Lisfranc Foot Fracture Stories - part 3

Hello...anyone with an older injury are you still out there?

How long were you off work after your surgery? And what kind of occupation did you go back to?

Hi! I was injured two and a half years ago. I was off work for about 6 months...went back to social service/health care field. I would be happy to answer any questions...for you and anyone else.

Yes, please share your experience. I just saw the Dr. yesterday and he says all looks good and is releasing me to 4-hour shifts for a couple of weeks and then to 8-hour shifts and then back to 12-hour shifts eventually. I am a hospital RN. I am 4 months post op tommorrow. How bad was your injury and how are you doing now? Thanks so much for sharing!

Okay...I injured my right foot by falling off the side of outdoor steps. I was holding a baby at the time and miraculously the baby didn't get a scrape or anything, but I didn't have an arm available to break my fall or anything. An ambulance was called, I was taken to the local ER, and then transferred to another city that had a foot specialist (Fort Dodge, IA). Apparently there are 5 joints in that area of the foot and I had dislocated all five of them by about two inches. It looked like the front of my foot was completely separate from the rest of it--and the doctor said it basically was, and if it wasn't for the skin holding it together it would have all come apart. I had surgery on my foot right away once I got the the bigger hospital. The doctor realigned my foot and inserted 5 pins (the tops of them stuck out of the top of my foot). I was bound to a wheelchair for 3 months--couldn't even do crutches as the doctor wanted to make sure that there would not be ANY pressure of my foot. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun time. During this time, I did not have a cast at all, just gauze and ace wrap. The latter part of the three months, I was allowed to get my foot wet and chance the gauze by myself--which was tricky because I had to cut the gauze to go in between the five pin heads sticking out of my foot. During this time, I also had an infection in my foot which were VERY painful. At the end of the three months, the doctor pulled the pins out. I was told to put weight on my foot as tolerated, and given a camboot to wear. However, I got another infection and couldn't put weight on my foot for another two weeks until that cleared up. I then started to put weight on it as tolerated, which wasn't much as first. I have to say that I didn't wear the camboot more than once because it was uncomfortable. Luckily I don't think it hindered my progress. I did physical therapy and started to be able to walk on my foot more. Three months after the pins were taken out, the doctor released me to work. I still had pain which dissipated over time, but never completely (not even now as I write this). It was really weird because then I got what I call "sharp burny stabby pains" in my foot...went back to the doctor...he said it was nerve damage and if it didn't go away I would need another surgery. Thankfully it did after about 2 months. Its now one an a half years after I injured my foot. I have scars, have a hard time still walking on uneven surfaces, such as grass or sand. I also feel pain in my foot when I am walking uphill and my foot is at the angle. Someday it doesn't hurt much, someday are bad days. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worse, I would rate my average daily pain at about a 2. I was told by doctors that it could take upwards of 5 years for the injury to actually heal completely, and I never may be completely pain free. I don't know the degree of your injury, but my doctor said that my injury was the worst he had seen in his career. I have much thanks for Dr. Dayton, who performed my surgery.

Thanks for your reply. I fell about 4 feet off a ladder while staining the kids' playset. I dislocated all of my joints also and fractured the 1st and 2nd metatarsals. My doctor rated my injury at a 17 on a scale of 1-10!! I had surgery 2 1/2 weeks later when the swelling went down. I had a plate and screws placed. The doctor says they will stay in place unless they cause pain. So far so good. I am 4 months post op and the foot feels stiff but I do have pretty good range of motion and I am able to walk in New Balance running shoes with the industrial Superfeet inserts to support the arch. I can't believe how serious this injury is and how easily a person can hurt themselves like this! I wish there were more positive comments out there about the prognosis. Reading all the negative info sure is depressing! You seem to be doing quite well compared to many others. Are you able to wear anything but laceup tennis shoes? I sure miss going barefoot most of the time but as long as I can walk, I am grateful!

I have the new balance shoes too, with arch support (special inserts). I can go barefoot around the house, but not on uneven surfaces at all. However, it frustrates me that I can't wear dress shoes, or flats, or my favorite "go out boots" with chunky heals. If I wear shoes, the only I can wear are the New Balance ones. Sounds like our injuries are a pretty similar....all the joints being dislocated, both of our injuries being very severe. The steps I fell off of were about 5 feet high. I credit my outcome to the ER doctor who diagnosed me, the fact that I had immediate surgery, and the doctor that did the surgery. Ah, I forgot to tell you too, my foot still remains swollen to this day.

Is your foot swollen all the time or only after being up and on it? My swells on the outside after being on it for awhile. When I get up in the morning it isn't swollen at all and other than the scars it looks like a normal foot. Are you able to do most things that you did prior to your injury or are you thinking about the foot all the time? Are you working fulltime? I hear so many people complain of arthritis...have you been lucky enough to not have that problem? Thanks so much for answering my questions!

Terri

Hi all.

I think I can offically say I've read every post about lisfranc injuries on this site. And it has been very useful. I felt i should contribute to this valuable resource for other suffers. Especially since i haven't read about a situation close to mine. I was 20 when my injury happened, it was a car accident and i was an active dancer and lighting tech before hand. The injury rewined my life and it wasn't even my fault (i was a passenger).

In Sep 07 I was a passenger in a serious car accident. My left foot was crushed in the foot well of the van which cause serious damage. I have punctures and fractures and totally ruptured ligaments. My foot was crushed in a pointed position. And I was diagnosed a month later with a lisfranc fracture. My midfoot bones were splayed when my foot was crushed. To get this diagnosis I had to go through a crappy hospital who sent me home the next day, 2 useless GP's who just wanted to dress the external wounds, and a crappy specialist. I forced the second GP to refer me to an ortho, and the one I went to was pushing surgery. He would say why or back it up, he just wanted me out of his office and under the knife. So I found another who would talk to me like he should. My whole family are involved in science, so we can understand a more complex explination.

The new doctor decided it was too late to do micro surgery to fix the ligaments and muscles, and that the fractures would heal themselves. With the lisfranc he decided the gap was boarder line, but after consulting other ortho foot specialists he decided screws were not needed now. So I sat through 3 months of non weight bearing. This was with a simple soft ankle brace. Too much tissue damage for a cast or boot. My foot was a mess, so I wasn't inclined to go anywhere. After 3 months it took me around a month to get back walking fairly normal. I even started dance again and entered a salsa comp. However 9 months after the crash it started to hurt a lot more again. My ankle always gave me trouble, but it was manageable. But now my midfoot was giving me grief. I tried acupuncture and after a MRI we found arthritis and more odema, ontop of the old injuries.

So I had a cortozone injection at the arthritis site. It was magic. Till my doctor said a fusion would fix the problem. He said that I was very young at 21 for the procedure, but he would do it if the benefits would be worth it. He warned that a fusion will put stress on nearby joints, which may result in furture fusions. But I need my life back and if that's the only option so be it. I can't do my profession, or complete Uni or dance which is my passion. And due to my year of sluggish downtime I put on weight. Which I was keen to get rid of. So last Fri I had 3 screws to join my cunieforms, and a bone fusion to join the inner two. (bone from below my knee). I'm in bed currently feeling sorry for myself. From reading these forums I gong like my chances, but I'm trying to think positive. I'm happy to answer any questions, or to receive info on my road ahead.

Thanks in advance.

My foot is swollen all the time--morning to night---but more so after I have been on it a lot. I do work full time now. I went back to work part time 6 months after the initial injury, and was full time status a month after that. Luckily, my boss was very nice about me limiting standing time and doing other activities as needed. I do have pain and my foot is always in the back of my mind (haha)...but I am able to do most activities.

Thanks so much for answering my questions.

LisaDancer hang in there. This is such a terrible injury. I never knew what a LisFranc fracture/dislocation was prior to this happening to me.

Let us know how you are recovering and keep dreaming of dancing...you will be dancing before you know it!

I forgot to ask if you noticed improvement over time? I have a mild limp now and my OS said it could take up to a year to go away. I'm not limping because of pain but I think maybe due to weakness or because my foot bends a little different. Very frustrating... but I know I just need to be patient. It would be easier to be patient though if I knew I would fully recover or come close to it! It's hard to believe your life can change in a split second! I am able to walk pretty comfortably barefoot in the house the last couple of nights. I was too chicken to try it much before because I figured I needed my shoes for support...but I believe walking barefoot might even help strengthen the foot muscles.

Yeah, I did improve over time. I think physical therapy helped me with a lot of that. Like you said, the foot gets very weak. It takes a while for that and the ankle to get stronger again.

I had a nasty foot crush injury, including a lisfranc fracture/dislocation, almost two years ago followed immediately by surgery/cast/crutches . I was treated by a very conservative surgeon who used lots of Kirschner wires to keep the bones aligned and kept me immobile with the foot elevated in hospital for 4 weeks (some of that was because I needed a skin graft as well) . I was then home in a cast for another 8 weeks. The result was a lot of muscle wastage and stiffness once the cast came off but I had excellent healing in the fractures (9 of them) and have had no trouble with joints redislocating or similar nasties. I don’t think anything in particular was done to treat the soft-tissue trauma.

After a pretty tedious rehab process the results have been very good. The foot will never be as good as the other one and is always a bit stiff in the morning but from a functional point of view I’m very pleased. I can walk, run, play silly games (ultimate Frisbee), have taken up Salsa dancing, do lots of sailing. None of them particularly well but then, they weren’t too good before the injury either! The foot does look a bit odd – the big toe is shorter as it got jammed back into the foot and there is a good size bulge on one side of new bone tissue. Oh, and its pretty flat as the arches all got flattened. So no beauty but it works pretty well. It fits into normal footwear though I wear an arch support when wearing shoes these days, just to offer some additional support.

My advice to any new sufferers from this injury is
1) Be good - do what the therapists say.
2) Persevere – pain is inevitable but try to recognize the difference between ‘good pain’ which comes from getting things moving again and ‘bad pain’ which is a warning of reinjury.
3) Keep pushing the boundaries, don’t stay in your comfort zone too long. Experiment with different movement and exercises. Keep reminding the foot what is has to learn how to do again!
4) Try to avoid developing bad habits early on, such as limping or a bad gait. Better to move slowly than badly.

And my personal special – take your dog for a walk on the beach every morning. He’ll be happy and beaches offer a great variety of sand, rocks, and water to help get the foot moving again.

Finally, while you’re working on reaching the level you want, be happy with what you’ve achieved so far.

Thanks for sharing your inspiring story! You give me lots of hope. As I am walking around the house barefoot now (I wouldn't have even thought about that a month ago!)...I realize that I am getting better. I just have to think back a month ago and remind myself that I'm doing more than I was doing then! Were you able to go back to your previous occupation?

Have any readers had the ORIF procedure with the Arthrx mini tightrope instead of screws?

I've had excellent results with this method (May 2008 Surgery) and would like to compare my progress wth others who received this treatment.

If your injury requires surgery and this option has not been presented to you, it is worth looking at.......

Thanks :-)