The ankle sprain when it is not always benign

Chronic pain is a common complication of ankle sprains and a common pattern in trauma. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and etiologies of persistent pain related to ankle sprains. We conducted a prospective single-center study over a 6-month period. All physical medicine consultants with chronic ankle pain persisting for 2 months or more after a sprain were included. We included 25 patients. The diagnoses retained were mainly tarsal sinus syndrome (11.5%) posterior impingement syndrome (7.7%) subtallian pain (11.5%) chronic lateral instability (19.3%). In addition no diagnosis could be retained in (15.4%) of the population. The diversity of diagnoses found by this study as well as those in the literature stems from the multiplicity of anatomical structures that may be initially injured which testifies to the diagnostic difficulty of persistent pain following an initial sprain.