Freibergs disease

I had 2 surgeries for freiberg's infracture so from my personal experience it did not work the second surgery was done by Dr. Deland from HSS in N.Y and I'm in the same amount of pain or more because my toe is now overlapping my third toe. I would strongly recommend that you try alternative treatments like homeopathy and hypnosis sometimes repressed emotions do aggravate the pain if you're tight in money I'd recommend your first try after getting an appropriate shoe should be to a licesned homeopath that could possibly help your body heal itself as much as it can. Again I say stay far away from surgeries   I'm suffering on a daily basis because of them and I don't want anyone else out there to go through this agony.

My 12 year old daughter was recently diagnosed with Freiberg's Infraction.  She has been a competitive dancer for 5 years now…not sure if perhaps the high impact jumps may have caused this but am extremely concerned about her living with this pain for years to come. Her Dr. has her in an air splint cast for 8 weeks and we are hoping for the best.  Is anyone aware of any alternative treatments for this disease?

Hi. I'm so sorry about your daughter! :( I have been in a walking boot since February 12. At my follow-up appointment on March 19, my x-rays showed some improvement, which was very encouraging. I have another follow up and more x-rays scheduled for April 23 and my podiatrist thinks, at that point, my foot may be ready to try orthotics. There is a local podiatrist that I have heard has a lot of success with his orthotics so I'm hoping for the best. It sounds like I would need to use them for the rest of my life but I would definitely prefer that over surgery. Best of luck to you and your daughter!

I was just told i have Freibergs  Infarction i am 70 years old.I am just  going to live with it.I had 2 operations in my life both of them made me worse than before the operations.Dont take the chance. 

Hi King-

I got diagnosed with Freibergs Infraction December 2011. My podiatrist put me in a walking boot and I was in one for a total of nine months. After that, it wasn't getting any better, so they put me in a hard cast with crutches for one month. The crutches (although a pain in the but) helped put the blood supply back in the area. But, from me being in the boot for so long I have extreme muscle atrophy and am now in physical therapy to make my foot better AND rebuild all the muscles in my right leg. My physical therapist told me I should have NEVER been in a walking boot for that long.

I would really like to email with someone back and forth for just support. I know no one with this disease. The closest person I can find is someone with arthritis in their hands. If anyone wants to talk about methods that have worked for you and worked for me, I would love to share ideas.

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Thanks.

I was put into a walking boot for about the same amount of time. They are NOT suppose to keep you in one for longer than 2 months max. Because of it, I now have to do physical therapy not only for my foot affected by freibergs infraction, but because of the extreme muscle atrophy that happened from the boot.

I have decided to stop seeing my podiatrist from here on out, because he completely doesn't know what he's doing and just follow what my physical therapist instructs me to do.

OTC medication does not help to relieve the pain in my foot. I'm perscribed vicodin but sometimes that doesn't cut the pain either.

I found a menthol foot spray from The Body Shop. It's about $6 for a bottle. If you don't have a Body Shop near you, they sell it online and usually has lots of good sales going on. You spray it on your foot and within 5 minutes it cools down the foot.

Hope that helps.

Hello! I can already tell how much weaker my left leg is than my right from being in the boot for almost two months. My second opinion doctor fitted me for orthotics so I plan on using those after my next appointment with my podiatrist (April 23). Even if he says my foot is still not ready, I think I'll try them at least sometimes because I'm scared to be in the boot for much longer because of the other issues that can happen. I hope your therapy works! Have you tried orthotics yet? I've heard that they work really well for some people so I'm praying they work for me. Good luck to you!

My physical therapist recommended me to not get orthotics because my right foot/leg is so much smaller because of the atrophe from the boot, that I need to build up the muscle/girth in my foot and leg before spending money on orthotics. I hope to get them soon though! After 7 month of physical therapy and working to rebuild muscles, my right leg is still not even close to being/looking the same as my left leg :(

I was prescribed orthotics and I'm hoping to be able to use them after my next appointment on 4/23. Your post made me so happy because unfortunately, I haven't heard of many success stories. :( I don't consider myself a "runner" but I have done three 1/2 marathons in the past and I love Zumba, kickboxing, yoga, etc., so this is very encouraging. It's been a long two months not being able to do any exercise but a stationary bike. :/ My nephew recently got some Mizuno running shoes and absolutely loves them too, so I will definitely be getting some! Thank you so much for your post! :)

Thanks for the shoe advice. I'm in my mid 30s and haven't been able to run in 6 months because of Freiberg's. I have orthotics ready to go, but want a different shoe also. Thanks for your suggestion.

My 14-yr-old son was diagnosed 5 months ago.  He spent 8 weeks not putting any weight on his right foot (using a scooter or crutches), but the x-ray didn't show huge improvement.  The doctor said he could resume activity (tennis team, biking, running), and now both feet really hurt.   The doctor said that all his other patients with it have been able to run marathons again, etc.  It doesn't look like that will be the case for my son (who really doesn't want me to call the doctor until the season is over), but I'm holding out some hope.  I read everyone's comments - surgery sounds hit or miss.  Have any of you been able to painlessly resume full activity?

My heart just breaks for so many of you who have struggled with this for years.  

Hi Sammy! Im Holly, I am 14 years old, and have been dancing since i was 3. About 4 months ago my foot just started hurting, i danced through it as any dancer would do but 2 months ago the pain got so bad i could barel walk on it. So i went to the doctor. We went through this whole process that took about a week of X rays and MRIs and making appointments until finally the MRI was sent to my doctor. He showed it to us and when he first saw it he said "WOAH!" nd when i asked him what he showed me that in my second and third metatarsal there was all this white stuff showing up around a little black line in the middle. He told me that all the white was swelling and that he had never seen this before. He read the report the MRI guy gave him and figured out it was freibergs. He gave me this big old boot that i have been wearing for 6 and a half weeks now! I hate it, i cant dance, and the pain is only just getting better (it stayed the same until about 2 weeks ago when i didnt feel as much pain anymore). Now i can walk on it without the boot and i feel nothing! but then when im sitting down it starts throbbing sometimes. Not rlly sure why :-/ So im meant to get out of the boot in 2 weeks but i cant wait!

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She said i HAD to wait at least 2 weeks then she will tell me if i can get out or not or she will take me to the doctor again. You said that if u stopped dancing and immobilized it it will seize up :-/ thats wierd cus my doctor said i had to immobilize it. Has anybody else gotten told this!?!? Thank you! Xx Holly

HI, jclausen....I do not have ? Friegurgs, however horrrible, prevented from walking, tired of wearing sneakers pain. Walking begins and ends In steps, not blocks. I use to walk ten miles a day until the pain became unforgiving. The worst part is, without doubt, the pain. I just don't understand, if I had terminal cancer my pain would be controlled but not for our foot pain. The second worse thing is the weight gain. Everyone says "go for a walk", etc. etc. I eat very little. My husband is no longer understanding, "oh, your just lazy!).
If I were you the first thing to do is get a couple more opinions and read about this. I want to tell you to hang in there but that is as stupid as saying I know how you feel when someone experiences a loss. No one knows how you feel but. So keep searching and do what your body tells you to do.

i was diagnosed with freiberg's when i was 12, i am now 18 and i am still in constant pain even though i was lucky enough to have my chipped bone removed and a new one grew back, it is deformed and always will be. my doctor has been very knowledgeable and say that it's not good to take a lot of pain meds for this disease nor will i ever be able to participate in sports again, if i did he said that i would be back to square one and all my progress would be lost. from my experience and the many doctors i have seen i have come to accept that there is no effective and safe surgery to help with this disease, this is something i will have to deal with my whole life and after 6 years the pain doesn't seem as bad as it used to. you just have to stay strong, it becomes part of everyday life. it's not something that you should push, getting back to sports and training as some people mentioned they were trying to do is a very bad idea. you need to give yourself a lot of time before that is even an option.