Why are my ankles are so swollen?

Question

I'm in my teens, I have no injury to my ankles, but I'm a ballet dancer. My ankles have been like this for about 5 months. My Achilles tendon used to be very obvious when my foot is flexed. Now my ankles are very puffy. I took a diuretic from my doctor for a while but it did not help. What other reasons than dancing could cause this? What can I do to fix this?

Answer 1

Well, I'm recovering from ankle surgery and one of the ways that I manage the swelling is to wrap my ankle with Ace Bandages at night and in the AM it's better.  Also - elevate it (higher than your heart).

I'm not sure that a diuretic is really the best thing unless you feel like you have water retention issues throughout your entire body. Your ankles/ feet have the "worst" circulation of your body - mostly due to gravity and the fact the the veins/arteries/tissue in that part of your body have to work very hard to pump fluids/blood out of your foot/ankle - that's why elevating works - it "defeats" gravity.

Good Luck!