History Main / TwistedAnkle

* In the Library Island StoryArc of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', this happened to Yue while the group was trying to get out of the place. [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Negi]] tried to give her a piggy-back only to immediately collapse under her weight. HugeSchoolgirl Kaede carried her instead.
* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', this happens (in a literal sense) to Ash (who could still run just fine [[MadeOfIron after falling multiple times his own height onto a stone staircase and then falling some more onto a sand battlefield]] earlier in the anime) when he slides down a cliff while saving Serena. He recovers by the next episode.

* ''{{Film/VHS}}'' features two men in different segments (Clint in "Amateur Night" and Gary in "Tape 56") taking a tumble down the stairs and suffering a severe break while fleeing.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/27107.jpg]]]]

A form of BrokenHeel. Contrast DramaticSlip. This trope may lead into CrisisCatchAndCarry.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Played literally in "The Big Sprain", when Alice trips over Bobby's Chinese checkers carelessly left on the floor.

* This happens to Levi in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' when he saved Mikasa from the Female Titan before taking Eren and retreating. This results in him being sidelined for the next couple of story arcs as he recovers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' a teenage boy twists his ankle (with the foot turned all the way around!) and has to be carried by his date.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'', the main characters are forced to confront the Red Bull when Lady Amalthea (the titular unicorn in human form) falls down and is unable to continue running.

* Parodied in ''Film/ScaryMovie'', where a very GenreSavvy victim mocks this trope while demonstrating it in a very extreme manner to the increasingly horrified killer, complete with a sickening snap and a protruding fracture.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution''. The housewife version of Alice hobbles out of a crashed car more slowly than the zombie horde charging up behind her, yet escapes into a nearby house due to a handy scene cut.
* ''{{Film/VHS}}'' features two men in different segments (Clint in "Amateur Night" and Gary in "Tape 56") taking a tumble down the stairs and suffering a severe break while fleeing.
* In ''Film/TheHorrorOfPartyBeach'', female lead Elaine is searching for evidence of the film's monsters in a flooded quarry when said monsters suddenly appear from the water. As she attempts to flee, Elaine [[HelpImStuck stumbles and gets her foot caught between two rocks]]; even after getting loose, the resulting injury prevents her from fleeing quickly enough to escape the monsters, and she only survives because the other characters show up in the nick of time.
* Both heroes and villain experience this towards the end of ''Film/TheTerminator''. Kyle has a gunshot wound that slows him down; fortunately the Terminator has also damaged a leg, slowing down its pursuit. Then Sarah catches a piece of shrapnel in her thigh in the same explosion that [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody blows the Terminator's legs off]].
* ''Carve Her Name With Pride''. Violette Szabo twists her ankle while being chased by German soldiers. As IWillOnlySlowYouDown, she stays to give covering fire so her compatriots in LaResistance can escape. This was TruthInTelevision, as she'd already damaged her ankle during a parachute drop.
* Happens in ''Film/{{Predators}}'' to Edwin. He blunders into a trap designed to maim, and gets his leg messed up. However, the hero Royce knows the point of the trap is to wound one person to slow the group down as they try to help him. Royce refuses to make himself vulnerable that way and leaves Edwin to be hobbled around by the sniper Isabelle.
* In the ''Literature/{{Misery}}''-esque 2009 thriller ''Homecoming'', a broken ankle is the injury that first leaves Elizabeth at the psychotic Shelby's tender mercies. In the process of "caring" for her "patient," Shelby intentionally aggravates the injury in order to torment Elizabeth, which significantly hampers Elizabeth's attempts to escape. After she fails to do so, Shelby further hobbles her by severing both her Achilles tendons with a pair of sharpened pruning shears.

* When Elena, Steph, and Scott are trying to catch up the the search and rescue chopper in ''Film/{{Indigenous}}'', Steph trips and breaks her ankle, necessitating Elena running to intercept it while Scott has to carry her away from the attacking monsters.
* In ''Film/ScarecrowSlayer'', Mary sprains her ankle when she falls out of the upper storey of the frat house while escaping the Scarecrow. This leaves her badly limping and easy prey for the Scarecrow when he catches up with her.
* In ''Film/Siren2010'', Ken trips while chasing after the phantasmal Silka and sprains his ankle, making him easy prey for the dead sailor. The next morning, his ankle is fine, calling into question how much of those events was real.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Played literally in "The Big Sprain", when Alice trips over Bobby's Chinese checkers carelessly left on the floor.

* In one ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' mission, Alicia (who, as a Scout, is usually one of the fastest characters available) twists her ankle after being thrown off a cliff by an artillery bombardment, drastically reducing her foot speed and cutting her action bar to a fraction of its normal length. For some reason, [[FridgeLogic the magic healing rocks that can fix bullet wounds don't help with this, but some ground-up flowers will.]] [[spoiler:We later learn that Alicia's a Valkyria with an innate HealingFactor, and has "always healed quickly"; while this does explain how she's back up to full speed the next day, by and large it only raises more questions.]]

* Waylon Park, the hero of ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}: Whistleblower'', goes from spry to hobbling after he gets a gigantic splinter on his leg falling on an elevator shaft. [[GameBreakingInjury The crippled limping speed]] makes escaping from Variants far more difficult from then on, and it gets worse after he falls on it a few more times.

* WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} takes Lydia to a Neitherworld hospital after she injures her foot in "Generally Hysterical Hospital."
* A StaircaseTumble while being chased by Jim lands Jeremie Belpois of WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko with a pretty severe example of this trope; he does try to jump up after the tumble but immediately goes down with a loud cry of distressed pain.
* Happens near the end of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Muffy's Soccer Shocker" when Brain as the soccer team goalie tries to catch the ball but only to crash into the grass and injures his left ankle, thus Muffy takes his spot for the rest of the game.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHerehttps://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/27107.jpg]]]]

* Happens near the end of the ''WesternAnimation/Arthur'' episode "Muffy's Soccer Shocker" when Brain as the soccer team goalie tries to catch the ball but only to crash into the grass and injures his left ankle, thus Muffy takes his spot for the rest of the game.

* In ''Anime/Pokemon'', this happens (in a literal sense) to Ash (who could still run just fine [[MadeOfIron after falling multiple times his own height onto a stone staircase and then falling some more onto a sand battlefield]] earlier in the anime) when he slides down a cliff while saving Serena. He recovers by the next episode.

* In ''Anime/Pokemon'', this happens (in a literal sense) to Ash (who could still run just fine [[MadeOfDiamond after falling multiple times his own height onto a stone staircase and then falling some more onto a sand battlefield]] earlier in the anime) when he slides down a cliff while saving Serena. He recovers by the next episode.

Any injury which causes a fleeing victim ([[AndCallHimBob call him Bob]]) to fall or become slowed, giving his pursuer a better chance to catch up. If the injury is crippling, other characters must decide whether to abandon Bob or assist him, knowing that supporting or carrying Bob will slow down other members of the group and put them in greater danger as well.

Any injury which causes a fleeing victim (call him Bob) to fall or become slowed, giving his pursuer a better chance to catch up. If the injury is crippling, other characters must decide whether to abandon Bob or assist him, knowing that supporting or carrying Bob will slow down other members of the group and put them in greater danger as well.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': In ''Flyte'', it's a twisted ankle that slows down Septimus to the point that he gets almost taken by the wolverines.
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', [[BadassBookworm Annabeth Chase]] injures her ankle [[spoiler:chasing down the Mark of Athena.]]
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Ginny injures her ankle while fighting in the Department of Mysteries. Luna helps her along for a while, but when most everyone in the group is incapacitated, Ginny's left on the ground, SOL.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Played literally in "The Big Sprain," when Alice trips over Bobby's Chinese checkers carelessly left on the floor.
* Twisted ankles are [[DeadUnicornTrope stereotypically]] the main method [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]'s companions used to advance the plot and increase the tension in an episode: when being chased through the BBCQuarry by PeopleInRubberSuits, the girl could be counted on to twist her ankle at just the right moment. This doesn't actually happen half as often as people remember - it was played straight with Susan, and parodied by Sarah Jane in "The Android Invasion" in a scene where she twists her foot while running, goes down and then immediately turns out to be okay.
** In "Terror of the Autons", Jo injures her ankle escaping from a moving vehicle, but it doesn't slow her down much, she just limps for a while. (That wasn't in the original script, but was added during shooting because the actress actually did hurt her leg.)
** Happened to a male companion of the Eighth Doctor in the ExpandedUniverse, due to a gunshot wound to the leg, and [[HoYay the Doctor proceeded to carry him around bridal-style.]]
** When it happened (yes, to Susan) in ''The Five Doctors'', it was a deliberate bit of SelfParody, with no dramatic effect. Although the same can't be said of Sarah Jane's "needing" to be hauled up the gentlest slope in Wales with a rope and Bessie the car.
--->[[Music/MitchBenn Say you'll stand beside me]]\\
Say you'll help me save the world\\
Fall and twist your ankle\\
Be my Doctor Who Girl
* This happens to Dr. Keller while evading hostile aliens in the woods in one episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''.
* Kat falls victim to this in ''Series/PowerRangersZeo''.

* Discussed (and ranted on) at length by Mary Jo in an episode of ''Series/DesigningWomen''.
* Tony sprains his ankle in an episode of ''The Time Tunnel'' right before they become participants in a private war against two Japanese men. Naturally, he tells Doug (who he ends up leaning on for almost the entire rest of the episode) to [[GoOnWithoutMe go on without him]]; the latter doesn't comply.
* Marion sprains his ankle jumping out a window in ''Series/TheSwampFox'', though once on his horse, he's fine.

--->'''Zillion''': "O'ch! My foot-knee most tender!"

* In ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', Ginny injures her ankle while fighting in the Department of Mysteries. Luna helps her along for a while, but when most everyone in the group is incapacitated, Ginny's left on the ground, SOL.

A form of BrokenHeel. Contrast DramaticSlip.

-->[[Music/MitchBenn Say you'll stand beside me]]
-->Say you'll help me save the world
-->Fall and twist your ankle
-->Be my Doctor Who Girl

* In ''Film/ScarecrowSlayer'', Mary sprains her ankle when she falls out of the upper storey of the frat house while escaping the Scarecroow. This leaves her badly limping and easy prey for the Scarecrow when he catches up with her.
* In ''Film/Siren2010'', Ken trips while chasing after the phantasmal Silka and sprains his ankle, making him easy prey for the dead sailor. The next morning, his ankle is fine, calling into question how much of those events were real.

* Complained about in a ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book or two, generally by a female character who hates the cliche of the pretty heroine twisting her ankle and getting carried off by the hero and is determined not to be so soppy herself.

** In "Terror of the Autons", Jo injures her ankle escaping from a moving vehicle, but it doesn't slow her down much, she just limps for a while. (That wasn't in the original script, and was added during shooting because the actress actually did hurt her leg.)

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Willow twists her ankle after her CrashIntoHello with Tara while fleeing from the Gentlemen. The injury is not emphasised, but is just one more thing to add to the terror of the scene.

* Marion sprains his ankle jumping out a window in ''Series/TheSwampFox'',though once on his horse, he's fine.