What Causes Unusually Tender, Slightly Painful Right Ankle?

Posted on Mon, 18 Jan 2016

Question: Friday morning I awakened with a tender, slightly painful right ankle. I remained in my apartment throughout the day with minimal standing. This Saturday morning I find myself experiencing some ankle pain when attempting to walk. (No known injury to foot/ankle or anything that might have caused this sudden onslaught of ankle pain.)

I notice my typing error. My age is 76, not 56.

Answered by Dr. Aashish Raghu (14 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Need to rule out Gout, Pseudogout, inflammatory arthritis

Detailed Answer:
Hi there.

It is possible you have ankle arthritis. Sudden onset arthritis could be Gout, Pseudogout and other kinds.

Keep your leg elevated, apply ice or hot pack, whichever brings you relief. Avoid putting weight on the affected ankle. Drink 1-2 litres of water daily, avoid alcohol, meat and meat gravies, Spinach, Avocado. These are known to aggravate Gout. Take an anti inflammatory like Tablet Ibuprofen 400mg twice a day for 5 days after meals. Apply a snugly fitting non adhesive elastic bandage over your ankle. Get tested for Serum Uric acid, get your joint fluid aspiration done if you have ankle swelling and test for Monosodium urate crystals, pus cells, protein, Sugar, if possible.

I hope I have answered your query.

I will be available to answer your follow up queries.

Regards,

Dr. Aashish Raghu

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee