Are venotonic drugs effective for decreasing acute posttraumatic oedema following ankle sprain? A prospective randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: Lower leg oedema after trauma may cause various degrees of pain, disability and delay in patient recovery. In this prospective randomized study, we hypothesized that venotonic drugs had no effect in clinical outcome of patients with ankle sprain.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-one patients with type II and III ankle sprain were screened and randomly assigned for receiving standard conservative treatment alone (control group, 39 patients) or with oral intake of a venotonic drug (micronized purified flavonoid fraction, Daflon 1,000 mg × 3) for 20 days (study group, 42 patients). Measurement of the circumference of ankle region in two different locations and assessment of pain intensity with the Visual Analogue Score were performed at the time of patients' admission and during the 7th and 20th posttraumatic day.

RESULTS: Patients demographics were comparable in both groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the values of perimeter of ankle joint or pain intensity at all the examined time points.

CONCLUSIONS: Venotonic drugs seem not to decrease the posttraumatic oedema or pain in patients who suffer from moderate or severe ankle sprain.