Recurrent pain in my ankle...

[cerius]

Hello, I wanted to ask a few questions regarding pain felt in an ankle after said ankle has healed. But first let me give you a back story.

Almost two and a half years ago I fell from a pretty large tree (dumb right?) and received a pretty severe ankle sprain. When I went to the hospital, I told them it felt like I had broken something, as I'd never had a sprained ankle this bad before. They gave me a cast and a darvocet and sent me home. The pain subsided because my ankle was not moving, and I could gingerly walk on it. I took about three weeks to be able to walk without the cast, but after about two months, most pain was gone.

Occasionally, I would roll the ankle and get slight pain that lasted for 10-15 minutes from time to time, but soon went away. This has probably happened 5-6 times in two years.

Until recently, I thought the ankle was all but healed, but yesterday I went on a nice bike ride through the park near where I live and afterwards I have had this sharp pain. I didn't notice any pain while riding, and it was not rigorous in the least.

I went to bed that night thinking I might have sprained it a little but today when I woke up, it took nearly an hour to get out of bed. The pain I experienced when I first got the sprain was equivalent to the pain I felt this morning. It sort of feels like a muscle spasm, but it seems to occur only when I put pressure on the outside of my left leg, above the ankle. Also, when I keep it in one spot for too long, if I move it too quickly, I'll experience a pain around a "9" on a "10" pain scale for 5-10 minutes. This is very unpleasant, and very hard to prevent.

Can anyone help me out? This morning there was swelling, and I think it was far worse earlier because the ankle was not moving for 8+ hours.

I'm heading to the doctor soon, but wanted to know if it was unnecessary.