I just sprained my ankle yesterday and the doctors kept telling me sprains can feel worse than breaks. Anyone else agree because I don't think I've ever felt this much pain before. Also why would a break sometimes hurt less? As you can see I've never broken anything before!

hurry well

Thank you!

Anyone else have an opinion?

I once broke my hand. I had never broken a bone before that or had a bad sprain. My husband told me to put ice on it. He is a soccer player and has hurt (sprained) his ankle bunches of times. He said that if it was a sprain that the ice should make it feel better. The pain I had only got worse and worse. It also didn't swell or get black and blue right away. Hope this helps.

well, i dunno much about sprains. but i hope you heal right up~!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprain
A sprain (from the French espraindre - to wring) is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by a sudden over stretching (for the muscle injury, see strain). The ligament is usually only stretched, but sometimes it can be snapped, slightly torn, or ruptured, all of which are more serious and require longer to heal
. . .

Joints involved
Although any joint can experience a sprain, some of the more common include:

the ankle. It is the most common, and has been said that sprains such as serious ankle sprains are more painful than actually breaking the bones in that area.[citation needed] See sprained ankle for more details.

link:

The first modality for a sprain is P.R.I.C.E.[1]

Protect:Protect the affected part from further injury.
Rest: Stop all activities which cause pain to the sprained area.
Ice: Apply icing to the area several times a day, but never for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Protect the skin while preventing the swelling.
Compression: Wrap the sprained area to reduce swelling. Cold water will do also.
Elevation: Keep the sprained area as close to the level of the heart as is conveniently possible.
The Ice and Compression (Cold compression therapy) will stop the pain and swelling while the injury starts to heal itself. Controlling the swelling and inflammation is critical to the healing process and the icing further restricts fluid leaking into the injured area as well as controlling pain

Sprains can be awful. I sprained my knee at the end of March and still have pain.

Sprains can be more painful than breaks because they involve the joints (and breaks often don't). There's just a lot more "going on" around knees and ankles and whatnot -- which means you feel the injury every time you move. And soft tissue injuries tend to be slower to heal, too.

I hope you mend quickly!

Wait till Meggy sees this, she's sprained and broken herself so many times I've lost count.
Take it easy until you feel better.
[Edited 5/4/07 22:01pm]

bobpurple said:

Depending on the severity of the sprain, this (by nature) is very true I've had plently.

Wow guys thanks for all of this...Today I can't even tell where my ankle bones are...yikes! The crutches have only added to my injury because today my ribs, armpits, forearms, shoulders and back are sooo sore. I also have bruising all under my arms. Crutches are the devil!!! I've given up on them so I've started limping around...not sure if that would follow doctor's orders but I can't even pull my covers up in bed I'm so sore. I definitely will need to work on my upper body strength after this!!

bobpurple said:

crutches are the worst. have you tried wrapping up the top of them with cloth or something so they're not so harsh on your arms?

No I've just plain given up on them, hoping that I will be able to limp around school tomorrow. fingers crossed!!