Ankle Pain from Running Marathon

Dr Kevin Lee was back on Kiss92 FM to answer questions from the listeners. One of them consulted Dr Lee on his left ankle pain that got worse after an injury at a marathon. He could even feel some “cracking” when rotating the ankle. He wanted to know if the condition had deteriorated and needed surgery.

Dr Lee replied that treatment would depend on what the original injury of the ankle pain was. From the listener’s description, the injury is likely to be a torn ankle ligament, an ankle-cartilage injury or a stress fracture. Conservative treatment, such as physiotherapy and use of ankle support, will usually be first prescribed to treat a torn ankle ligament. Surgery is only needed for ligament tears that failed conservative treatment and also symptomatic cartilage injury.