While a sprained ankle might not sound like a serious injury, it can cause a lot of pain and suffering over a prolonged period. In some cases, sprained ankles can cause chronic pain and increase the risk of arthritis in the ankle in later life. If you’ve sprained your ankle in an accident at work, following a fall, or in another type of accident that wasn’t your fault, you could claim compensation for your suffering.

In this guide to claiming compensation for a sprained ankle, we’ll focus on the types of accidents that could lead to a sprained ankle, how a personal injury claim is processed, and how much compensation for a sprained ankle could be paid.

If you are considering taking action for a sprained ankle, we are ready to help. During a no-obligation assessment of your claim, we’ll review what options are available to you. You’ll receive free legal advice about claiming compensation and we could partner you with a personal injury solicitor if your claim is viable. Should your case be taken on, you’ll benefit from a No Win No Fee service. That means that you won’t have to pay any solicitor’s fees in advance and there won’t be any to pay if your claim fails. As a result of this service, you’ll find the whole process is a lot less stressful.

If you’ve decided to claim compensation for a sprained ankle already, please get in touch on 0800 6524 881. To learn more about claiming compensation for a sprained ankle before calling, please read on.

What Is A Sprained Ankle?

A sprained ankle can occur when you twist, roll or turn your ankle awkwardly. As a result, ankle ligaments can become stretched or torn. These are the tissues that hold your bones together. A sprained ankle occurs when ligaments stretch beyond their normal range of motion.

Symptoms of a sprained ankle include:

• Bruising and swelling.
• Pain when putting weight onto the foot.
• Reduced range of motion.
• Ankle instability.
• Tenderness of the ankle area.
• A popping sound when the injury occurred.

Treatment for a sprained ankle will depend on the severity of your injury. Even minor sprained ankles can mean you’re unable to work, carry out your daily activities, or participate in hobbies such as sports. Therefore, these things will need to be considered when claiming compensation for a sprained ankle.

Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation For A Sprained Ankle?

It’s important to note that if you sprain your ankle, you won’t be automatically entitled to claim compensation. Before a solicitor will agree to take on a claim, they’ll check whether:

• A duty of care can be established between the defendant and you; and
• That duty was breached by an act of negligence; and
• Your ankle was sprained in an accident caused by that negligence.

If you call our accident helpline, a specialist will check whether you were owed a duty of care. An example here is that your employer owes you a duty of care to try and keep you safe at work. Similarly, road users owe each other a duty of care to try and prevent accidents by driving safely.

The next step is to try and prove who caused the accident and the extent of your injuries. Therefore, we’ll look at what evidence can be used next.

Evidence To Help Support A Compensation Claim

In this section, we’re going to look at what information you could supply as evidence to help win compensation for a sprained ankle. It includes:

• Wherever safe and possible, you should use your phone to take pictures of the accident scene. The best time to do this is before anything is removed – especially the root cause of the accident.
• Witness information. If liability cannot be established for the accident, your solicitor could request a statement from anybody else who was present at the time. Therefore, write down the contact details of any witnesses.
• Medical information. It’s important to show how serious your sprained ankle was. Therefore, you could request a copy of the medical notes from the GP, hospital, or medical centre that treated you.
• Accident report forms. Many accidents must be recorded in an accident report book. Legally, you are allowed a copy of the report relating to your incident. This could then be used to show when and where you were injured.
• CCTV footage. If the area where you were injured was covered by security cameras, you could request a copy of the relevant footage. This should be done promptly as data can be wiped quite quickly.

If you have any evidence to help prove how your accident happened, call us today and have it reviewed for free.

Accidents That Might Result In A Sprained Ankle

It’s not possible to detail every accident that could lead to a sprained ankle here. However, we’ve listed a few scenarios that could entitle you to claim compensation below:

• If you suffer a sprained ankle at work. For example, you might be able to claim if you injured an ankle at work because you hadn’t been trained on moving heavy loads safely.
• Where you slip in a supermarket because of a leak or spillage hasn’t been cleared up swiftly.
• If you sprain your ankle after tripping on a pavement defect like a raised paving slab. In this scenario, a claim might be possible if the local council had failed to meet its obligations under the Highways Act.
• Where your ankle is injured whilst participating in a sport because the pitch wasn’t safe to play on.
• Where your ankle is sprained after you slipped in a restaurant because of spilled liquid or food that nobody had bothered to clean up.
• If your ankle is sprained after you fell down a drain because local waterboard workers hadn’t erected safety barriers.

We can help you claim compensation for a sprained ankle if it can be proven to have been caused by somebody else’s negligence. If you’d like advice on starting a claim, why not get in touch today.

How Much Compensation For A Sprained Ankle?

When making a personal injury claim for a sprained ankle, the amount of compensation your solicitor will try to get for you will be based on two ‘heads of loss’ known as general and special damages.

• General damages. This is where you’re pain and suffering are considered. Additionally, any loss of amenity could be factored in. For example, a value could be placed on the loss of enjoyment you’ve suffered because you couldn’t play football while recovering from your sprained ankle.
• Special damages. If you have spent or lost money as a result of your sprained ankle, it could be claimed back here. For example, you could claim for the cost of alternative travel arrangements if you weren’t able to drive while injured. Similarly, lost income could be claimed back too if you had to take sick leave from work.

As part of your claim, a medical assessment of your sprained ankle may be required. This is nothing at all to worry about and can usually take place locally (arranged by your solicitor) with an independent medical expert.

What’s The Average Settlement For A Sprained Ankle?

The average settlement for a sprained ankle, depending on severity, is primarily determined by general damages. We’ve supplied a few examples of what compensation may be available for a sprained ankle in this section.

• A sprained ankle that would be seen as a modest injury, could see a payout of up to £13,740.
• A moderately sprained ankle could see compensation of £13,740 to £26,590.
• £7,270 to £12,590 compensation for a sprained ankle with some minor damage to the Achilles tendon.
• £12,590 to £21,070 compensation for a sprained ankle where there is significant damage to the Achilles tendon.
• £24,990 to £30,090 compensation for a sprained ankle where there is a complete division of the Achilles tendon.

Please bear in mind that no guarantees can be made as to how much you might receive as a settlement as each claim for a sprained ankle is unique.

Time Limits For Sprained Ankle Compensation Claims

When seeking damages for a sprained ankle, you’ll need to begin within the legal time limits. Mostly, this will be 3-years from the date you suffered your sprained ankle although some exceptions do exist.

Our advice is to start your claim as soon as possible. That’s because your solicitor has several tasks to complete before the claim is filed. If you start too late, they may not have the chance to do everything that’s needed which means they might not be able to help.

If you’d like to find out how long you’ve got left to start a compensation claim, please call our team today.

Why Make A Sprained Ankle Compensation Claim Using A Personal Injury Solicitor?

If you decide to take action and seek damages for your sprained ankle, it’s likely that your claim will be processed by the defendant’s insurance company. As a result, you’ll only be compensated if you can clearly demonstrate why their client was responsible for your injuries.

We believe this process is made easier when you have a specialist solicitor representing you. Furthermore, we believe that you could receive a higher compensation figure if you have one of our solicitors on your side.

Any claim that is accepted will be handled on a No Win No Fee basis. That means you won’t face any solicitor’s fees if your claim is not successful. If your claim is won, your solicitor will deduct a set percentage of your compensation as a success fee.

Are you ready to claim for a sprained ankle today? If so, please call us on 0800 6524 881. A specialist advisor will review your chances for free and provide legal advice about what to do next. If your claim is accepted, it will be passed to a personal injury solicitor straight away who’ll be able to determine just how much compensation for a sprained ankle you could get.