Did you just have an experience that felt like an ankle popping? Are you worried that it is an ankle sprain or worse?
If so, you are not alone. There are over two million people in the United States who suffer from these types of injuries every year.
Assuming that you or a loved one may have experienced this type of injury, the next step you need to take is to seek urgent care.
Why is medical care necessary for this type of ankle injury? This guide breaks down some of the biggest reasons.
Ankle Popping and Ankle Cracking
If you were doing a physical activity and you suddenly heard something that sounds like a pop or a crack, it could be a sign that there is more serious damage. Unfortunately, you may not know what the damage truly is unless you get it checked out by a medical professional.
Doctors have the knowledge and the resources to determine what one of these sounds truly means for your ankle. They can also tell you how serious this type of injury is.
Do not wait around if you hear this type of sound and you have some ankle pain afterward. Get yourself to an urgent care center.
Ankle Pain
Another reason why you should get medical care for your ankle injury is if you are experiencing notable ankle pain. This could be a signal from your body that is trying to tell you that this injury is more serious than you suspect. Pain is the body’s natural alarm bell to let someone’s brain know that there is something wrong with another part of their body.
However, if the pain is minor, you may not believe that this is a big deal and that it can heal on its own. Unfortunately, without the right treatment and plan of attack, this could take a lot longer to do on your own than if you see a medical professional.
Note how much pain you are in and how long you have had that pain. If both are noticeable, you should see a doctor before this gets worse.
Not Healing
You may be someone who experienced ankle pain when your ankle injury first happened. However, it may have been a few weeks now and you still feel the same amount of pain or worse from your ankle.
That is your body trying to signal to you that this type of injury cannot just heal on its own. Without proper medical treatment, it can even get worse.
With the right medical care, these types of ankle injuries can take up to four weeks to heal. If it has been longer than that and you are still not seeing any results, that could me that you need more help for your body to heal.
It is not recommended that you even wait that long to see a medical professional. However, if you already have waited that long and your injury is still not getting any better, now is the time to do so.
Moving Around
One sign that there could be more serious damage to your ankle is your ability to move around. This can be walking and running like you normally do.
If you can’t run on the ankle like you normally do, this should be the first sign that something is not right. However, if walking is a problem to the point where you can barely put weight on that ankle, that should be a glaring sign that you need medical attention.
These are problems that will only get worse if you do not seek ankle pain treatment right away.
Dependency
A big factor that some of you may have to keep in mind is the dependency you have on this ankle. What this means is you rely on this ankle to do tasks in your daily life.
What if you are a college athlete who has an athletic scholarship to play a certain sport? In sports such as soccer, basketball, and track and field, having a deep ankle sprain is a big enough deal that you would be put on the sidelines.
Even worse, what if you are a professional athlete who relies on your body’s health to make a living? This can cost you a significant amount of money if you do not handle this the right way.
For those of you who are dependent on your physical health for financial reasons in life, it is even more important that you take the proper steps to go about treatment for injuries like this.
More Serious Injuries
Finally, failing to get your ankle checked out by a medical care facility could mean that you can face more serious injuries to your ankle down the road.
An example is if you are merely dealing with a mild ankle sprain. While that is not the end of the world, not taking the right protocols to treat it could make it turn into a broken ankle if you are not careful. Even that can stretch to injuries with your foot and other parts of your leg down the road.
What going to an urgent care center does for you is it allows a doctor to see what your current injuries are. Then, they can devise a plan to not only treat it but prevent even more serious injuries from happening because of this.
Your current injury or pain may not seem like a big deal but you do not want to let this linger into something worse.
Get the Care You Need
If you are someone who experiences ankle popping, cracking, or overall ankle pain, you should get it checked out by an urgent care center. Depending on how serious the injury is, you may even need to seek out an after hours medical care center.
What this does is it allows a medical professional to properly diagnose you and help you prevent more serious injuries.
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