David Ortiz's Ankle Injury

First baseman and designated hitter, David Ortiz, of the Boston Red Sox, injured his ankle rounding 2^nd base on Monday night. The Red Sox powerhouse says that he did not hear any kind of pop but said that he was limping pretty badly to get back into the dugout. The manager of the Red Sox claims that he is not concerned about Ortiz being gone for long and is convinced that at most he will miss a few games. However, Ortiz was schedule to get an MRI this past Tuesday to figure out what exactly is going on.

Ankle injuries can be very tricky because there are a lot of structures that can be injured in a small area. You have ligaments that traverse either side of your ankle and behind and in front of it. You also have 3 key bones, the talus, the tibia and the fibula, in that area that can be injured. In addition you have 7 tendons in the vicinity that can all be injured. In addition there are the nerves and vascular structures. To sum it all up, you have a lot of anatomy in a small area that all has the potential to be injured depending on the severity of your accident.

Many people will talk about the “pop” that you don’t want to hear when you injure a joint. However, this pop is not the only telltale sign of an injury.  The first thing that many people will see is a lot of swelling in the affected area. This swelling is typically a good indicator that an injury of some sort has occurred. Ortiz’s doctors are right though that you need to be able to visualize the area to determine what is going on. This is why we use imaging modalities such as x-ray and MRI to be able to ascertain the extent of your injury.

It is important to seek medical assistance from your podiatrist after an injury, because everyone reacts to pain differently. So what may be a level 3 for one person could be 10/10 for another for the same amount of trauma. By looking at the area, your physician will be able to determine what amount of treatment is required. This can range from rest, relaxation, some pain relief and staying off of your foot, clear to extensive surgery. Whichever one it ends up being, your doctor will be able to give you the care and instruction you need to prevent further injury.

If you have suffered from an ankle injury and live in the Methuen, North Andover, Lowell or Boston, Massachusetts area, our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment. Through the proper tests and a through exam, Dr. Wachtel will be able to determine what you need to get you back into tip top shape.