rehabbing My Ankle

At the beginning of July, I sprained my ankle very badly - doesn't sound correct, but it works. Anyway, I've been working on getting it back into shape. Well, I did find out that it could take as long as 4 months to heal, with proper rehab techniques.

I admit that I've done some of the right ones, but not all of them. I think, at first, I progressed too quickly, so I got complacent and just assumed I was on the mend and would get back to normal in short order. Well, here I am three months later and not only do I still feel pain in my heel when I stretch and rotate my foot, I feel pain half-way up my leg.

The heel pain when I stretch and rotate is expected with the high-degree of sprain, but what's not expected at this point in my recovery is the pain I'm feeling halfway up my leg. It's a strange pain, and one I haven't felt in years.

I used to feel this kind of pain from the time I was in kindergarten to grade 6 (when I got my first pair of high-tops), in my feet, specifically my left one. However, after I got my first pair of true high-top tennis shoes, the pain miraculously disappeared and I went on to be fairly active and able to wear low-top shoes without too much difficulty.

It's a strange kind of pain that I have a very hard time describing. There's pain, but there's also this insane need to kick the leg out several times, as if it's restless. It's not just restlessness there, but pain, and the pain isn't always there. It comes and goes.

I stretch my calf muscles and Achilles tendons daily. Is it too much? Not enough? I don't know.

All I know is that I've got almost 3 months under my belt and I feel like I'm stalling. I'm wearing hiking boots everywhere except in the house. My ankle can bear weight and as long as I'm not doing major activity or standing, I'm okay. I pay attention to my ankle. It tells me when enough is enough, and I listen.

I try very hard not to "over do" it, but because my pain receptors don't work right anyway, I'm beginning to wonder if the signals are right, but at the same time I'm wondering if the added pain is due to the change in seasons - I suffer from arthritis too, which makes categorizing pain (determining source or cause) that much more difficult.

If that's the case, then I'm in for a long and painful winter. The main problem is, I just don't know how to tell and not sure if the doctor will either...but I suppose I need to know one way or the other....