Ankle pain is no joke. It can cause a major disruption to your daily routine and cause everyday movements like walking or standing after sitting to be painful.
If you are experiencing inner ankle pain but no swelling, you may not know the cause of your symptoms. Health care professionals like physical therapists can help you find out. Once they have identified the root cause of your symptoms, a physical therapist can also help reduce your ankle pain.
3 injuries and conditions that can cause inner ankle pain with no swelling
There are multiple reasons that you could be experiencing inner ankle pain with no swelling. Most injuries or musculoskeletal conditions have swelling listed as one of their symptoms. However, just because an injury or condition can cause swelling doesn’t mean that it always will cause swelling. This is especially true for minor injuries or flare-ups.
Here are three possible reasons that you may be experiencing inner ankle pain but no swelling:
- High ankle sprain — A high ankle sprain is when you damage the ligaments in your upper ankle. Ligaments are a type of soft tissue that connects bones to other bones. High ankle sprains usually occur when you quickly turn your ankle inward or outward while your foot is flexed up. They are a common sports injury that often happens in athletes who play football, basketball or soccer.
- Arthritis — Another potential cause of your ankle pain is arthritis. Arthritis is an inflammatory condition that can cause pain, swelling and redness. The most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, is caused by the gradual wear and tear of the cartilage in your joints. Osteoarthritis symptoms often develop slowly and worsen over time. If you have an early stage of osteoarthritis in your ankle, it is possible for you to experience inner ankle pain with no swelling. However, swelling may develop as the condition worsens over time.
- Lupus — Lupus is an autoimmune disease commonly characterized by fatigue, joint pain and a butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose. As an autoimmune disease, lupus occurs when your immune system attacks healthy tissue in your body. Individuals with lupus may experience episodes or flare-ups of chronic pain throughout their lifetime. These flare-ups may include inner ankle pain but little to no swelling.
To properly identify the cause of your symptoms, you should see a physical therapist or other health care professional.
3 PT techniques that can help reduce your inner ankle pain
Depending on the root cause of your ankle pain, there are a variety of at-home and clinical treatment options available. If you are looking for a noninvasive treatment method that does not involve medication, you should consider physical therapy. A physical therapist will evaluate your symptoms, identify the cause and design an individualized treatment plan to help you manage your symptoms.
Here are three physical therapy techniques that a therapist may use if you are experiencing inner ankle pain but no swelling:
- Manual therapy — Manual therapy is a PT technique where a physical therapist uses their hands to move and manipulate parts of your body. One type of manual therapy is soft tissue mobilization. In this technique, your therapist will focus on manipulating the soft tissue in the affected area in order to reduce pain and promote blood flow. Another type of manual therapy is joint mobilization. Joint mobilization is used to reduce pain and increase joint mobility. This technique is especially effective for patients with arthritis or an ankle sprain.
- Electrical stimulation — Your physical therapist may also use electrical stimulation to help provide pain relief. Your therapist will apply electrodes to the surface of your skin at or near where the pain is located. Then, a device delivers low-voltage electrical impulses through these electrodes to stimulate the nerves in the area. These impulses trigger your body’s natural pain relief response, potentially reducing your inner ankle pain.
- Therapeutic exercise — As part of your treatment, your physical therapist may incorporate a therapeutic exercise routine designed to reduce your symptoms and prevent future injury. Your therapist may use active or passive stretching activities to help reduce tension in your injured soft tissue and help your joints move better. They may also include exercises that strengthen the muscles in your foot, ankle and calf. This can help stabilize your walk and prevent future injury.
Our team of physical therapists at Panther PT are ready to help reduce your ankle pain
There are multiple injuries or conditions that could be linked to you experiencing inner ankle pain with no swelling. A member of our Panther Physical Therapy team can identify the root cause of your symptoms and provide a treatment plan tailored to your needs. Your ankle pain may also be linked to an injury or condition in another part of the body. This is why we here at Panther Physical Therapy treat the whole body as a movement system. During your initial visit, a physical therapist will conduct a thorough evaluation of your symptoms, including an in-depth gait analysis. With this information, they will develop an individualized treatment plan to help you along your healing journey.
Ready to start physical therapy for your ankle pain? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.