In reply to Tam O'Bam:
I badly tore the ankle ligaments on the outside of my ankle, and my whole lower leg swelled up and went black and different colours, and it was pretty horrible to look at.
My hospital physio wasn't so great, and just gave me some exercises and an icing regime to do, but I went to the sports/private physio around the corner from my home, and they gave me ultra sound and frictioning massages on the injury site, and various bits and pieces of treatment and advice, and it's as good as new again.
If you can afford to I'd pay to see a decent sports physio, a good one is worth every penny I think.
If you can't afford to, looking up how often is safe to ice an injury and then regularly icing it would be a good idea, as I eventually started to get itching inside my ankle at the site of the injury as it started to heal, which at the time coincided with my icing it, but they might not be directly linked. I dare say there's helpful exercises online too, but I have a feeling that frictioning and ultrasound are worth having, which you'd need to see a physio for.
You could see a physio every other week to keep costs down perhaps, and still get the ultrasound and the frictioning treatment?
Post edited at 13:29