Lisfranc Foot Fracture Stories

Yes, PSU, I used a bone stim for a long time. First, my second doctor ordered one, trying conservative methods of treatment hoping to avoid surgery. While it may have helped then, I still had to have surgery. As soon as my foot fit back in the stimulator, I used it again. He had just two weeks before told me I could stop using it when I broke my foot again. Unfortunately, my 270 days on the silly thing had run out and the $4200 thing is just a useless piece of junk. While it is sometimes hard to remember to use it, I would have done so to hasten my current healing. Thankfully, surgery was not necessary this time. If you have read the many stories listed here, you might know that I sustained my first injury in Aug. 2006, had surgery this past June, and broke my same foot again in Oct. My healing is going well, and I might be out of my boot again in three weeks. At that time, it will be decided whether more therapy is indicated, which I fully expect. I was about two weeks from being finished.

Has anyone heard from HisGrace?

My foot got infected twice...once when the pins were still in and once when they were out. Its hell, but there is not much you can do to avoid it. Having the infection was almost worse than having surgery, it hurt soooo bad.

use trampoline very gently. standing on tramp, in corner, supporting yourself with hands on walls. traumatic to foot and dangerous, but is very good for helping internal foot structures with elasticities. crush injuries can and do cause internal structures injuries to tendons, ligaments, muscles, veins etc.... and they might be enmeshed/compacted, and the trampoline will traumatize these, and also perhaps cause/provoke bones to 'settle' into different positions. is dangerous, but may be miraculous as well.
My crushed foot was traumatized by trampoline, and caused sick torments, as ligaments suddenly loosed, and bones shifted, but was necessary, and was the 'miracle' thing. Also, vibrating massage gadgets might help to loosen bound up internal structures as well, but is dangerous for fragile foot injuries. hand massaging of foot gently useful.
sauna, or steam bath might help to loosen internal injured foot structures too. crushed foot is internally bound up, and needs loosing; and that is the main part of these injuries. internal scarrings may have occurred, and complicate this, and what they call 'contractures' might occur, but that word is not descriptive enough to describe all the convoluted internal mutilations arising from crushed foot injuries. my foot was 'enmeshed' internally. or, i mean the internal structures were enmeshed, and to attempt to loose them, was self-inflicting internal mutilations on my already internally mutilated foot. sick. torments.
*caution: extreme gentleness required if attempting to stand on trampoline. simply standing on trampoline was what i did at first, and then i started to try and jump, and that is how i got it so i might run again. first i did it on the trampoline, and then i was more able to do it on lands.
i would actually advise using trampoline first and not bother with torturing self by trying to 'walk' on a crushed foot that has not been looosed internally yet. foot needs to be loosed first, and then 'walking' might be attempted. but, hey, this is really sick stuff, you know, and I hate to lead people into sick c**p like this. try a faith healing, and it would be better to be miraculously healed, and avoid all this c**p. swimming helps, or just moving around in water at pool. eventually moving on to trying to lift some weights after much time.

Hi everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I go my cast off on the 19th. I am so happy. Just to have that foot free feels so wonderful. I am back in a walking boot now with only toe touch pressure. I have alot more pain now that I did before the cast was removed. It's not as bad as I thought it would be but it still hurts. The doctor said still to limit what I do and to stay off of it as much as possible. Thats kinda hard with 3 boys and Christmas!!
And I am just about to go crazy wanting to drive. I asked him about it and he just kinda ignored me. Then I told him I drove when it was broken why couldnt I drive now that it was fixed! hehehe! He laughed and said I was just too funny! So I'm guessing that the driving thing is a NO!
Anyhow, Merry Christmas to everyone and a very blessed New Year too. Musictch it was good to see you on here. I hope you have a great and glorious Christmas. And have you ever heard from Hizgrace?? Last I heard was she was expecting a new baby then pooof! She was gone! Please tell her Merry Christmas from me if you happen to hear from her.

Merry Christmas!!
Karen

Hi KarenM and everyone else,

I'm glad to see that someone is still checking in here. I haven't heard from HisGrace at all since she told us about the expected little one. I do wish we'd hear. I'm still praying for her.

I went back to my dr. today. I still have at least three more weeks in my boot. This has been a long year and a half, but I'm truly blessed. It could be so much worse. It is very hard at Christmas to try to shop, so there is nothing under our tree at present, although there are a few gifts to be wrapped. My husband and I were laughing this morning about what a strange Christmas season this has been, and after very little shopping today, it is getting stranger! Having to depend on someone to get my wheelchair out at the mall or WalMart has slowed me down. Small shops are okay, but only one at a time.

Karen, I do hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and that everything gets done that needs to be done. Hang in. It will get better. My grandkids decided we should make cookies this week so we now have three kinds --- more than I've made at Christmas for years. Have I paid for it? Yes, but so worth it to see these little ones so happy! Just give your precious little boys yourself and that will be worth more than earthly goods that you or anyone else could give them.

Well, I was finally taken off my crutches about 2 wks ago, and I am happy to say that things are finally starting to get back to normal. It's nice to have both hands back when walking! I had to move up 1 1/2 sizes in my shoe due to swelling, but my foot feels comfortable in the larger size, and it provides enough support that I don't really have any pain while walking now....I still limp a bit as I can't seem to remember what normal walking is, but at least there isn't any pain. When the shoe comes off, it's a different story, but I do feel my foot getting stronger every day. I am really excited by my progress as I questionned if this day would ever come. Things were going so slowly after I got my screw removed on 10/25, but then all of a sudden about one month later, I started to get my strength back, and they took me down to one crutch, and I found things started going much better. I still seem to have trouble crouching down though...I get alot of tightness at the top of calf and behind my knee, but I'm trying to slowly work on it. I really hope you all have a great holiday and continue to progress towards 100% healing. 5 + months was a very long road, but if I can do it, I think we all can. Good luck everyone and Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. And that everyone made it through it safe and sound.
I have a question concerning the pain after the cast is off. I am still having a great deal of pain on some days and not on others. My cast hasnt been off a full month yet and I feel like this pain is normal for this type of injury and the surgery I went through. My mother-in-law however feels differently and has chosen to say her feelings to my children instead of to me. She told my youngst (age 9) that she didnt believe that I sitll hurt and that I was just saying I was and that it had been 2 months since the surgery and I should be out of pain. This has really hurt my feelings and made me mad because she chose my son to say this to. Please someone tell me if it is normal to have pain after the cast is off. My doctor told me it would hurt and he doesnt have a problem with giving me the pain meds. Thank God I have the support of my wonderful husband. He is going up to his mothers tonite to have a talk with her about this. I was going to but he said he would handle it. And seeing how it is his mother I am going to let him.
Thanks all for your help and support with everything no matter how big or small.

Karen

I had surgery for my lisfranc fracture about five weeks ago. Had fractures in my first, second and third meta. Anyway I took the dressing off last night and am looking at my foot this morning and see that it's awfully darker than my other foot. Also when I touch it is it feels real numb. I can fell the sensation of my skin being touched but it feels numb almost like novacane numb under my skin. I have this feeling on my whole foot and it goes up all the way up past my ankle. Anyone else experience this problem.

Hi All!

First, Karen. Shame on your mother-in-law! What my doctor told me when I felt like I should no longer be hurting was that I had gone through a "reconstruction" surgery and slow progress was to be expected because your feet bear all of one's weight. My surgery was last June and I was still having days when my foot hurt back in Oct. when I broke it again. Now my four mets are again almost healed and I'll hopefully get back out of the boot in a few weeks and start rehab again and try matching shoes. Please feel free to share this with your mother-in-law. Unless she has gone through it with the severity that you have, she has no room to talk. Even hip replacement recovery goes faster than this surgery.

Tide88, I think the numbness is rather normal and you are not that far removed from surgery. Ask your doctor lots and lots of questions. You deserve answers to every question you have, and if he or she is unwilling to answer, then you may need to seek answers from another doctor. Please don't panic yet, though, and just work on your recovery. Hopefully, you will be getting therapy. I'm many months from surgery and still have some numbness which seems to come and go.

To All, weather can affect your injured foot. A big storm is currently hitting the S. CA area and my foot has been bothering me for a few days. This is more than the normal day in, day out low pain that seems to be around a lot of the time. Also, as your foot heals, you may experience pain in different areas as you use it more.

Happy New Year and Happy Healing to all!

Karen: I definitely agree that feeling pain is normal. This lisfranc injury is a VERY serious injury, and people who haven't had to deal with the recovery from this have no idea what we have had to go through. I am about 6 months post injury right now, and I am finally feeling like I am getting back to normal, but I still experience pain when walking, and when the weather changes. I think I probably will for the rest of my life, and as long as it's manageable, I have accepted that fact, but I just don't think that other people have a clue about how terrible this injury really is. I have broken other bones in my body, and I healed up within 2-3 months without any further problems. This injury is something completely different. I handle work comp claims for my job, and people go back to work after serious back surgeries before alot of us were able to start functioning normally again from our foot problems. I think your mother in law should be ashamed of herself if she is questionning what you are going through, and I hope you tell her that! Good luck, and I'm glad to hear that at least the rest of your family seems to be supportive.

Tide88: The darkness in your foot is completely normal from what I experienced. I was told by my doctor that because your foot isn't functionning normally, it can't work the blood out of your foot as quickly as it would normally, so it pools down there and causes that discoloration. It never really caused me too many problems...my foot just felt really tight and slightly painful from it because of all the swelling, but it went away with time. With regards to the numbness, I experienced that too. I thought it might have to do with all the swelling and extra fluid down there...it just seemed like there was something getting in the way of feeling complete sensation, but that went away with time as well.

Well, good luck to everyone, and hopefully, we will all continue to get better each day.

Musictch and Pace,
Thank you for reassuring me on this. I was begining to question myself. My husband went and talked to her ( I still have not) and she said she didnt mean it like it sounded. I really cant find any other meaning for what she said. I kinda feel like she is mad at me because I fell at my sister-in-laws house (hubby's sis). It was nobody's fault but my own and I dont blame anyone else but me. My husband said he explained to her what exactly the doctor did to my foot just like to doc told us and that it would take a long, long time to even start to be back to normal if ever. But she would have no part of it and kept arguing with him. He told her he knew I hurt because he was with everyday and could tell when I was. If anything I tried to act like I wasnt so the boys wouldnt worry. He just gave up and left. I thank God for my hubby. I dont know how I could get through this without his understanding, support and love. Anyhow enough on this ;-)

Tide88.... I agree with Musictch and Pace. The dark color and numbness is normal. I worried at first also about the numbness. You can probably read back and find my post about this. My big toe and part of my foot is still numb just like you described. I can feel a sensation when I touch it but not completely-- if that makes sense (I'm blonde haha!!) If you still find it worrysome call your doc. He\She should be glad to answer any qestions you have. I know I called mine quite often.. to where the nurse knew my voice!!

Thanks again for all the support!!

Karen

Ive posted on here before, but its been awhile. My injury/surgery was in late July. Im walking unassisted now and going to PT. Ive just been really getting frustrated. It seems like PT helped up to a point but it seems like in the past month I haven't improved anymore. My physical therapist is also at the point where he doesn't know what to do, or if I should even come anymore. I still have pain, more some days than others. When I get up in the morning it is hard to walk (some mornings I need to grab onto stuff to help me) and its really stiff. Today, I stepped on my foot wrong and it gave out and I fell against the wall. I know this is a long hard road, but it is just so frustrating that I don't know when and if I will improve from this point.

Hello to everyone in Lisfranc club,
you have been my companions during the past year. I posted from time to time with updates on my injury and kept visiting regularly so I
know all your personal histories.
My Christmas has been spiritual (...Musictch) rather than material, and lonely (someone wrote that friends tend to be erratic under such circumstances: how true), but the New Year coincided with a sort of rebirthing.
I was allowed to walk without crutches, which I did last week. It takes only a few seconds before my left foot becomes red and swollen and asks to be put at rest but what an improvement! Being able to seize that book on the shelf or reaching the pool ladder on my feet is yet a compensation.
I have been thrown into this nightmare by an accident of no importance (missed a few steps and fell twisting my left foot while at office), as most of you, but I must be the only one who was treated for a Lisfranc injury and had a different problem.
After one year and a half there is now a happy ending and I am glad to share it with you.
Mine, giving sharp lateral pain in weight-bearing, is a calcaneocuboid joint injury, rarer than Lisfranc's and invisible to X-ray and RMI, thus undiagnosed for a long time.
No need to say what kind of frustrating and surrealistic experience I had: big pain, being scarcely believed by doctors, going from specialist to specialist in search of light. I went as far as asking a US foot specialist opinion (I live in Rome). No way. I was ready to give up when I bumped into my angel, an Italian surgeon who said Lisfranc was only a secondary output of the accident and recognized the problem at once.
I had surgery in October, with the usual pattern: 8 weeks in non weight-bearing (hard cast and boot), then gradually weight-bearing. He used my peroneal brevis tendon to stabilize the joint and surrounding bones and to avoid fusion (as long as it works).
If someone has had the same injury (CC joint) and was treated with a tendon transfer, it would be helpful to exchange views and personal experience. Most helpful, given the scarce case history.
It was a pleasure getting to know you all:
good luck on your recovery and happy 2008.

It's been some time since I've posted.... I am still amazed at all the new comers.... geez, hate to hear about all the new lisfranc injuries. It's so odd how each can be so different but then so much alike. Id like to hear from those who have had the foot fused. I had my first surgery April 06,then had the screws removed Dec 06. Fast forward to now, still having pain due to arthritus, so my Dr. is suggesting fusion. I found out that is involves scaping away the joint & places screws back in, to allow the bones to fuse together. Dr said that he might hurt worse than the very first surgery, which for me, was AWLFUL!! He did also add that I would have much less pain. Another down fall is 6-8 weeks no walking. So, again, Id like to hear from those out there who have done this & what was your outcome? Is it worth it? Im only 37... I was pretty active before this injury.... I just want to live with less pain? Any advice I really apreciate!