I am 8 weeks out of having forefoot surgery (2 middle toes realigned and straightened and rheumatoid nodules removed). It's going well but I'm surprised that my ankle keeps swelling when all the work was done in the forefoot/metatarsal areas. It's not bad in the morning, but now that I'm back at work and can't elevate the foot much during the day, I get a big swollen ankle on each side and around the back.

Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks for any replies.

Anyone? I searched and googled and can't find anything about this. This morning, again I woke up and my foot is healing beautifully and everything looked normal. Now I'm at work and the ankle joint is all swelled up.

Can anyone tell me what their post-surgical experiences were like?

Yes, you can experience lingering swelling that effects your ankle. If you are wearing shoes, it has to go somewhere. My suggestion is either talk to your doctor about it, he/she may have some suggestions or wear a knee high support stocking that will force the swelling up. With my surgeries, there was so much trama to ankle and foot, my ankle and entire calf would swell during the day. My Dr. told me to wear a support stocking for three months and then see how it is. Good luck.

p.s. If you decide to do the support stocking, measure around you ankle and calf first thing in the morning to get the proper size. Also you'd want a weight of about 30 to 40.

Hi there,
I'm 7 1/2 weeks post surgery on my first metatarsal and I also have a swollen ankle. I asked the PT tonight and he said that it is because of the stress of bearing weight and the loss of range of motion from being in a cast. He gave me exercises to do and told me to elevate as much as possible. Use ice if necessary.

Have you had PT? Are you doing any exercises? I agree with eko...talk to your doc. This foot surgery and recuperation is a long journey...good luck and let us know how you do...
Tina

Eko and Tina - thank you for responding. I will give his secretary a call. He did a good job but I wish he'd given me at least a sheet of paper with a list of things to expect. When he took the pins out, all he said was, "I want you walking on it every day now."

I am finding it to be very true that foot surgery is a long recuperation. I really had no idea just how involved and debilitating it is. However, it's good to look down and see a "normal" foot now! In spite of the swelling. I will take both of your advice to heart and I am grateful for it.

I had an ankel fusion and my calf swells alot by the end os the day. If you do alot of walking around at work or even if you don't I found that big comfterable shoes are the best. Go to you local outdoor store like gartsports or galions and get your self a pair of "crocks". There new and are desinged for sailing but are made out of a very soft foam that is the same material as hospital floors so they are garenteed never to smell. I found the more room to let the blood cerculate helped at the end of the day with sweeling.

I just wanted to pop in and follow up on this in case anybody has a similar problem. I did call the doctor's secretary that day, and they told me to get up at work every hour, walk around, sneak my foot up on my desk for five minutes. She also said if I could get a loose fitting sneaker on, that I could definitely get back in the gym and exercise lightly. The key is circulation to move the fluid.

So that night I started back at the gym - first doing some light weights and 10 minutes on the recumbant bike, then every other day working my way up to a little more on the bike and a little more weights. At night I'd put it back up and massage the ankle and do those ballet exercises, i.e., write the alphabet in the air with your toes. Then I'd rub the foot and ankle with arnica gel.

It started getting way better. This afternoon I'm driving down for my 30 day follow up with the surgeon. The forefoot and top of foot still get swollen and reddish but the ankle is almost normal. I'm using the elliptical machine for 30 minutes at a time even! Still not crazy about walking though.

Hello
Just wondering what type of surgery you had?
I am having Arthrodesis (1st TMT joint) and bone graft, I have a Lisfranc injury. Do you know much about that?
Thanks
Kath

Sorry, KathyPat. I don't know anything about that surgery.