Sprained Ankle Still Swollen After Nearly 2 Months

While running on an uneven trail I rolled my ankle.

I iced and elevated it immediately after, but the next few days I unfortunately did not take care of it like I was supposed to.

The next few days it became incredibly swollen and became bruised around the entire foot.

I went to the doctor about 5 days after the sprain happened and got x-rays.

Luckily, it was just a bad sprain and he said I would be able to get back into running slowly within a week.

This was about 2 months ago, and I have slowly gotten up to 2-3 miles every other day to every 2 days.

I wear an ankle support brace every time I run and try to ice it as much as possible, but it is still swollen around above the bone on the outside of my foot, and sometimes I feel some pain as well (kind of a throbbing feeling versus the stabbing pains I felt when I first sprained it).

Is this normal, or should I go to the doctor?

– Jackie

Answer by Dom: Jackie, no, this is not normal. A sprain that is still swollen after nearly two months, while you are running on it, is telling you something. My advice: stop running now and give the ankle a proper chance to heal. If the swelling has not gone down in two weeks, go back to the doctor and ask for it to be looked at again.

1. Why it is still swollen, and what I'd ask your doctor
2. Stop running now
3. What to do instead while it heals
4. Red flags: when to go sooner than two weeks
5. Restarting properly, step by step

Why It Is Still Swollen, and What I'd Ask Your Doctor

Sprained ankles can hurt badly, and the pain and swelling can hang around for a long time — especially if you keep putting pressure on the ankle. Walking and running are not helping it. Your swelling sits just above the bone on the outside of the ankle, and that detail matters.

You started well. You iced it, elevated it and got the X-rays done. I'm glad they showed no broken bone. I am not saying your doctor got it wrong, but given how long this has dragged on, I wonder whether a small hairline fracture (a thin crack in the bone) was missed. X-rays taken five days after an injury do not always show one.

When you go back, I'd ask three questions. Could a ligament higher up the ankle, the so-called high-ankle sprain, have been injured as well? Could the tendons that run along the outside of the ankle (the peroneal tendons) be irritated or damaged? And is a scan, such as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), worth doing to check the bone and cartilage? I'm not diagnosing you. I'm giving you good questions to ask someone who can examine the ankle in person.

Stop Running Now

One thing really puzzles me. Why are you running at the moment? You are not giving your ankle a chance to heal. If I were your coach, I'd tell you to stop all running now and let the ankle heal.

Don't run until the swollen ankle has healed. I know that is terribly frustrating. You may have signed up for a race, finally feel like your running is to the right level and now you need to take a break. I get it.

It's happened multiple times to me as well and it is hard.

But the way you are going is not fixing the problem. The brace is part of that. It restricts movement at the joint, which is exactly why you can cover distance an unbraced ankle could not. It does not speed up healing, and it dulls the pain and wobbliness that would normally tell you to stop. A brace earns its place once healing is largely done, or to get you through one event you have already trained for. Two months of brace-and-run with swelling still there is well past that. The brace is not what needs fixing — the training pattern underneath it is.

What to Do Instead While It Heals

Rest does not mean lying on the sofa. Here is how I'd structure the break.

Control the swelling. Elevate the foot above heart level for 15–20 minutes, two or three times a day. Use a light compression sleeve if it feels comfortable. Keep icing, but think 10–15 minutes at a time, not all day.

Move it gently. Sitting down, draw the alphabet in the air with your toes, up to the point of mild discomfort. Do it two or three times a day. Add ankle pumps (toes up, toes down) and gentle side-to-side movements. Stop if anything throbs afterwards.

Then add balance. Once walking is comfortable, stand on the sore leg near a wall for 30 seconds, building up to three rounds. Progress to calf raises on both feet.

Keep the engine ticking. If cycling or rowing hurts the ankle, don't force it. Try swimming or pool running, or seated upper-body and core work. Only do these if they are pain-free. If nothing is pain-free, take complete rest and first get your body right, before getting back into your running training again.

Red Flags: When Swelling Needs a Doctor This Week

The two-week rule above is right in most cases, but not every case. If any of these show up, go and get it checked straight away rather than waiting out the fortnight.

Numbness, tingling, or a foot that feels cold or looks pale. That points towards a nerve or blood-flow problem, and it needs attention now.

You cannot put full weight on it, or it is worse than a week ago. A healing sprain should be trending the right way, even slowly.

The swelling is still climbing rather than levelling off. Two months on, it should be going down. Swelling that keeps rising is a different problem.

The skin is warm, red or shiny, or the pain feels out of proportion to how the ankle looks. These can be early signs of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a nerve condition that causes lasting pain and swelling. It is far easier to treat early than late.

Tenderness right over the bone itself, not the soft tissue around it. That is the hairline fracture concern again.

Restarting Properly, Step by Step

Don't restart because the calendar says so. Restart when you can tick every box: the swelling is clearly down, you can walk briskly for 30 minutes pain-free, you can balance on one leg for 30 seconds with your eyes open, you can do 20 single-leg calf raises, and you can hop on the spot ten times without pain. If your doctor has found something, follow their clearance first.

Then go run-walk. Pick flat, even ground — no trails for now. Start with 1 minute easy running, 2 minutes walking, repeated for 20 minutes. Do it every other day. Wear the brace for the first few weeks if it makes you feel secure, but don't treat it as permission to ignore a niggle.

Build over three to four weeks: 2 minutes running and 2 walking, then 3 and 2, then 5 and 1, then continuous easy running for 20 minutes. Move up only if the ankle is no more swollen or sore the next morning. If it is, drop back a step. Once you can run 20 minutes comfortably, add time gradually, then return to the trails.

It feels slow. It is quicker than another two months of limping, Jackie.

All the best,
Dom

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