Is full recovery possibe from a lisfranc fracture?

That's cool.I had subtle lisfranc ligament tear missdiagnosed and then surgery exactly 5 months post injury, closed reduction internal fixation percutaneously with 2 screws (CRIF).Now I am nearly 6 months post surgery and I can't run, jump or raise myself on tip toe unlike the good foot..My doctor wants to let the screws in permanently but I don't agree, it gives me too much stiffness.I am going to keep them in for another 8-9 months to increase the chances of a succesful outcome.I already spoke to a friend of mine from the childhood who is working as ortho in Germany about the ligament reconstruction using gracilis autologus.I don't think arthrodesis is something desirable because at the moment I can't walk for more than 1 mile.The lack of motion caused by the screws gives my pain in the back of the heel after relative long walking.That wasn't the case before surgery.I was able to walk freely unlimited distance at 3.5 months post injury.The injury was caused at work by stepping on a dodgy high raised floor tile.No time to flex the knee, landing straight on the forefoot.

It seems that the internet is lacking in stories of delayed lisfranc ORIF results. I am very interested in hearing those type of story.There was a guy on there "newfootneeded" or something like that, who had one screw inserted at 4-5 months post injury and it seem to be fine, he never came back on here to let us know how thinks goes.My life is sh*t now, I am not a vulture anymore, I am a domestic yard chicken living around the house.

Criss78

Hey guys, i like reading some positives as most posts these days have pure negativity and just kills your hope. I injured my foot last july by the end of the month while trampolining. and no i m not that weak :P my foot got caught on the edge as i was jumping and ended up injuring itself. at first i thought it was a sprain , no pain unless i try to walk on it. by the next day it was the size of a sweet potato so i ended up going to the ER to get it checked only to find that i had a lisfranc injury and that i needed surgery the week after. so they gave me crutches and put me in a cast for a week until my surgery. the following week i had my surgery and was put on pain killers and luckily i slept through the operation and didnt feel any pain nor did i feel anything at all in terms of pain . i just had midl discomfort the day after the surgery and my cast was annoying but after that i was fine. i stayed in the cast for 2 weeks then was put in an aircast (boot) for the next 2.5 months with no weight bearing for that entire time. after 3 months post op i started physio and weight bearing on the heel only and bit by bit i started full bearing. (i kinda went into alot of details so ill speed it up now). its 7 months now post op. im walking fine i feel great i go to the gym but i still have the 4 screws in my foot and they do give me some discomfort after a long day and i still dont have full balance on my left foot . it hurts a but where the screws are. my surgeon told me it really makes no difference whether i remove the screws or not and that its fully up to me. im 31 and i love the outdoors and sports. i rock climb/snowboard/soccer/and much more. should remove the screws or should i keep them ??

Can you do heel raise on the tip toes with the single operated foot? Do you have stiffness in the morning?
Criss78

I am almost 6month since injury. I’m almost 80% healing. I can jogging. I’m non surgical

Hi Melissa - I had the lisfrac fracture a couple of years ago. My surgery went very well. Healing was slow as I'm sure you've been told. I was in a cast for 6-8 weeks, then a walking boot for another 4-6 weeks. Then, I was in physical therapy for a long time as I wanted to be able to do everything I did before. I was told that strengthening it to that level again would be painful, but possible. I did my exercises religiously as I was very motivated. However, while doing all the physical therapy, I broke 3 of my screws and had to have all my hardware taken out. This was a easy, outpatient surgery and quick recovery. I went back to Physical therapy and continued. I regained my strength and balance in the foot. I can wear high heels (within reasonable amount of time), go barefoot, play backyard vollyball, etc basically everything I did before with out pain. It took almost a full year to recover fully.
I did get arthritis almost immediately but it didn't hurt or effect me until recently -- and in part it was my own fault -- went to line dancing class with higher heels than I should have with all the bouncing and movement involved in the dances. Now I have to have the 1st TMT joint injected with steriods, but hopeful that my pain free and completely useful foot will return. Good Luck!!!

I too was after some positive posts in the early months there are a few but more negative. However to give a run down on my progress now a year out from my injury, hopefully I can help someone because I know how low you feel in the first months. Brief history I fell through a roof and landing on my foot not real high only 2.5 metres. Pain was severe but after a few hours if I didn't touch it was fine. Since this was work place accident I got into hospital and had surgery that night. I feel this was the big thing that helped the healing. Then I was 12 weeks in a cast then a boot for another 12 weeks had the 2 screws and 3 k pins out at 14 weeks. The surgeon was against fusion and to this day still tells me to avoid it for as long as possible even if arthritis sets in. I do know he has fused the feet of people where the injury was missed for several months. After 8 months I began to progress back to work slowly at first it was very painful to walk across a roof. It got easier over next two months now almost pain free across any surface as long as foot is warmed up. It is still stiff in the mornings but once I walk around a few minutes the stiffness goes away. It still is a lot different to other foot and no doubt always will be however I can walk as long as I want and be on the foot all day if required. The better the shoes the easier it is. I wear Asics with a ortho insert. I can walk bare foot now but that took a while to be able to do. I did lots of physio after the 4 month mark and that included walking in a pool that was the best thing it let me use all the little parts of the foot that you cant with 100% weight. I really am not too limited considering the severity of the injury. I broke the metatarsals on 5,4,3,2 and totally tore the lisfranc ligament from the bone. I am still working a single leg calf raises and know it is possible just not yet. Hope this helps someone it is a long road back but do the exercises and push the foot a bit more each day. You will be fine. I am 50 years old so age wasn't on my side just determination.

I suffered dislocation of all five bones across the lisfranc joint after a water skiing accident. I spent the week in hospital and then had surgery. I spent a long time on crutches and then a walking boot. I did not begin recovery until the hardware was removed about four months after the original injury. It still hurts 15 months after the originally injury. I can walk during the day but limp badly in the morning, especially in bare feet. At one point I could jog for maybe 2km once my foot was warmed up however I was later told to avoid this as the heavy impacts could encourage arthritis, which puts an end to the chance of playing most sports again such as rugby. The most I've achieved physically is a three day tramping/hunting trip in steep hills however my foot hurt a lot near the end. I am becoming more optimistic that I will become relatively pain free eventually however arthritis is obviously still a major concern. Funnily enough water skiing is one of the few things I can do without any pain.

I think it is important to note your condition as you go because it is easy to not notice progress as time goes by. I only really notice improvement when i think about how much easier it is to do things like play golf after a few months has passed.

I find myself in the same boat you are in. My lisfranc injury/ surgery was almost a year ago and I still have pain when I walk and my foot swells up at the end of every single day. I wish someone out there could just tell me whether this is normal or not.

Hello. I did mine in December and it's swollen like a balloon all of a sudden today. I haven't suffered any swelling like this since the main swelling eventually disappeared. I too am wondering whether it is normal.

I’m fully recovered!! I’m more active than before the injury. I ran my first marathon and triathlon. I ran 46 miles in a day at the Grand Canyon last week. I had a Lis franc injury about 5 years ago from a mountain bike accident. It was non displaced so I didn’t have surgery but was on a scooter for a few months. I still get occasional soreness and can feel how it changed my foot but I’ve put my put through so much hiking etc. since. Good luck to those that suffered this scary injury. I’ve broken bones and torn other muscles but this was definitely the worst. You can come back tho!

It seems that not all injuries are the same... I broke the cuboid and the bone behind the big toe.... my surgery was a year and half ago.... I waited 4 months to do any weight bearing ... I never had any pain during fracture or post surgery or during the therapy.... I was doing very well and then my big toe has started to give me problems... since it is missing a piece of bone it is shorter that before... and it has curled upwards it is stiff and creating all sorts of problems with the sesamoid bones and any shoe I try.... I have developed some pain at walking lately and will always have to use orthotics.... dont be discourage.... do put ice on your foot for 20 minutes as many times as necessary... this is what helps me the most... but I am afraid that this injury sometimes takes more than a year.. in my case.. I have other problems now... the big toe and rubbing against any and all shoes I have tried... I live alone and have no family so it is imperative for me to be able to walk.... and how about the ugliest shoes in the world I am now subjected to.... and even those are not doing the trick.... dont be discouraged..... I had surgery and three of my metatarsals were fused which makes the foot rather stiff...

Did they leave the hardware in your foot? YOu both sound like miracle people because most people are severely limited due to their screws rebraking and much pain and instability. I've never heard of anyone running again. Which bones and which foot? This was a Lisfranc?

no it does not get better!!

It's nearly 14 months since I had the surgery and I am much more optimistic than last time I posted on here. The screws are still in for another 3 months and I think the surgery will be succesful.My doctor thinks 95% it will be fine. At 1 year post surgery I showed him that I can lift myself on the tip-toe and maintain (but loose balance quickly) and I can even jump many times on the single operated foot. I still don"t like high impact activities such running or jumping, I get pain from the screws, also I can't run as fast as before, hopefully I can do it after screw removal.
For all of you scared of this injury my best advice is to keep the screws in for at least 1 year, better longer. First 6 months were pure uncertainty in my case, but then slowly I noticed a lil improvement. 8 months post surgery I tried running, I did roughly 150m, then walking then again running a little, walking and running again.The next day I had problems again with the injured keystone area and I am sure if no screws still in the surgery would have failed. It lasted 2 weeks to get back to the previous condition. At 10 months post surgery I've done again some vigorous calf raises on a special machine in the gym (while standing). and again I had problems the next day but not as bad as before. I was all right after 4 days. Now my foot is stronger , sweling 93-94% gone but I still have a dodgy shape of it and also fear of doing silly quick high impact moves. I am gonna post on here again after screw removal if all good. If no, I don't now...maybe cryin'?
Chriss78

I am now coming up on two years since my injury. At the start I was looking for answers to how much this injury would affect me after the Doctor told me I may never be able to walk on uneven ground again. I had many screws and wires in place they were pulled out after the 15 week mark. He didn't want me to break any as to recover I found its quickest to get the foot moving as much as possible. I have done all the hard work and really apart from a bit of pain after resting too long or in the morning I really don't notice too much difference. I can run on it but avoid it as too much high impact will cause it to move out of place or speed up arthritis. The top of the foot is raised more than the good foot but seems to be reducing as time goes by. Even after I hit the 18 month mark it was still improving and still is. Mine wasn't fused so still has normal range of motion. I guess the biggest tell sign of improvement came when I could do one legged calf raises. This was at the 11 month mark back then it was the little goals. I can now walk as far as I like and keep up with lucky people with no Lisfranc injuries. To those whom may of just acquired your special Lisfranc and reading the nightmare posts about the injury hang in there sit back and relax. Time will pass and soon you will forget until someone asks. Hows the foot?