Hi, I just recently fractured my heel. It will be two weeks come this Tuesday. I did this in the snowboard park at Breckenridge hitting a huge jump and landing on a terrible 10 degree incline where it should have just been flat! If you clear the jump you actually land on at 45 degree decline but the table-top should have been flat not inclined. I was treated at their Hospital and their doctor said I'll need surgery based off the xrays they took.

I have a couple questions that I didn't see anyone mention on here. First, how badly discolored/bruised was your foot post injury? I didn't have a compound fracture but I did get a ankle/fracture blister 2 days post injury and popped that. It freaked me out but I was told that it's a fracture blister and don't know what to make of it but am looking these up now. I also had terrible dark vein like bruises going up the side of my outter leg and it didn't look good at all. Also, all my toes have been pretty bruised up and discolored. Is this normal for a Calcaneous/Heel frature??

When I went and saw a local Othro surgeon he told me my foot might never be the same and that I'll need sugery. He didn't ever really look at my foot -just the X-Rays and his assistants put me in a HUGE/HEAVY plaster leg splint. I had to go back and have them put a different fiber cast on because that other one was hurting my knees and was probably going to do more damage then good. The surgeon then said to keep my foot raised. I meet again with him this Tuesday (2 weeks post injury) to determine my next step. I'm guessing he just could not give me much info previous to getting the Cat Scans I had done this week. So, my next question is how long can one wait to have surgery post injury? According to one site on the internet (emedicine) they it is 10-14 days. What are the critical factors to consider sugery or natural healing? I'm very scared and don't have any medical insurance and am now out of work. I can pay for the surgery but want to be well informed about my options.

Thanks for any and all info. Chris

Regards, Chris

Was 3 weeks before surgery I had to wait for the swelling to come down. A long recovery time with this type of injury, broke both heels 2-11-05. Good Luck

Well, I'm even more depressed today after seeing the OS. He came in with my cat scans and said I have a terrible (class 4) fracture with multiple pieces. He said he'll need to wait another week to perform surgery and that I'll have a 50% chance of atrhritis and will probably experience pain in my foot when walking. Not a very promising outlook and he even mentioned a possibility of amputation if infection were to get bad. This scares me to no end! I knew it was serious but now I realize just how much this is going to affect my life. He said that he'll install hardware that will stay in my foot to help heal the bones with no plans on removing the hardware. I'm just not getting the re-assurance I was hoping for. I'm going to setup another appointment with another OS to see what they say. I guess I'll try and find more info on people that have had a class 4 (the worst) Calcaneus fractures and what their results were. My outlook on things could not be any worse at this point.

Well ask any questions you want I'll try to give you an answer if I can I broke the left heel in 25 pcs it was a open fracture and the right if 15 pcs. Have been through 7 procedures on my feet. the last was having the hardware removed from both feet and bone spurs remove. Now the doctors want to fuse the heel to the ankle to try to stop some of the pain....Before you get a second opinion found out how many fractured heel the doctor has fixed.

BrokeFootJack. Thanks a lot for the replies. I went and saw another doctor that my Surgeon recommended today. He was much more visual in explaining the break that occurred and what happened to the placement of my calcaneous. Although he is a friend of my Surgeon I felt he was sincere and gave me a better idea of the injury and what to expect. My friends' girlfriend also mentioned something about a magnetic therapy that helps fuse the broken bones together but my surgeon will be using hardware. Have you heard of magnetic therapy?

My doctor said the hardware will probably stay in and the other doctor today mentioned fusing the bone to the ankle as your going to have done down the line. He said you loose some mobility but it should not hinder things too much from what he explained. If you've had 7 procedures done on your feet I sure better look into getting some health insurance soon!

I'll have to see how the hardware works out for me as the surgery sounds like my best solution if I'm to have a somewhat normal foot again and to help minimize pain and future arthritis. I hope everything has gone well with you and it's nice to see such a great support group on the internet to help me become more informed of my injury and what to expect. I understand that this is a very unique injury and each individual’s outcome can be different. I'm scheduled for my first surgery ever coming next Tuesday and am very nervous but am putting my trust into the experience of this specialized foot doctor to help me become and bipedal once again in the future.

You are the only person I have talked to that has mentioned magnetic therapy, I'm in other groups also and they have not heard anything about it also...BrokeFoot

CMORE:

From what I've read from your posts, you are scheduled for surgery today. Good luck. I wish I got to repond to you sooner to give some support since it looks like we are in the same boat - but 5 months apart.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: I shattered my right heel on 9/1/2005 (5 1/2 months ago); 8 foot fall; 2 weeks later (5 months ago), I have a plate and 6 screws after an ORIF; the reduction looked great from CAT SCAN; my ortho guy gave me a somber prognosis despite the successful surgery: "this is a life-changing injury; if you experience too much pain in 6 months, we'll fuse the ST joint"; I was crushed by this. Start healing and see what happens

I started driving with my left foot a month after surgery; once the soft boot was off on 12/1/05 (2 1/2 months ago), it took a week to transition back to the healing right foot as my left foot really loved driving; I was surprised that I could adjust so well driving with my left foot on 10/1/05; surprised just the same I could quickly adjust to right one 2 months later.

Here are some insights that I have 5 months after surgery:

- very few people know of anyone that's had a shattered heel
- every injury is unique; snowboarder Tanner Hall apparrently fractured both his heels 11 months ago and the won his X-games event last week (I researched the scope of his injuries and looks like it was only his ankle that was surgically treated); Olympic airealist Emily Cooke shattered both her heels 4 years ago - she's competing in the Winter Olympics this week after 4 years of training - very inspiring;
- the muscle atrophy on right leg was incredible; after 4 weeks of non-weight bearing, calf muscle GONE! I estimate it will take at least 6 more months to get back. My unaffected calf, however, is huger than ever.
- I started to walk without a limp on 2/1/05 (1/2 month ago); I have to do some PT exercises in the morning to rid of my initial stiffness
- My shoe size went up a half size
- I was not comfortable in any new running shoe until 2 weeks ago;
- After much research, the thought of Hardware Removal seems to be out of the question
- If I walk with bare feet and walk on a uneven surface (or object) with my right foot -> big problem
- After 5 months, I don't think I will be ever to run again; Skiing should be no problem; I'm not a snow boarder.

I can go on and on; hopefully, what I have already related is helpful.

BTW: I have read virtually everyone's posts on this topic. I want to thank those posters that have hung on to convey their own unique thoughts and outcomes

It just depends on how bad a fracture on how quick you recover. Fractured both Feb 2005 and still in wheelchair. :blob_fire

Dude! I give you my full sympathy and empathy. Not to sound like the bringer of doom and gloom, but...I got T-boned on my motorcycle 9/29/04 (a year and a half ago!), and my calcaneous was crushed (along with a very broken tib, and a crushed fib). I immediately had emergency surgery on all 3, bone grafting to make a complete heel, plate for the tib, screws holding the fib remnants in place. 3 months of non-weight-bearing, 6 more months of physical therapy. I have never recovered, at least not yet. I was about to get my blackbelt in kung-fu at the time, so I was in good shape for a 45-year-old. The screws had to get removed from the heel a month and a half ago, due to achilles tendonitis from the head of one of them. I use a cane a lot of the time, to try and unload weight from that side. Can't use an exercise bike more than 45 minutes. Permanent Disability parking pass. My bone doc told my lawyer that there's a good chance of at least 2 or 3 more surgeries as I get older and develop arthritis...Get medical insurance now. Make sure it'll cover this pre-existing condition. And, keep yer chin up. It sucks, but it beats being dead.

Thank you for your additional comments. I've been reading just about every post I can find on this subject myself! As JK suggested in my other thread I'll be keeping a diary of my progress. I must say I feel I got good treatment and should (fingers crossed) have a successful recovery. After 1 week 3 days post-op I'm starting to have much less pain in my heel. When I went in last Friday (1 week and a day post-op) to see my surgeons assistant they unwrapped my badges and took a look at the incision. She seemed happy with how it looked and I was happy to see the top of my foot looked better (less swelling & discoloration) then it had since the injury occurred.

I have NO idea how it will feel to walk on my heel with 13 screws in my foot when I start to do some weight bearing but I'm hoping it goes good. It really is amazing to hear people that have had these injuries being able to compete professionally. :) Since everyone's injury and outcome is unique it's really hard to say just how functional I'll be once my time comes to attempt to walk again. I know I'll never be the same but if I can still do some of my sporting activities after I heal I'll be VERY HAPPY. I'm hoping to be back on my mountain bike this summer and my surgeon seems promising about me being active again. I just need to be very careful and take it easy to insure I heal correctly. I need to apply for a Kaiser Permanentes medical insurance plan first thing this week to try and get coverage for when I need to start my PT. I've got a lot on my plate but am starting to feel pretty good about being functional again sometime in the future. I hope we all can make it through this and be stronger individuals emotionally and mentally since we won't be physically. At the very least this injury has change my perspective about a lot of things in life.

Hopefully you'll recover better and faster than me. You should - I had the additional problems caused by my foot getting sandwiched against my bike by the car. It got whacked so hard, my motorcycle boot split open. So, there was that too. I had a hard time putting weight back on at first, but where I did PT they have a pool. I would climb in up to my neck and walk that way, then over the next few weeks I went in shallower and shallower to gradually add the weight. That worked out pretty well. Actually, I'm hoping for more recovery myself. When the doc took out the heel screws, he found that my fib hadn't fully healed and needed another bone graft, which was 2 weeks ago. If I can twist and put sideways pressure on my lower leg, maybe I can get back to golfing, and maybe even help teach at my kung-fu school (crossed fingers).

Hi, I fractured both of my heels, almost 2 weeks ago. I am going to do the early motion therapy, and then get surgery afterwards where they go in and fuse your heels and ankle bone back together. I didn't want any plates or screws put in. I was just wondering if maybe one of you could help me out on something. The thing that bothers me the most isn't even the heel pain. On my left foot, My big Toe and just below it on the bottom of my foot gets this horrible burning sensation, and it throbs. No matter what I do, nothing relieves it. Even when I have taken something for the pain, and all other pain has ceased for a few. I seem to only get relief from this at any given moment for only a few minutes. I have to take sleeping pills, just to get sleep because of it. It is constant complete torture. Have any of you had anything similar? Any tips on how to relieve it? Thank You.
JULIE

If it doesn't seem to be improving much, be very very patient and try to measure improvement in months instead of days or weeks. I fractured my right heel in November 2004 and had about a dozen screws put in, and for several months afterward I felt really impaired. Even after months of therapy I still had a limp and couldn't climb stairs normally, so I figured "Well that's the best it's going to get." And yet it kept improving on its own, very slowly, especially once I was able to take it walking every day. By August 2005 I was able to move myself from one apartment to another (carying heavy boxes down stairs!) and now, May 2006, I don't have a limp or anything. I haven't really tried to run because the doctor said "No high-impact activities," but I think I could jog a block or so if I had to. I'm not into running anyway.

I do feel a little swollen after a long day in shoes, and sometimes I get a twinge or some stiffness. Maybe I'll get arthritis in a few years, but if I do, I still have my cane. :D Anyway, the point is that the foot may keep healing itself even after you've given up on it. So, don't!

hi,
i fractured my calcaneous feb 6, 06.....ladder fall @ work. heel broke into 4 pieces with mild separation. decided not to have surgery as doc said 50-50 shot of being better so i chose not to get cut. i also fractured the talus bone and tore all tendons and ligaments. whatever you do dont put any weight on foot. it will get better but take beacoup time. i was in a hard cast 3.5 months! still lots of pain and swelling and very bad balance. i may be the best i'll ever get only time will tell. good luck!

Three years ago this last April I broke my calcaneous on my left foot. First broken bone in my body, except for my little finger in 59+ years. The doc said my calcaneous was shattered and if it healed okay I wouldn't need surgery, but if it didn't I would. The nurse in the emergency room put a half plaster cast on my leg for two weeks with instructions to put no weight on my foot. The half cast was put on when my foot was still swelling. When they took it off to put on a full cast my whole leg and foot looked like something that belonged to some creature....black, blue, purple, and swollen. A new complete cast was put on clear to my knee and I was to wear that for four more weeks. Then I was fitted with another cast at that time for another three weeks. Each time my doc would position my foot to where it would be in the position as if you were walking. I could put NO weight on my foot for nine weeks. Each time he put on a different cast he would x-ray and say that it looked like it was healing fine. At the end of the nine weeks he reported that my calcaneous had healed just fine and would not require surgery. I was relieved and started PT. It was hard but I was determined to get back to walking on both feet after nine weeks in a cast. The PT went well and at the end I told my therapist that it always felt like a big, tight rubber band was around my ankle and across the top of my foot. My ROM was good but there was always this tightness that turned into quite a bit of pain after being on my feet for an extended period of time. I also had swelling around the ankle. I returned to the doc with my symptoms and asked if it was always going to be like this. He said there shouldn't be any swelling at this point, but he did an MRI and everything looked good....or so he said. It's now been three years and I still have this tightness in my ankle and can't be on it for a long period of time. The heel itself doesn't seem to bother me that much except if I stand on the one foot alone. When I wear my tennis shoes, or any shoe that fits tight around my foot, the tightness gets worse. I think I messed up the ligaments, etc. in my ankle but the doc doesn't seem to agree. My foot feels better when I don't wear shoes at all. I still have dark spots on my ankle and leg where the first half cast was put on when there was a lot of swelling. Sometimes I think surgery might have been better, but after reading everyone else's problems, maybe not.:wave:

Julie,

I am on the boards for a different foot issue but thought I would add my 2 cents. {I had a heel fracture several years back, so I cruise this post once in a while}

As for the burning pain that piankillers do not help: I also ahve this burning, nonstop pain that painkillers do nothing for. My OS said my problem was a nerve issue and that no pain pills would help. He put me on Neurontin which is for seizures and also for neurve pain. What a wonder drug!!! It knocked the paina nd burning down by at least 75%. If I stop it, the burning comes back, thus I am still on it for a while. He said most folks need it for a year, but some have to take it forever. I was sleepy for the first few days but this sideeffect quickly went away. You may want to ask about it. It is approved for seizures, PHN/postherpatic neuralgia and just recently for post taumatic and/or postop nerve damage
jane

I fractured my calcaneous and pulverized parts of it in July 06. I had surgery Aug 3 where the doc put in a plate and screws as my heel was way out of place and I had an additional fracture on the top of my foot. At the 2 week post op visit the doctor said everything seemed to being healing really well. I still have many weeks before I'm allowed any weight bearing. Right now my biggest concern is income. I'm a single mom and do have enough child support to pay the rent (thank God), but every job I've ever had I stood on my feet for 8 hrs. I can't see that I will ever be able to do that again, or at least not for a long time. What does everyone else with this type of injury do for income? I'm starting to get really depressed about my whole outlook of the future, so any insights would really be appreciated.

Angi

It is 4 months my calcaneus fracture occured- severe pain and sweeling can any one help me please

My husband shattered his heel in Nov, of 07 he still is not allowed to walk. He has 8 screws. among other stuff. he fell 14 feet. His doctor sent him to pain mgm. where he gets injections in his back to block the nerve. That has helped with all his burning and shooting pains. she also put him on a flector patch it is applied directly to the foot it really helped with the swelling and the pain.so now we are waiting on approval from our insurance co. to get what they call a spinal cord stimulator. because the shots worked so well this is supposed to be better & will help with the pain when he is allowed to walk..now he is only taking pain med at nite and that's not every nite just when he's had a busy day. he is still on crutches or in a wheel chair. but still has a lot of swelling and when he is up alot his foot turns colors. they say that when he is able to use it again that a lot of that will stop. we went to the os today and he is allowed to balance using the toes. no weight on heel yet. he had his surgery 3 weeks after the accident due to the swelling. I have lots of pictures of his foot and ct cans if you give me an email address I could send them for you to see you can compare. his leg brused all the way up.It's been H@#) around here for him. but he does have a good attitude most of the time....

Need more information:
- date of injury
- severity
- surgical details
- and anything else

Carpenter,
I had a great outcome despite the typical bad prognosis (search my previous posts). Your husband's recovery is still in the early stages. This is the first time I've read here of leg bruises "all the way up his leg" coincident with this injury. Did your husband shatter/break something else above his heal? And how old his he too?

he will be 48 the 31st of this month. no he only shattered the heel. but they said it was the worst break they had seen in a heel in a while. He was changing a bulb on a pole for his mom it was a metal pole he was about 14 feet in the air.the pole was rusted below the ground and broke, and he landed all weight on just the rt. heel. the ct shows 3 large peices all shifted the two peices in the front of the heel towards the middle of the foot shifted foward and up towards the middles of the foot. the back of the heel the largest peice broke off and shifted backwards and upward towards the back of the anckle. Dr. collins said that there were about 100 peices of small bone all over the heel area. His dr. was the head doctor for the Cincinnati Bengals. he said that he has seen many of these breaks and they just take time. He will not be able to walk on uneven ground among all the other things yall have been saying on this thread. His injury date was November 20 2007 his surgery date was Dec. 10th of 08 he had to wait for surgery due to swelling. and it still was not gone down well but they dont like to wait past 3 weeks after the injury due to healing.they installed plates not sure how many it looks like a motorcycle chain link with screws. I know they put in 8 screws that you can see and count on the xrays im not sure if there were more that you could not see. When I asked dr. how many screws he just said lots. The dr. thinks all the brusing up the leg was just from truma to the foot and keeping it in the air all the blood that was inside the foot moved up, but then the foot was like 3or4 times bigger than the other one. his whole foot turned purple up past the ankle. the bottom of the foot was every color you can think of except white. his toes were so swolen that you could not see between them. about 1 month after his surgery he was having these really bad shooting pains and lots of burning. he was taking mepergan about every 3 hours along with valium about every 6 hours just to stay calm. they put him on neuronton(sp)for the burning pain but it did not help much. So the dr. sent him to a pain mgmt. dr. who has really helped alot. because he had so much nerve damage that was why he was having so much burning and shooting pain.. the pain dr started giving him nerve block shots in the back that helped a bunch he now only takes pain meds at nite. she also put him on this new patch called flector patch it is a diclofenac epolamine topical patch. he changes it every 12 hours and puts it in a diff. location on the foot each time. That has helped with the swelling and the pain you can really tell when he does not use that patch. the swelling will start back fast. the pain dr is also getting him approved for a spinal cord stimulator for the nerve pain so he does not have to get the injections any more. thoes injections have been the best thing yet he could not hardly move his foot at all when she gave him the 1st injection he could move it up and down more and for the 1st time move it side to side. I hope i've answered most of your questions it's really hard to put this in writing and understand what i mean. if you would like to see his pictures you can e mail me at carpenter6011@charter.net & I will send them to you. thats up to you. I took pictures of his xray & of his ct scan. & of his foot they are pretty good pictures I think. Thank You for reading & answering. Tina

Tina,
Excellent detail on your last post. I am looking forward to those pictures. Every shattered heal injury is unique and your husband's seems very severe.

John