Lisfranc Foot Fracture Thread PART II

Thank you for the encouragement, SKH. Both doctors said they were not yet sure whether they will choose to remove the screws.

I'm curious as to why some people get dissolving screws, they really make sense to avoid a 2nd surgery, perhaps the stability after some injuries is unknown and the screws might be necessary to remain?

Timmy, I'm curious to see how you are progressing along - is your foot still swelling ? Are you in shoes yet ? I'm in flats, but have not yet graduaated to boots, or anything too constricting - still have some swelling at night, but nothing serious. As for freak injuries, how'bout Dallas Friday ?!?!?!? Keep us posted.

Wtrskid

Paul,

I was in immense pain for 2 weeks post screw insertion and had to keep my foot elevated for about 2-3 weeks after that or my foot did the purple/swelling thing.

The swelling is definitely dangerous in that it puts pressure on the nerve running down to your big toe (that's the searing pain you feel). The more the nerve is irritated, the more of a chance you will have long-term nerve damage and will be living with that searing pain the rest of your life. When I first started this thread, there was very little I could find out there about Lis Franc fractures and the few things I did read were people who, years later, were still suffering this pain. One person couldn't even stand to have the sheets on the bed touching their foot.

I followed my doc's advice to a T and I kept my foot up and iced until it stopped swelling when it was down. It's now been 20 1/2 months since my injury and most of the time I'm fine. My LF joint pops out of place every once in a while but my chiropractor readjusts it and I feel immediate relief. Most recently, I went to a line dancing workshop where we learned 8 dances in 5 hours. The last dance had a lot of twisting and turning on my bad foot and I felt it pop out of alignment. That was the most pain I've felt in a long long time. I'm also noticing now that it's turning Autumn here in Maryland, it's starting to ache a bit on the colder mornings.

Good luck with your injury and speedy healing!

Anne :-)

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:03 am Post subject: lisfranc fracture

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I must say that as I read the replies, I do not feel very optimistic about how everyone is doing with their fractures and future diagnosis.
My son broke both his feet in a motorcycle accident (9/1/06) and is non- weightbearing for a min of 8 weeks. He is feeling great frustration in being totally immobile and in wondering what he will be capable of in the future. He has 3 screws per foot and 2 pins. The pins will be pulled out, but has been told that the screws need to stay in. His one foot had major tissue loss also, so would not be a candidate for future removal of screws.
He has been told that he would have arthritic pain, but it sounds like everyone has trouble with shoes. Being an active person, he participates in motocross and skiing. I hate to think that both of those activities are out of the question for him. Is there anyone out there who had this type of injury and surgery awhile ago and has comments about recovery.

reposted 10/11/06 in 2nd thread

Hi everyone. I have now graduated to Slipper Socks to walk around. They're made by "Tote" and they have "Snuggle" on the bottom. The guys probably wouldn't go for them but my foot is happy! I can walk around in bear feet on the carpet but on the floor there isn't enough cushion, nor is there with a pair of socks, although its better with socks than bear feet. I wanted to get my toes to be more flexible and stronger so it was time. I'm doing more and more but still feel like its taking way TOOO LONG! Oh well! I'm still doing my ballet exercises and I'm walking every day up and down hills. Going down hills is harder because my foot hurts by the time I'm at the bottom.

AuthenticFacade - Thanks for the update on the weight-bearing x-rays. URGHH - I don't envy your situation. Be patient it takes awhile for things to settle down. Personally, I feel like it takes FOREVER. All I want to do is go running down the road. Maybe in my dreams! I think the dissolving screws are new and they're not sure how they will hold up in some situations plus some areas probably don't have them. We don't have waterproof casts because of the budget limitations of living outside a major city in Canada.

Wtrskid - What happened in Dallas on Friday? Was there a fracture?

Anne - Thanks for starting the Lisfranc thread! Wow! I'm glad you're still around to provide us with updates.

Sheribear1283 - In some ways I preferred the cast to the Boot because the cast was lighter and the boot was stressing my knee out having to lift my foot up and down all day. But in other ways, the Boot was better because I could remove it when my foot swelled and put ice on it. Some people didn't believe I had a broken foot until I got the cast on and then they were a little more sympathetic. My recommendation would be to go with the Boot and switch to a cast later if you think it might be better but don't under any circumstances put any weight on your foot. After this, you'll really appreciate everything your feet do for you. I certainly do.

I agree with AuthenticFacade "Wishing everyone pain-free days and nights and a speedy recovery."

Instead of cheers I'm going to say "Keep Your Foot Up!" (tee hee), Kelly :-D

Oops! I spelled bear feet wrong - I knew it was wrong but couldn't figure out why!

Sorry all, Kelly

Kelly, in response to your question, Dallas Friday is considered the best female wakeboard rider in the history of the sport. She broke her femur during a world cup event in Singapore a couple of weeks ago, and, in some freaky twist, wound up on life support after surgery. Timmy is a wakeboarder, which is why I posted my question. Hey, lisfranc fractures are bad - but it could be worse! Glad you're feeling better!

Hello to all ,
I've been posting here since May 06, due to my injury late April. I'm still so surprised by all of the different ways that this occurs. It doesn't seem to be a very common injury, and more uncommon when not related to some type of althletic activity.

I did this to my right foot while turing a corner & slipping, also had my 22 month old toddler on my hip. I am althletic & only 35 years old, some days I really wonder what I did & why did it happen... Has anyone else done this just by a slip & fall? If so, how did you fall?

Well wishes to y'all!

hey
i was reading stuff about the lisfranc injury and found this very interesting. i injured my foot while playing a stupid game of tackle football the day before classes started. i was tackling one of my bigger friends and he landed on top of my foot. i injured it september 5 and had screws put in september 13. i had 3 screws put in, but one was for a different part of my foot...had to reattach a bone piece. i only had to take pills for about 2-3 days after surgery. i haven't had much problem with pain but some discomfort when i try to sleep. about a week and a half ago i had my cast taken off because i had a skin reaction so i am just wearing a boot. the doctor is saying no weight bearing for 2-3 months leaning more toward 3. i noticed that is a lot longer than most people had no weight on it. anyone else told to stay off it for longer than 6-8 weeks? well, i'm just looking forward to semi-walking again and hoping my friends don't get sick of helping me do everything. i just want to say good luck to anyone with this and congratulations to everyone who had to put up with this.

Greetings thelicguitarist,
Yes, I also had 6 weeks no weight bearing and also had the so over attractive boot... then at 6 weeks it was partial weight with one crutch for 2 weeks. I would say it's very good to take as much time as you can to let your foot heal, espcially with a fracture.

Stay postive and rest, it's great to hear you have minimal pain.

SKH

I'm dreaming about the day that some big name athlete (not that I would wish this on anyone) actually has a serious lisfranc fracture and the news is spread throughout the world so that people learn its just not a simple, painless fracture of the foot and they take a long time to heal. And then once that individual has met with all the doctors, they come out with some standardized miraculous treatment that heals you in, okay let's compromise, say 6 weeks. I could live with that. I keep thinking about all the professional athletes that cry when they retire and I guess a lot of it is because they still want to play their sport but they're tired of the constant pain or length of time to recover from an injury.



You're right, it could always be worse and the good news about Dallas Friday is its the largest bone in the body so she should recover well.



Hey all, I even had someone comment about the improvement in my walking today! Yahoo! I'm improving, albeit its still taking too long for my liking. I was even kind of running - okay its a stretch but it was definitely faster than the pace I was going a few months ago!



Update, I've even ditched the slippers. They kept falling off and driving me crazy. Soooooo, keep up your spirits everyone. The foot does get better.



Cheers, Kelly

Hey everyone!

I'm a 21 year old college student and this Tuesday (Oct. 17) I fell off my boyfriend's skateboard and broke my foot. He's been trying to slowly teach me how to ride a skateboard and I've been working on my balance by having him pull me while I'm on his board. Sadly, I didn't see this rut until it was too late and I fell off his board on campus. First, my left foot/ankle rolled out, and then I landed my whole weight on that foot. Went straight to the emergency room and 6 hours later was told I have a Lisfranc injury that will require surgery and my left leg wrapped up in a bulky jones. Not only did I mess up the Lisfranc area, I basically broke a bunch of bones in my foot and fractured a quite a few more bones. I went in for an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon yesterday and had a few more x-rays done and my leg in a cast. I think I might be having my surgery done on Tues. (Oct. 24).

Right now, I'm just in a lot of shock over what just happened. It's been a stressfull week because I've had to deal with school and midterms and stupid student health services at the school. I'm just really scared about the surgery and possibly having a large bill to deal with afterwards. Insurance should be covering most of this right? How much have you guys had to pay out of pocket for everything?

It's reassuring to hear about everyone's experiences with this injury because I feel like I don't know anything at all about what's going on. Thanks!

Man, that stinks. Oddly enough I injured my lisfranc joint on a skateboard as well. Tho I am much older than 21 and should have known better to be on it at all, let alone in tevas. I was riding along and got the front rubber sole of my teva stuck on the street and as the skateboard rolled away with my other foot all of my weight went straight onto my toes...rolling my foot underneath me. Ouch! No bones broken and tho it may have been better for diagnosis 4 months, 5 doctors, two hard casts, 3 soft casts, a splint, and a walking cast and finally last week a new Ortho foot & ankel specialist figured it out. Now that I'm acutally sort of walking on my foot I get to look forward to recovery all over again. Surgery is Nov. 15th so no Turkeyday football games for me. I will however be posting my progress so the next skateboard victim.

HEY!
I know I havent posted in a while. I want to thank all of you for your support. It is so nice to know that therea are others out there with the same injury that I have.

I decided to get the cast put on. The MD wanted me to go into the boot. I told her that I would be more tempted to take the boot off rather than leave it on. I am 26 and have a ton of life to live with this left so I told her that I wanted it to heal properly. So low and behold I now am the owner of a cast. I will have it on for 4 weeks then back into the robo boot. I am not sure of how long I will need to wear that.

I cant wait to go back to work. It will be a horrible start back though. I work in an ER for 12 hour shifts. I will probablly go back half time to start, I am up on my feet for approx 11 of the 12 hours. I havent worked since June 29th. Been a long time!

Take care everyone

Sheri

Hello thelicguitarist, welcome. I'm sorry that this happened to you(and everyone else in our club). I had an appointment, yesterday, to remove my pins (6 weeks post op) and expected to become 25% weight bearing but found out it'll be closer to 3 months post op before that happens. I also had a problem with the cast, couldn't take it against the top of my foot and went into the boot, early. I am happy for you that your pain doesn't require meds, any longer. I still have a lot of pain and take both over-the-counter and prescription meds and still don't get much relief. I also have 3 screws and my injury occured 9/6 but my surgery happened that night. I am amazed at how many people have a delay before their surgery. All of our experiences have similarities but also many differences, I guess.



Wishing you and everyone painless, peaceful and speedy recoveries!