Ankle swelling

Factors working against your foot: An ankle is a very important part of your foot and if anything happens to it, it in turn can affect your whole leg. There are various factors working against your foot that lead to ankle swelling and you have to be careful not to injure your ankle.

According to medical experts, an ankle injury damages nerves, muscles and other tissues. Vessels and capillaries tear and begin oozing blood. The body responds by sending more blood to the foot, which results in it accumulating faster than it can be removed, resulting in ankle swelling. The usual factors, which reduce the workability of your foot during ankle swelling, are common ankle injuries like a sprain, strain, or even a bone fracture. All three cause ankle swelling.

Apart from these, the other possible causes like chronic (constant) overuse, i.e. performing an action too fast, too much, or too soon, can lead to deposition of excessive fluid in your ankle, which results in swelling. Similarly, under use can also be a problem. If you exercise strenuously all of a sudden, when your foot is not prepared to take the extra pressure, it may result in swollen ankles. Sometimes ankle swelling is also caused by torned ligaments.

Major causes of swollen ankles: While ankle swelling is often the result of injury or fluid retention, however, there are other causes as well that are responsible for the condition. Here are a few of the causes that result in ankle swelling:

• Injured ankle (sprain, strain and broken ankle)
• Previous ankle injury
• Unobserved ankle injury
• External factors like insect bite, insect sting, allergic reactions etc.
• Ankle Edema, a symptom of generalized edema
• Ankle swelling can also be due to pregnancy, wherein accumulation of excess fluids in the lower extremities is a common condition
• Any type of kidney inflammation (Nephritis)
• High blood pressure occurring during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia)
• Excess stretching of tendons due to heavy wearing out of ankles or foot
• Ill fitting shoes which are flimsy or worn out
• Inflammation of skin and swelling caused due to cellulitis
• Vein disorder or insufficiency
• Heart disease
• Kidney disorder
• People suffering from anemia, diabetes and gout
• People suffering from rheumatoid arthritis

While the above listed causes are the major reasons for ankle swelling, it is advisable to consult your doctor if you have symptoms other than these.

Leg swelling: As swelling affects the ankle, so does it the leg. In fact, along with ankle swelling, leg swelling is quite common. Nearly all of the causes of leg swelling are similar to ankle swelling, except for few:

• People affected by starvation.
• Clothes that are too tight
• Any injury to leg
• Swelling in calf muscle
• Circulation getting affected by elastic knee supports
• Side effects of medications

Ankle swelling leads to pain: While in most cases ankle swelling and pain do go hand in hand, in conditions like ankle edema, the ankle swelling is painless. Medical practitioners will therefore want to know whether you experience pain along with your swelling, regardless of your ankle’s condition. Although they know that it is not necessary that ankle swelling and pain occurs together, this is done to make sure that they don’t miss on symptoms that indicate joint trauma or inflammatory disease processes like gout.