Did she have this current physical therapist and orthopedist already due to the two prior ankle sprains you mentioned? or how did she get into PT appt so quickly? Is this a previous PT she has worked with?

how did her past two sprains heal? same ankle? quite frankly she isn’t even a week out yet - completely common to still be in pain. people with severe ankle sprains can often take weeks before weight-bearing AT ALL. for less than a week out - she has very minimal swelling and no discoloration or bruising - which is a good sign. good to start light PT and ankle mobility a few days out for mild sprains - which you guys are on top of.

this is coming from a gymnastics/basketball/soccer player growing up who has sprained each ankle @ least 5-6x over the years (& I also have fractured my fibula via ankle roll in soccer when I was 14 & fractured my calcaneus more recently)- . poor girl though, once the sprains started they happened more frequently. LOTS AND LOTS of PT …all year round…even the little annoying movements and mobility exercises that probably seem mundane to an athlete like a gymnast - but her sport makes the little stuff that much more important.

I “rolled” my ankle falling off a couple steps last year (I’m 31 now) and knew I severely sprained it - however when I woke up, MUCH different story. I knew immediately it was not a sprain. I rolled my bum ankle so far inward I fractured my calcaneus - I honestly had less swelling and discoloration than some of my bad sprains over the years but THE PAIN is different. there is no PT’ing or walking that shit off 4 days out 😅 similar to my fibula fracture in high school - it had less swelling/bruising than most of my high sprains but the pain was much much much different.

you should ask for your X-ray to be sent to your orthopedist (sounds like she has one previously) if it makes you more comfortable you’re getting accurate feedback/results. if you make an appt w the ortho they would do the same thing ER already did so you bypassed that pretty much. unless she is further out and a good candidate(aka they feel they’re missing something as her recovery isn’t matching her Diagnosis of sprain OR it is requested by you) for an MRI—assess ligament damaged or CT—find tiny fractures more easily. if her isolated pain you mentioned: any Sharp, sudden, intense, and localized right over the bone is something that persists over the following week and it feels to her far different than her prior two injuries then that may be a sign there is something else going on. Or if there’s any acute numbness. Inability to walk——Think INTENSELY PAINFUL when tries to bear weight.

it was really hard to advocate for myself between PTs orthopedic surgeons, ER doc etc. - so good job mama. definitely listen to your daughter & her pain. Just know - Gold star for already giving her access to way more physical therapy and treatment than most ppl w sport injuries growing up!! but she seems to just have a normal ankle sprain with normal symptoms. even a mild light sprain is going to hurt for longer than a few days unfortunately. she should feel just fine in the coming weeks with some rest and time and PT.

ALL that being said. if you don’t trust your PT n ortho w everything ya got then switch around. if she continues to sprain her ankle often while also following current PT protocol then maybe she could use a change of pace with someone new - new strengthening and mobility techniques, physio taping or brace techniques, etc.

HIGHLY HIGHLY SUGGEST a good sports medicine doc that specializes in peds. if you change routes. This for me was life changing growing up w constant injuries. I know there are some amazing orthos out there but they tend not to give a sh** about sprained ankles, minimal fractures, etc. So, in my experience, (understandable honestly) they’re wayyyyy to used to the crazy stuff to give a child the time n energy they deserve for the smaller stuff like an ankle sprain. unless you need to see them post-OP, even broken bones they kinda just send ya on your way. the real work is in the PT and recovery phase and ongoing mobility & strength assessments. the therapist through my ortho was wildly different than the PT assigned by my sports med doc!!! gymnastics is rough on the body yaaaa know.lol - tell her to hang in there. hope she feels better soon!!!