PT after PTTD surgery - Foot Problems Message Board

sandcastles · 11-05-2008, 07:21 AM

Hello everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing well.

I was hoping that you may be able to help me. I started PT last week (surgery was PTTD, double calcaneal osteotomy and FDL (tendon transfer) July 23, 08 (15 weeks).

My question is: Must we really feel pain (pain that brings us to tears and leaves us in the 6-7 range on the pain scale after the session?).

I want to gain strength and I will and would do anything to achieve that. I don’t know if this knock on your as* pain is normal in PT.

My foot has a lot of edema for being three days post PT (it’s like an x-large golf ball right on the ankle). I thought that PT was going to be a gradual process - that it would be about focusing on building strength and acclimating your foot to normal conditions.

Thank you very much,

Sandy

smile2006 · 11-05-2008, 03:45 PM

Sandy-

Let me say I'm glad (although not really!!!!!) that you mentioned the golf ball ankle. This is where my residual swelling is and it is driving me nuts. The rest of my foot has gone down nicely but my ankle is tempermental and likes to flare up at times. Anyway, it would be of my opinion that PT shouldn't be painful. It might produce an achy feeling from working the foot but not pain. Have you just started PT? I'd have a talk with your therapist. They follow a real progression to gradually build strength in a way that shouldn't make you hurt. Perhaps you need to cut back to fewer exercises or fewer reps until you don't have intense pain or swelling after a session. I started jumping and hopping tasks yesterday in PT and really felt an achy foot last night!!!! I guess the difference between achy and pain is it goes away over night or within a couple hours. Also my PT said to ice after a session if the swelling was bad. Good luck!

emmie54 · 11-05-2008, 10:08 PM

'Sandy, I had an overzealous PT tear my peroneals during my rehab. I assumed since he had been a PT for 25 years and a partner in a reputable group that he knew how to treat post PTTD surgery patients. It wasn't until later that I learned that he had never treated anyone with my surgery. Be very very careful.

It was no way to prove that he did it (although I have no doubt and know exactly when it happened) my doctor was furious. After my peroneal surgery my surgeon sent me to a foot specialist physical therapist. A WORLD of difference in the treatment. The foot specialist just did manual PT with her hands and put me on NO machines, etc. They did ultrasound, manual massage, etc., but no equipment, stairs, nothing physical except what she did manually to me. She told me my strength would come back by walking better. She taught me a few exercises I could do on my own for specific strengthening. I did SO much better the "gentle" way.

please please be careful! Because I never got properly rehabbed from PTT surgery, then had another surgery right on top of it, scar tissue had built up deep in the joint which eventually impinged the joint causing a third surgery

emmie.

sandcastles · 11-06-2008, 09:27 AM

Hello Em,

Thank you for the reply. I am planning on looking for a PT that (hopefully) focuses primarily on the foot and ankle. I live in NH - so I will most likely have to go into Boston to seek a specialist.

I agree with the issue of pain (trying to push the healing process) vs gaining strength and endurance slowly and effectively and most importantly, safely. My bones are very weak - even though I am 50 I have t-scores of - 4.4 (spine, neck and hip) which sets my bones at about 90 years old.

I have always been so active - - so it’s easy to empathize with my “colleagues” here on this site . . . this is very frustrating, exasperating and at times down right depressing to be so incapacitated and dependant. I hate it!

Thank you for the words of encouragement and for the suggestion to locate a “specialist”.

Take good care,

Sandy

**************************************** ******************

Ms. Swim,

I’m sorry that you, too, have the golf ball syndrome. It’s actually painful! Mine happened after a very tough Orthoic fit with the PT. Ice and elevation will placate the foot yet it will not eliminate the swelling to any significance. I’m hoping that it’ll pass in the next few days.

We all know that you are “Super woman” and that you have been a exemplary patient. I hope that your swelling is temporary - and that you’ll be back to running soon.

Take good care,

Sandy

emmie54 · 11-06-2008, 01:17 PM

Sandy, I was 51 when I had the surgery and very active, too. Worked in the yard all the time, ran here and there, loved to walk for exercise (ha ha!) and MOST of all, loved to shop the mall. Since having three foot surgeries in three years my life has changed dreamatically. But, finally, I find I am gradually getting back to the things I used to love doing. Maybe not at the level I once did, but at least I am doing it. Hang in there, it WILL get better. It was the hardest thing I ever did but I got through it with my sense of humor and my sanity and I know you will, too.