Lisfranc Foot Fracture Thread PART II

I was diagnosed w/a torn ligament w/lisfranc fracture/dislocation almost a year ago after injuring my foot playing soccer. My surgeon said I could start playing again whenever it felt good enough, so I just got back into it last week (first game in almost exactly one year) since I felt pretty good. Of course, I had my foot stepped on a few times through the course of the game last night. I have pain in my foot today, in multiple places and I'm worried again because I have a backpacking trip to Europe coming up in 3 weeks and had to cancel my trip last year because of my surgery (had one screw inserted in April-06 and then had it removed in August).

I don't think my injury was as bad as many of you, but I'm a little concerned that something is wrong again. Has anyone had any further injuries after getting back into any sports, running, etc? Can I make the injury worse? I didn't get that impression from my surgeon.

Hi all. Well I haven't posted in awhile-I spend too much time in PT! I am now 5 and 1/2 months post surgery. I am supposed to go to PT 3-4 times per week but only get there about 2 and spend about 2 hours there per session. I try to find something every day to be grateful for ie. walking the whole grocery store in less than 1 hour. But seriously it is getting better everyday-I try not to think about the pain-some days are worse than others. As far as shoes. I know they make a post foot surgery shoe (I've seen other people wearing them). It is a soft shoe that velcros closed. I bypassed that step and went straight to my husbands hiking boot. Than I graduated to crocs and birkenstocks. Now I am wearing a walking sneaker. I had to buy the largest size and it kinda flops on my good foot but boy how far I've come from the cam walker!! I can't wait to be able to wear a more fashionable shoe and am waiting to see if I will need an orthotic for the rest of my life as I've heard. Also, as far as the height of the foot being higher-I've found that to be true too but it will go down. My PT told me that my foot will be disfigured though. There goes my foot modeling career!!

Hey Kbubb1. I know right now things look bleak, but things aren't forever. If you notice alot of us posters are newbies so that must mean all the seasoned posters are up and around!!! I try to keep things in perspective, although this is a bump in the road at least it is something fixable and thank God not fatal. That's not to say that what you are feeling isn't okay but like my Physical therapist says you need patience. Something I never had but am learning!!

So far I think my story has been good, as far as the injury goes. So maybe this will help everyone who is scared and depressed. I had my injury on the 5th of September and started walking again mid December. Kept the boot on basically thru January. So I've been walking with shoes for about a month and a half now. I still have the screws in and am scheduled to get those out next wednesday. Even with the screws it has become tolerable to walk on. If I stand for longer than an hour or have one of my days where I walk end to end of campus 3 times it will be sore by the end of the day. But most other days it is fine and usually feels OK. My foot is basically down to normal size and I can fit my foot in the shoes I had before I got hurt. I still can't run normally (Sometimes i kind of do and i just look weird) but my limp is usually gone while walking until the end of the day when it gets sore again. I am only 20 years old and was scared when this happened to me because I heard everything about lifelong pain and problems. It seems some people are luckier than others as far as healing and doctors go. I feel lucky that my doctor caught it right away and that everything healed normally so far. I'm looking forward to the screw removal because I know it is supposed to feel much better once those are out. Always remember...things could be worse. Good luck to everyone.

Thelicguitarist, thanks for the upbeat info. Kbubb1; I think you are right that people that heal fine from the lisfranc probably aren't looking for a thread like this, so the whole thread is probably limited in outlook. I am an information junkie and got on the web site right away because of the suprisingly long time off my feet. Broke my foot November 7, 2006; waited 3 weeks for the swelling to go down, had surgery with 4 screws and 3 k-wires. Stayed off my foot entirely for four months from injury to go ahead. It has been about 3 weeks since the go ahead to start walking. I see the physical therapist 2X per week, which has really helped. I am now walking around in my regular hiking boots with regular orthotics; I switch between one crutch and none. Tried on my birkenstocks and they fit fine. I am thrilled to be on my feet. My foot is higher than the other one somewhat. I get some abrasion because the screw which held my metatarsal break in place goes straight up and down. I use spyroflex (bought it at REI) and it really protects the area. So far so great.

P.S. If your foot ended up bigger than its "original" size; I just found out from a friend that Nordstrom's can order shoes in two different sizes.[/img]

I had a Fractured right femur and a LisFranc fracture to my left foot from an automobile accident in Jan 2006. For my foot, the Orthopedic ER doctor just put 3 temporary pins (with no screws) in my through my toes and into my foot and put me in a walking boot/cast. Well to make a long story short several months later my bones shifted in that foot. So as of Jan 17, 2007 I had my left foot fused. I was not put into a plaster cast. I was put into a surgical cast that is basically guaze and Kling wrap. I was in that for 2 weeks. Once they cut that off I was back into my walking boot/cast that I had from last year. The pain with this was far less than the first procedure from the year before. I was not allowed to put any wieght on that foot for 8 weeks after the fusion surgery. As of the date of this post (which is almost 9 weeks since the fusion) I am now allowed to start walking on that foot but only in my walking boot/cast. I have only been doing this for 2 days now. It is not too painful but there are times I do have to go back to my crutches for a bit to just rest the foot. I also have 3 screws in that foot from the fusion surgery that my doctor plans to leave in there. Since the foot is now fused he say there is very liitle risk of them breaking. If this was not a fusion repair the screw would have had to come out. My doctor feels that I should be back into a shoe in 4 more weeks and walking (which will be about 12 week post-op).



If you, or anyone else, have questions about bone fusion of the foot let me know and I will see if I can answer your questions.



Between the failed first surgical repair of my foot and now the fusion repair of the same foot, I too can understand what everyone else here is, or has gone through.

Thanks for the info. regarding the fusion, as I was also curious to know details. I am coming up a year post injury and trying to deciede if I want the bones fused. I have so much pain still. My ortho Dr. has said that I may want to wait, as I will have less movement. I am 36, so I am sure how much longer I should wait? I also wonder, will the pain subside with the fusion. I think I now have arthritus. Any idea if that still happens with the bones fused?

Thanks to anyone who can offer some advice?

I too had too much pain in my foot from post traumatic arthritus after only after a years time. It was exactly one year to the date that I had my foot fused. I could not take the pain in my foot any more, as well as it was deform again from the bones shifting. I am 41 and I wanted to do it while I was still young, since we heal better the younger we are. My doctor told me that I would not notice much difference after the foot is fused since the foot joint does not move too much as it is. May be things like trying to stand on my toes to reach something I might not be able to do on that foot from now on. I do not have as much pain in it now but I know the true test will come in just a few more weeks when I am fully walking on it again in a shoe and not my walking boot. My doctor said that since all the joint material is scooped out and the bones are fused together that there should be no more arthritic pain in my foot after this.

I guess I all can suggest to you is if the pain is too great really consider getting it fused. So far I have no regrets. In a few more weeks I can tell you better if there is any kind of pain in my foot left after fusion.

PS. I had an Orthopedic doctor do my foot the first time but for my fusion I went to a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine-DPM who had 2 board certifications;

Board Certified: Foot Surgery; American Board of Podiatric Surgery, (ABPS)

Board Certified : Reconstructive Rearfoot/Ankle Surgery: American Board of Podiatric
Surgery, (ABPS)

There was no way I wanted to repeat anything again and I wanted the best I could find, so I did a little research for the foot doctors my insurance provider would let me use.

On Christmas Eve of last year, I broke my ankle trying to keep my son from falling down stairs. I also injured my left foot which had a large knot on it for some time. I never really had much pain. By Christmas morning, I just had alot of swelling and trouble getting around. I went to the Dr. two days later and he told me they would put a cast on it. The bone never separted, so I was hoping that the cast would prevent the surgery. Of course it didn't. I had more pain with the splints and the cast they put on me before and after surgery than I did with the ankle itself. They would put the splints on and stop the casting write over the ankle or they would not get my foot postioned like they were supposed to. When they don't postion it or take time making sure its right it can cause friction. So I had several Ortho visits just for them to put on a new cast or a new splint. I was off from work a total of nine weeks. The doctor did not want me to go back then, but I needed to. I went to Physical Therapy one time. I was not crazy about that. Alot of people I talked to went for one month or two depending on how bad they broke it. I was just told to do a good at home program. Which I have to admit I did not do like I should have. I went back to work but was on restriction for another four weeks no standing, no walking, and 0 weight lifting. I rolled around in a rolling chair for weeks. I can get around better now, I still continued to limp alot. I was having pain across the top of my foot, on the left side of my ankle and in the back of my ankle. I had someone to tell me that her Physical Therapist told her not to give into the limp. That what that does is build all that mass up in your foot and causes pain. That when you start trying not to limp on it that it is going to hurt but you just have to put ice on it and prop it up. I stopped giving into the limp so much and alot of the soreness went away. I still have some stiffness, which that is from not doing the exercises. I have tried to do better on that. There is still swelling because I am on my feet all the time. Compression socks help alot, that takes out the swelling. But I hate to wear them at home. Three months and things are just now starting to get back to normal.
Almost forgot I never had to have my plate or screws took out. I have a plate that is about three inches, and four screws. I could feel it on the outside of my leg in the begining, but now I can't as much.

Well...I have been following this thread (silently) since July of 2006. That is when my injury occurred. I slipped and fell, was misdiagnosed at ER, and 5 days later went to OS who diagnosed lisfranc fracture. My injury did not require surgery, but now I'm wondering if it shouldn't have. My foot is bigger (taller) than the other one and I am still planning all activities around my "bad" foot. I'm 8 months post injury and wandering if anyone has happened across a miracle shoe. I'm a 36 year old female who would love to wear cute shoes again. Will I ever or am I destined to wear tennis shoes forever? I did want to share that I have found a great shoe insole. It is called powerstep and has wonderful arch and heel support.

Just an update for those interested in the results of having your foot fused for Lisfranc injuries.

I am not 10 weeks out from my fusion surgery and things are going well. I am walking entirely in a shoe again and it going pretty well. There is no pain in my foot any more!! The only discomfort I am having is in the front area of the ankle. My doctor says this is normal because what little the foot did use to flex when walking now will be noticed in the front area of the ankle, since the foot can no longer flex. In a few more weeks he said the ankle will get use to this new movement. There is some slight swelling in the foot but now mostly in the late evenings and that too will fade over more time. The foot still is wider than my other foot, which is a normal width. I think I will be destine to have to wear a wide shoe on that foot.

Hello All.
I am having my screw (only one, I was lucky) removed next wed. The doctor seems to think I will be able to walk right out of the hospital after. For those of you that have had your screws removed, is it really that easy? I just remember all the pain with the inserting of the screw so it's hard for me to believe it's not going to hurt when he removes it. I am looking forward to having it out.

Toni

My son who was injured 9/1/06, had the screws removed out of his right foot on 3/14/07. He had an ace bandage on his foot with a walking boot for about 2 days and then was wearing his shoes again. If the bones are stable enough, removing the screws doesn't take you back to day 1 with no walking for weeks at a time.

Good luck

I wrote earlier asking the same thing. I'm 5 1/2 months post-op and had my three screws removed 1/31/07. I am a nurse and need shoes that fit and are comfortable enough to wear for 8-12 hours while I'm running around. I found a pair of Merrill light-hiker kind of tennis shoes that aren't bad. I did put a Spenco footbed in at my doctor's suggestion. I've been wearing them now for about 3 weeks. This last week I had to go to a conference where tennis shoes wouldn't really go with my nice attire. I panicked when none of my dress shoes could fit as I have the same problem, a "tall" foot (not swollen at all)! My last hope was wearing my husband's slip-on dress shoes until I reached into the closet one last time and found shoes I forgot I had. They're Ariats, and the most comfortable shoe! They have great arch support and are soft (cushioned) yet supportive. ariat.com is the website. I have the Ariat® Santa Cruz Mule. I think I got mine at Nordstroms (years ago!), and I've worn them now for the last three days. I've also purchased a pair of Dansko (Style - Chloe) that have an adjustable top to accomdate high insteps (tall feet) and they're not bad either. They are a little stiff, but once I get used to them I think I'll really like them too. Some people swear by Crocs. I didn't like them as the little nubby things on the inside really bother my foot (it's too sensitive to the touch of anything!). It just takes a lot of time and patience finding good shoes now, which I'm the first one to admit is so frustrating, especially if you're like me and really dislike shopping.



Someone else asked about the screw removal. It probably depends on the degree of injury and the length of time the screws were in (the time the bones/ligaments had to heal). Mine was painless (the whole event was really, only recently having discomfort when walking in real shoes for long periods of time, or on uneven ground). I wasn't encouraged to do a lot of weight bearing until my screws were out, so after 4 months of rolling around on a knee scooter I wasn't ready to just walk out! My doctor suggested I stay off my foot for a few more days after he took out the screws, but then I was off and running and haven't stopped yet!