Diagnosis

An accurate clinical examination is key to not miss any ankle sprain or other associated injuries.

If examination in clinic is overlooked or ignored the results of any scan can be very misleading or useless. The wrong area might be imaged or not well visualized; or the radiologist providing the report may be misled and look away from the important injury and instead focus on irrelevant findings.

That’s why it is so important to always examine the patient before obtaining any imaging. Having a scan without a previous medical review can create confusion and lead to missing an important lesion. It’s like trying to substitute a movie with just a snapshot. You might understand it is about people but will have no idea about the plot.

Imaging is a complementary investigation to lead towards the final diagnosis. To understand the severity of an injury or to rule out a few potentially simultaneous diagnoses, ordering the correct imaging investigation is very important.

 X-rays are easily available in just a few minutes in any of our clinics. They can be done at the first consultation to rule out serious injuries such as fractures. X-rays can also suggest injuries to some ligaments and assess for stability which is important in deciding the best treatment.

 MRI scan is the imaging of choice when assessing ankle sprains. They would pick up some injuries that X-rays cannot see, as MRIs are very good at assessing soft tissues, such as ligaments, tendons, or cartilage.

On occasions an Ultrasound scan can also be very helpful in diagnosing, and is as accurate as an MRI to assess ankle sprains and any injuries to the soft tissues.