Can you have a hairline fracture that doesn't show up at first?

I took a fall in soccer, and my foot was caught under me so that my ankle was rolled. Just as I hit the ground, I heard a crack sound in my lower leg, about three inches above the ankle.

The pain was bearable, but the sound really frightened me. My insurance didn't allow me to go to the emergency room, but I did go get an xray from my regular doctor the next day. He said there was no break, but I noticed there was a line across the fibula--he said it was a calcium deposit.

My ankle joint swelling has healed, but I still get pain in the area a few inches up. I guess at this point it doesn't matter, but I'm tempted to ask the doctor to re-read the xray. Is it possible to have a broken bone (hairline fracture?) and not have it show up at first? Does it matter to my leg at this point?

Hi, I had exactly the same thing happen. In my ankle the tendon had snapped and I could not put any preassure on my foot for at least two weeks. It took 3 months before it started to feel well again and I was given some exercises to do to strengthen it.

Exercises suct as standing on my toes, rocking back and forth, stretching my leg out behind me with my foot flat on the floor.

I had to do these 3 times a day for 10 minutes.

This happened back in August and I still get the odd twinge in my ankle but mostly it has healed up.

When I done it I also heard a snap and thought I had broken it but the tendon is like an elastic band under tension and that is the snapping sound I heard when it broke.

See http://www.achillestendon.com/

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/leg_injuries/a/leg5.htm

yes hairline fractures dont always show up,or should I say some doctors are so rushed off there feet they sometimes overlook things...in some cases they send you home only to contact you a year or so later to say they have re looked at your scan and found something please come back to the hospital...ok so it dont always happen but doctors too make mistakes on times