Finding Relief for Throbbing Ankle Pain

Is your throbbing ankle pain hindering your ability to exercise or even carry out your daily activities? Whether the cause is due to a repetitive-use injury or a sprain, throbbing ankle pain can affect your daily activities. Don’t get sidelined in your own life, talk to a licensed physical therapist about any persistent joint pain. 

Request an appointment at Twin Boro Physical Therapy to find out how physical therapy can help you find relief and manage your throbbing ankle pain.

What Are Some Causes of Throbbing Ankle Pain?

It’s important to note that every person has a different experience with unique needs. Many factors are taken into consideration, such as health history, age and activity level. Often, throbbing ankle pain is caused by overuse or an acute injury, such as a sprain.

Repetitive-Use Injury

Throbbing ankle pain that gradually increases can be due to repetitive-use injuries. Many ankle injuries stem from those who do too much-too soon, load the joint with bad mechanics or exercise with improper footwear.

How does it feel?

• Pain, aching or Tenderness
• Stiffness
• Throbbing
• Tingling or numbness
• Weakness
• Cramping

Whatever the cause, it’s important to reduce the stress placed on your ankle and allow your body to heal. Make sure to take the time to rest your ankle. If your throbbing pain persists for more than a few days, it’s important to seek a physical therapist for treatment.

Tendon Injuries

Tendons extend from the end of a muscle to attach to bone and serves as the pulley mechanism for our skeletal system. When a tendon is injured, we refer to it as a strain. Acute stains can result in tendonitis. “Tendonitis” is inflammation of a tendon. Chronic conditions to a tendon results in degeneration of the tendon. Such processes are called “tendinosis”.

One common tendon injury is achilles tendinitis. The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in the body and serves to decelerate the forward motion of the leg when the foot hits the ground. This tendon also serves to help properly position your foot in preparation for the next foot strike. A common cause of tendon injuries is overuse. Contributing factors to tendon injuries include a change in training terrain, different shoes, or increasing training intensity too quickly.

Another common tendon injury involves the peroneal tendons. The peroneus longus and peroneus brevis tendons are located along the outside of the leg and travel down towards the food behind the ankle bone. These two tendons serve to decelerate the foot at the foot strike and help to stabilize the foot preparing the foot for toe-off. These tendons can become injured from an ankle sprain or from overuse. If the patient feels a clicking sensation, the tendons could be strained.

How does it feel?

• Pain that worsens with use
• Stiffness during the night
• Red, warm, swollen at the site of the injury
• Throbbing or burning sensation

The most important aspect of treating tendon injuries is early examination and treatment. If not properly addressed, injured tendons can develop into a more difficult injury and result in chronic pain. Most individuals recover full function following a course of conservative care that includes physical therapy, medication, and at times injections.

Ankle Sprain

If you experience constant throbbing pain, accompanied by swelling or sharp pain when attempting to stand or walk, you might be dealing with something a little more serious. An acute injury, like a sprained ankle, can be caused by rolling or twisting the ankle, landing hard with the foot on an uneven surface, or stepping down at an angle. All it takes is a simple misstep for the ligaments in the ankle to become overstretched or “sprained.”

How does it feel?

• Pain
• Swelling
• Inability to stand or even walk on the injured foot
• Throbbing
• Stiffness
• Weakness
• Instability in the ankle joint

Ankle sprains are one of the most common types of ankle injuries we treat at Twin Boro. Physical therapy interventions include manual therapeutic techniques, stretching and strengthening exercises to regain ROM and stabilize the foot, neuromuscular reeducation to restore stability, and more. When cared for correctly, the prognosis for these injuries is good.

Preventing Ankle Pain

Like with most injuries, it is often easier to prevent ankle pain than to treat it. Below are some tips to reduce your risk of injury:

• Warm up before activity to improve circulation.
• Stretch the tendons and muscles you will be using after your warm up, prior to the activity and after it.
• Strengthen the muscles and tendons that you need to use for your activity.
• And most importantly, do not work through pain. Always listen to your body.

How Physical Therapy Helps Throbbing Ankle Pain

Foot and ankle pain can be accompanied by swelling, weakness and instability, affecting your ability to move around without discomfort. Simply staying off your feet for a few days will not be enough to reduce these impairments. A well-planned physical therapy program is needed to achieve these objectives as well as rehabilitate the ankle for a return to previous activities, while decreasing the risk of future reinjury.

At Twin Boro Physical Therapy, we utilize the One2Four approach with every patient to help them manage these symptoms. Whether you’re suffering from lower back pain or throbbing ankle pain, a physical therapist can develop a program specifically to meet your needs, help you heal faster and reduce the chance of future injury.

Learn more about Physical Therapy for Ankle Pain >>

Call1-732-444-3578 to schedule your no-obligation appointment at one of our 23 convenient New Jersey clinics. 

Twin Boro Physical Therapy: Voted Readers’ Choice Best of New Jersey

Voted Readers’ Choice Best of New Jersey, Twin Boro has provided NJ residents with high quality physical therapy and rehab for close to 40 years! It’s our award-winning approach, proven results and reputation that sets us apart. By incorporating the One2Four program into each patient’s program, the latest and most reliable scientific research and techniques are incorporated into effective evidence-based practice. We deliver only the highest standard of care with the unique One2Four approach.

It’s no surprise that Twin Boro Physical Therapy has also been voted the best physical therapy practice in New Jersey by the readers of mycentraljersey.com.