Broken Foot .. still

[OzJavelin]

I've had a whinge on here before about missing a step and rolling my ankle 02/02/2013. Initial XRay indicated fracture and I was in a cast for six weeks. Cast came off and can't walk, lots of pain. Back at Dr 4 days later and another XRay says I'm fine, but *MIGHT* have torn ligament, so off for ultrasound. During ultrasound, operator detects ANOTHER unhealed fracture .. and that I have two severed ligaments. So .. seven weeks wasted.

The fracture is annoying but that's mechanical. My question is that after seven weeks would it be significantly difficult to rejoint the ligaments/tendons/whatevers? I'd have thought they'd have recessed or something?

I'm asking questions here because the medical community are being very cagey and not giving my any info (sounds like azz covering to me).

[V3RSAC3]

Well speaking from personal experience, back in October 2011 I tore my Tendons on both of my Knees whilst playing soccer. The pain was intense and I couldn't walk for about 7 weeks without my Knees swelling up and feeling as though they were on fire. I went and saw a Knee Surgeon who said that I could allow them to heal naturally over 12-16 months or I could have an operation. I chose to allow them to heal naturally to avoid complications later in life with arthritis. But to answer your question, I was told that if after the time period they hadn't healed properly then I would be put in for surgery. So you should be alright!

[Madaya]

I sometimes feel lucky, in that I have rolled my ankles many a time as a kid or young bloke (now 50). Mostly through soccer, would put me off my game for a couple of weeks, sometimes had to press the clutch with my right foot.
Now that I'm older I have to be conscious of not rolling my ankle, which can be difficult after a few bevvies.
All the best mate, follow doctors orders and you should be right. Worse things happen at sea.
Cheers.

[LG17]

How about 5 and a half years and still ongoing for crush injuries to a foot!

[Thornie]

Originally Posted by LG17

How about 5 and a half years and still ongoing for crush injuries to a foot!

Sounds a bit like my brother in law, close to 7 years now when the man cage he was in failed and he rode it to the ground landing feet first almost turned the insides of his feet to pulp.

[OzJavelin]

Ouch .. No thanks. At least it's a story to tell .. Missing a step isn't really exciting.

Anyway, I'm just asking about peoples experiences with tendon repair after long periods of time ..

[marcyeo]

Where is the fracture, as in what bone is broken and what ligaments are disrupted mate?

[2011G6E]

Feet are a bastard when it comes to broken bones...there are lots of bones, and most of them bear enormous stresses, even when you are trying to be careful. And, they take a long time to heal properly.

Hope everything comes out OK for you...

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by marcyeo

Where is the fracture, as in what bone is broken and what ligaments are disrupted mate?

The original fracture was the calcaneus where a tendon joined (i think). Don't know where the new one is. The second X-ray speculated the anterior tibiolibular ligament was damaged .. But I don't have the results from the ultrasound nor third X-ray. I'm expected to travel for work tomorrow but DR want me to meet him face to face to discuss ... Again ...

I'm wondering how long can this type of damage to uncorrected and still have successful surgery?

[FGII-XR6]

tore ligaments in my ankle when I was 14 still gives me trouble (I'm 53) was told torn ligaments are worse than a break in the long term

[redxm]

Mate, that sucks.
All Ive managed to do so far is 3 broken bones. Little toe, 1 rib, and the worst of the lot my tail bone. There aint nuffin you can do about that one, just ride it out....

Dont be afraid of a second opinion, but I suspect you've already been there..????????

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

tore ligaments in my ankle when I was 14 still gives me trouble (I'm 53) was told torn ligaments are worse than a break in the long term

At least I got 43 years living without the injury .. You've lived with it for 39 years ..

I'm lucky that I'm not a particularly active (eg sport, etc) person .. However its starting to make me think of some life choices. I've got three cars in the shed and six motorbikes .. All in various states of repair. I'm wondering if it might be a time to clean out , by a GOOD car and a couple of GOOD bikes that I don't need to keep working on. I'll see that the prognosis is and decide if I'm going to change from an enthusiast to just a driver/rider?

[pottery beige]

lop it off.. wooden leg and plastic parrot.. always win dressup parties as a pirate... arrrrrrrrghhhh...

[BOOSTEDGAZ]

Speaking from experience here. Cut tendons in hand. Mis diagnosed until 7 weeks later.
Basically comes down to luck a little. Generally speaking they will shrink back but it depends on the type of tear. They run through a lining (hollow tube) so quite often will tangle in the lining and then the surgeon can grab them and reattach them. If they have shrunk back and this can't be done then they will go with 2-3 operations. One to cut back the tendon / ligament ,lining and put in a new man made one and then allow this to heal. Then they will remove a tendon from your leg. apparently there is a tendon in your lower leg which serves no real purpose so they remove a section from it and then they will graft this onto your damaged tendon / ligament run it though the new lining which will have healed in and attach it. Obviousy alot more in depth and with longer recovery time and effectively 2 wounds to heal up intstead and 2 - 3 surgeries to go through.
Hope yours work out like mine and it is tangled in the lining and can be easily reattached. Although you can still look forward to a long recovery period and alot of physio etc

[Feathers]

I've torn all the ligaments in both ankles, and was told to "enjoy the arthritis", as they don't heal themselves.
Had physio on my right ankle after I damaged it, and I now have almost full movement in it, but the left one that I damaged at 8 or so years old only has limited movement. You wouldn't notice during day to day activities. I can run normally, but rowing is out for me, as I have to turn my left knee out to push off.

My biggest issue was on holiday in Hawaii. I cannot walk for long periods in thongs, and even the shoes I did take with me were not supportive enough around the ankle to help. I ended up having to buy a pair of runners over there, and pretty much lived in them unless we were going to the beach.

[OzJavelin]

That's basically what I found as-is at the moment. I can actually walk with the right shoes. Bare feet on the tiled floor kills me ..

[mik]

no fun with ankle injury, i fell through an extendible trailer some years ago, broke my ankle pretty good, it made 2 noises like a crisp carrot breaking :(, now have a plate and bunch of screws holding it together, my ankle muscle/tendon where weak as water afterwards, rehab had me doing exercises ,one was standing on a round board a bit bigger than a hookey board with a like a soft ball shaped thing under it , and the exercise was to roll it around, stay balanced on it for x amount of time on a daily basis, wear good shoes when it comes good, rolling that ankle......not good.

[marcyeo]

Mate the calcaneus is a terrible bone to break, and can take more than 2 months just to heal, then a further 3-4 to settle down.
It certainly is likely you may have done your anterior tib-fib ligament, this is the most common ligament to rupture when you twist your ankle, the next most common is the calcaneo-fibular ligament.
Either way ligaments generally take longer than fractures to heal, but if you're continuing to have instability in your ankle we do fix these ligaments sometimes. I won't comment on the calcaneal fracture without seeing x-rays.
I reckon as frustrating as it is, you need more time unfortunately...

[OzJavelin]

Long story even longer .. DR couldn't get any info from a SURGEON about what I should be doing short/long term .. But a get a call from him 4pm Friday afternoon telling me to go to A&E and have them "restrain" my foot (eg plaster). In the meantime he's left and won't be back until monday.

I have no idea what to do and in a panic end up and A&E and give them this story. The nurse, the doctor, and orthopedic guy and a physio all listen to this and look at my X-ray, ultrasound and report .. And they come up with:

1. The fracture found on the second X-ray is old and doesn't need to be cast.
2. The ligament damage can be "worked around" by physio.

They didn't plaster is and wanted me to continue with gentle exercises and walking.

Now I'm really confused. One guy says don't walk on it .. Don't even move on it. The others tell me to just keep going along until I can get into physio????

I'm hedging bets and still using crutches for any distance, but using the foot for limited stuff.

Unfortunately in training in Melb CBD all next week, so I won't haVe time to follow up all this .. Hopefully some consensus will eventuate.

[FGII-XR6]

I'm sorry to tell you it doesn't get any better. I'll be walking along everything fine and my left ankle will just give out on me with no warning, one thing though I have learned how to fall without serious injury .

Originally Posted by Feathers

I've torn all the ligaments in both ankles, and was told to "enjoy the arthritis", as they don't heal themselves.
Had physio on my right ankle after I damaged it, and I now have almost full movement in it, but the left one that I damaged at 8 or so years old only has limited movement. You wouldn't notice during day to day activities. I can run normally, but rowing is out for me, as I have to turn my left knee out to push off.

My biggest issue was on holiday in Hawaii. I cannot walk for long periods in thongs, and even the shoes I did take with me were not supportive enough around the ankle to help. I ended up having to buy a pair of runners over there, and pretty much lived in them unless we were going to the beach.

[gtfpv]

the old foot injury hey . i'm 43 years old , when i was 15 i got my foot caught in a motor bike wheel which threw me off the bike , i had xrays abd it showed no break . my foot swelled up to the size of a football , took 4 weeks before i could walk on it , ad then for the next 25 years it would just give way when walking and i'd fall rolling it and the pain would be like id broken it , but 1 minute later was completely gone . i dont fall any more and there is no pain . i must of done a ligament back then ,
DONT SWEAT IT , I THINK you will be ok with or without surgery , but a long recovery .
my daughter about 2 years ago twisted her ankle , today she cannot move her foot around without it clicking . it doesnt worry here , she can run walk and play tennis . but the pain i have just knowing that , i cant bare it .
i do know quite a few people that roll thier ankle and fall to the ground all the time, you find out theyve all got it from a previous foot injury . it seems very common .
but get to the bottom of it mate .

[Feathers]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

I'm sorry to tell you it doesn't get any better. I'll be walking along everything fine and my left ankle will just give out on me with no warning, one thing though I have learned how to fall without serious injury .

Yeah, I've mastered the art of rolling my ankles while walking in bare feet on perfectly flat surfaces.
Most of the time I can save it before going over on it completely.

In Hawaii, I was in almost constant pain. Couldn't keep up with my "friends", which they later told people was me deliberately not being part of things.

I remember one day, where it felt like all along the top of my foot, from my little toe back was on fire. I just wanted to fall to the ground and cry, and the others couldn't care less.

The incident that did my right ankle in, happened on holiday in Narooma at 11pm on a Friday night. Dad was the one who made it happen by poking me in the ribs. He saw me sprawled on the gravel driveway, with my foot facing the wrong direction (I fell diagonally, so it went over, and then under), laughed, asked if I was alright (to which I said NO), and walked into the other cabin to eat his dinner.

30 minutes later, someone else realised they hadn't seen me in awhile, Dad explained what happened, then it dawned on him that I'd been serious when I said I wasn't OK. Everyone came out to find me, still in the same position I'd landed in.

Luckily we had a registered nurse with us, and she set about cleaning the gravel out of the side of my foot, bandaging it up and getting an ice pack.

Off into town the next day, to find the GP only worked weekends by appointment, and wasn't in.
Had to hop across a servo, up the sloping drive to the ambulance station.
The guys said that they'd only even seen that level of damage in netball and soccer injuries, and I'd done a thorough job of it.

Lucky I was with a bunch of people in wheelchairs as a helper, and they had a spare, so that's how I spent the rest of my beach holiday.

[marcyeo]

From your story and my experience (I'm an Orthopaedic doctor in Townsville) I would get going on it, putting it in plaster wouldn't help at all, and definitely some physio will help retrain the ligaments.

[cobramania]

Oz, I did the exact same thing as you, missed a step & rolled my left ankle bad, 4 weeks before last Christmas, while helping a mate out at work, (not employed by him so no compo). After getting up off the ground about 15 mins later, I stayed at work & walked around tentatively & in pain for a few hours, before going to the A&E, (I had basketball style work boots on, so had good ankle support at the time).

Had X-ray, no breaks, but ligament damage. I was told to stay off it for 48 hours using R.I.C.E. Treatment, then use it as much as possible. Should repair itself in 7-8 weeks.
I couldn't walk on it without using a walking stick for 2 weeks, & was still hobbling around on Christmas day.

Just after New Years I twisted around in bare feet & strained it again, went & got another X-ray, still no break. I was put into intensive physio program 3 days per week for 5 weeks.

The first week was physio to help repair & get the swelling down. The next 4 weeks were to strengthen the ankle, apparently this is very very important, otherwise the ankle will be weak for the rest of your life, & you'll roll it again very easily.
3 months later almost to the day, I now have full use back in it, with very slight pain if I stretch it to the limits.
Within another 6 weeks I expect to have no more pain, with full use & strength back, with no greater risk of damaging it again than if it never happened in the first place.

I'd be getting into physio. as soon as possible if I were you, the ligament will repair eventually, but if you don't get the strength back in the fibres, you're screwed.

[Deco28]

Did the same thing mate, rolled my ankle and broke my foot.

20 weeks to heal fully.

[cheap]

From my experience feet and ankles take the longest time to heal (with or without surgery).

You need to rest and keep weight off the foot, keep it in an elevated position, cold packs help too. I know it is very difficult to not walk, but you need to rest the foot. I broke my ankle and it took 3 months to heal before I could drive (even with surgery). And then almost 2 years before I could run freely. Once you're back on your feet (so to speak) physio will be a good idea and low stress exercise such as getting on the push bike will probably help.