O, a man in his 30s, played soccer from elementary school through university and, as a working adult, played futsal once or twice a week. Eight months earlier — at the end of the previous year — he had sprained his left ankle during futsal.
Ligaments are generally said to take about a month to repair, but eight months on, pain remained whenever he planted his foot. He could still play futsal, but it bothered him constantly, and he wanted to play without pain.
In his own words:
“I twisted my ankle during futsal, and it swelled quite a bit. I have sprained ankles before, but this is the first time symptoms have lasted this long. I can play now, but pain around the inner ankle remains when I plant my foot. I’m not playing intensely, but I want to play without pain. Also, at my age, I thought I should start taking care of my body, so I came in.”
The patient
- Age / sex: 30s, male
- Activity: futsal once or twice a week (soccer background from childhood through university)
- Problem: pain around the inner ankle (medial malleolus) of the left foot, eight months after a sprain in futsal; pain on planting the foot and bearing weight
- History: only mild sprains before this one; no other notable injury history
Checking the symptoms
The painful place was around the inner ankle bone. Pain appeared when bearing weight on the foot, when bending the ankle upward (dorsiflexion), and when turning it inward (inversion). He could play, but not without pain — a state many readers will recognize, where pain drags down both performance and motivation, even at a hobby level.
Checking the fascia
With only mild sprains in his history, we checked the state of the fascia centered on the knee down to the foot, feeling for places where it had become stiff (where its glide had worsened). On the diagrams, the red point is where it hurt; the yellow points are where the fascia was stiff, with poor glide.
The course of treatment
One session. After releasing the first treatment point, the inner-ankle pain lessened, and O responded on the spot: “The pain has eased!” By the end of the session, planting his foot and bearing weight caused almost no pain.
We later sent him a questionnaire, and his reply was that the symptoms had improved by more than 80% in that single session, and had not returned since.
An honest note from the article
The article is careful to add that one session is not the whole story for everyone: many people only feel the effect after two or three sessions, as the balance of the fascia changes, and clearing the stiffness thoroughly also helps prevent recurrence — so two or three sessions are generally recommended. O’s case, the article suggests, may have improved quickly in part because his overall injury history was light, so the fascial stiffness left by this sprain was the dominant factor rather than ligament damage.
In summary
Eight months of pain that lingered after the sprain itself should long have healed is exactly the kind of problem where checking the fascia — not just the ankle — can matter. If a sprain from months ago still hurts when you plant your foot, an approach through the fascia may be worth trying.
This clinic is not a medical institution. Individual results vary; this article describes one person’s course. If you have concerning symptoms, please consult a medical institution.