Posted on 01/25/2019 7:19:47 AM PST by Tennessee Conservative
I seldom post and never post vanities but I'm desperate. In November I fell and twisted my foot under me. The foot swelled but swelling was minimal a week later. A month later I went to the Podiatrist for x-rays because I thought it should be 100% by then. Nothing was broken but he said I had torn all of the ligaments and tendons in my foot and ankle. He told me then that exercise would aid with healing but DO NOT fall on it again and if it hurts stop doing whatever was causing the pain. I have been using a cane when necessary and wearing an orthopedic boot outside on unlevel ground on his advice. Except for the first two weeks there has been very little pain, except when I try to put a regular shoe on, so I don't. It's mostly just extremely tired at the end of the day.
At two months I called and asked why this foot was still swelling some and I couldn't walk normally by now. He said that it could take up to six months to heal.
At three months post injury I'm still wearing hiking sandals with firm soles because it still hurts to flex the joint behind the big toe, not as much but painful enough that I don't want to do it. I walk better but I have a slight limp because I can't flex the toe area without pain and I walk slowly. I can't get a regular shoe on. I tried yesterday and after the pain subsided the toe swelled. The foot randomly swells in random areas. It's minimal and wouldn't be noticed unless compared to the other foot. It's also still slightly blue. It's never swollen in the morning. Sometimes it doesn't swell until after lunch. Sometimes it swells immediately. There is not much pain, just swelling in different areas of the foot and inflexibility in the joint behind the toe.
He said I could ride the stationary bike as long as the pain was "tolerable" so I have been doing that. It doesn't hurt unless I raise the resistance and even then the pain is minimal. He said I could even get the road bike out as long as it didn't hurt but I'm afraid to try that right now. He said pedaling a bike would aid with healing as long as I don't crash.
He said I could use muscle heating rubs on it but they make the swelling worse. Ice makes the swelling less. I walked all over the Wal-Mart super-center yesterday and had minimal swelling. Today I haven't done much and the swelling is worse than yesterday. Socks, even loose ones, make it swell more. I have to wear the hiking sandals without socks and it's freezing outside. The stationary bike doesn't cause swelling.
I need advice and encouragement from Freepers that have gone through this. When I complained about it not healing fast the doctor laughed and said a break would have healed faster.
I am very discouraged because I'm an outdoor person and sitting around is driving me nuts and causing me to worry about the fate of the foot.
OUCH! Thats some Cankle you got there!!
This was my wife’s foot when sever sprained the ligaments a few years ago. She was in a walking boot 3-4 months and not completely healed for year. The color was actually much worse than the picture shows. Showed this to my volleyball ref friends and they had never seen one worse.
Breaking your ankle will heal up quicker that tearing all of your ligaments and tendons. It could take 6 month or longer, depending on how bad it is and how much you take care of it versus use it too much before it's ready.
You're injured, not diseased. Count that as a plus.
Do you elevate your feet whenever you are not walking? Put them above your heart when seated, if possible, for the swelling to abate some.
Changes in the barometric pressure can cause pain in a injury. Weather fronts moving into your area, for instance.
Two years ago, I was out in one of the pastures on our farm, chain-sawing a big oak limb that had fallen on the fence in a storm into smaller pieces to haul away. Everything was going fine until one of the pieces I was cutting off, fell and landed like a battering ram right on the top of the arch of my foot. It hit so hard, it knocked me to the ground and I lost consciousness for a few moments.
When I came to, the pain was so severe, I cried. It took me quite a while to get up off the ground and when I did, I couldn't put any weight on the foot without thinking I was going to pass out again. I obviously could not walk. My wife was out of town on a trip so I literally had to crawl a quarter of a mile back to the house. It took me almost an hour to make that short distance with so much pain. When I finally got there, I didn't come outside for four days. Nothing I did helped but soaking the foot in a bucket of ice and water.
The foot swelled to twice it's normal size and turned a god-awful ugly black, purple and blue color. Throbbed all the time. I couldn't sleep. It was so sensitive, just touching the foot was painful. I was, in short, a real mess.
My wife finally came home from her trip and she drove me to the VA to have it checked out. I thought for sure I had broken some bones. But the x-rays said differently. No breaks.
I asked my doctor how bad it was. She said it was severe trauma and that I was lucky to be alive. I asked, "How's that?" She said that if the three foot section of the 6" branch had hit me in the head instead of my foot, I'd be dead.
That was two years ago. it's only been in the last six months or so that I don't feel any pain in the foot. Except when the weather changes and the barometer drops. Then it seems to throb for a day or two.
Keep the foot iced when possible, elevated when you're not up and about and expect a long recovery. Like I said, tearing your ligament and tendons is much worse that a clean break. But eventually the foot will get better. Just don't rush it.
When I say I feel for you, I literally mean it. Good luck to you.
I know. LOL My ankles are normally teeny tiny so this was really bad for me. The fact that the swelling went out so fast led me to believe it wasn't as bad as it looked but when I still had trouble walking after a month I decided to have it looked at and have x-rays. I only weigh 120 pounds and that's probably why it didn't break. We took the three little house dogs to the day I fell. I was bent over taking the leashes off of my two girls and my husband was behind me with my daughter's little male (my girl's brother). He ran full blast at me from behind and knocked me over while I was still bent over. I don't normally fall easily. My girls know not to jump on people but he was never taught. I try to teach him not to do that when I keep him through the week but if they don't reinforce it when he's at home he will not learn.
When I clicked it I got my OneDrive page instead of yours. Mine weren’t severed, just torn and bruised, so I can only imagine how bad your wife’s was.
Thanks for the input. It helps me not be so depressed to know that others have gone through this and worse and healed, in time.
Thanks so much for the story! This is why I posted. Your ordeal was so bad that I’m ashamed of myself. LOL
I’m 64 but I’m extremely active and I’m only 120 pounds. It’s rare for me to sprain an ankle or anything else because of my leg strength. I ride a mountain bike on gravel/dirt trails in the mountains 20 miles at a time. My size is probably the main reason nothing was broken. My daughter has broken one foot three times and she said the time she tore ligaments with the break was worse that the other two breaks combined. I guess that’s why my doctor laughed when I was relieved it wasn’t broken. He laughed and said breaking it would have been better.
I keep bees and get stung fairly regular. Getting stung on the fingers or boney parts of your head swell like crazy and look horrendous. Part of why your boney ankles swell excessively. When you swell up on a meaty spot the ugliness goes in and you dont see it as much. Same amount of swelling but you can ignore it easier.
I would see an orthopedic surgeon and dump the podiatrist. I have gone through torn ligaments on some of my toes and if they are torn and not repaired you will just wind up with scar tissue and it will never be normal. Too late for surgery for me I did not know any better.
Do you take blood thinners?
Yeah me too, farm girl.
It’s so difficult to wait years to heal.
I still can’t bend my pointer finger all the way to my palm.
But the swollen hand is better, can see the bones again.
Cellular level damage like mine just had to heal on its own.
I get stiffness if I use my chainsaw too much in one day.
Or any other lifting activity with that hand.
Sorry you’re injured.
May God Bless you with total recovery.
Do you smoke? Are you diabetic?
Either can seriously slow down healing.
I don't, no.
Did you intend the question for someone else?
Nope, don’t smoke, don’t drink, and not diabetic. I’m extremely healthy and fit. I think that’s why this is depressing me so much. I’m not a couch potato and it makes me feel like a caged animal. I don’t sleep well if I don’t wear myself out during the day. Extreme exercise is what I’m used to.
That’s a random hijack.
But, I’ve had the same thing going on for about 6 weeks. Tired as hell, too.
At your age, 64, I had a quadruple bypass and valve repair open heart surgery. Died in intensive care two days later but was miraculously revived after they cut my chest opened again and hand-massaged my heart beating back to normal sinus rhythm. I spent five weeks in the hospital instead of the usual 5 days after heart surgery. It took me over three years to recover from that.
I'm fit again and like I said, I work on a farm and am very active. But being in shape is no guarantee against injury. I liken getting older as being permanently injured. The aches and pains never go away.
You're best to accept that you're getting older. So enjoy your bike rides but don't push it so hard. At your age, it won't add any years to your life anyway. Fate has already set the date for your demise. Trying to exercise your way out of it is futile at this juncture. :-)
If you tore your ligaments, get a second opinion...
My guess is you need ortho surgery... and your doctor is a quack
Check with your primary care doctor...
No....for you.
I assume your dizziness is for real and mot a joke that went over my head.
Because the combination of spinach and blood thinners can kill you.
It’s a long story but now when someone tells me they’re dizzy, I question about blood thinners.
Which I have been wrestling with for almost two years now.
Dizziness is awful.
I appreciate your concern.
But I was in fact responding to another freeper who was jesting, I believe, about how everything the last few weeks seemed blurry and tumultuous to him...I assumed that he was speaking metaphorically about the state of the country.
Sorry if I misled you...again I’m grateful for your checking in.
The strained and pulled tendons and ligaments don’t care how fit and active you are. It’s still going to take the same amount of time to heal.
Being fir may help with the pain compared with being overweight, but that’s about it.
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