For the past couple of days, the PTTD side of my foot has started to hurt again. Some of the pain is sharp, some is dull. I'm 19 weeks post-op from the "All American Procedure" and haven't had any pain on that side of my foot until now. I'm a little leery about tearing the tendons again after I've been through so much. How much of this is just the tendon "waking up" after surgery or is it tearing again? There is so much going on with the foot after this surgery it is hard to tell what is "normal" and what will go away in time. How much pain should I push through while doing PT as it gets more aggressive? Should I call the surgeon's office or should I not make a big deal out of it and see if it goes away? Anyone else had pain in their tendon while in PT? I pray it isn't torn again. Ugg!
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
Hi-I understand your fears!! What has your PT been doing? If the pain does not go away in about 2 days, I would call the surgeon. Probably, it is nothing serious, but why torture yourself with doubt? I would back off on anything that causes pain for now and let it calm down. Please keep us posted on how you are feeling!!!
It absolutely could be that you are doing more. I wouldn't panic but definitely DO NOT just push through. I would absolutely call your doctor today before going back to pt just to be sure.
The Following User Says Thank You to roxygirl1 For This Useful Post: lightstepper (08-09-2011)
Also, just wanted to say that I don't think you should push through ANY pain. I don't mean that you should not work to strengthen and some soreness after PT is probably unavoidable, but if the pain worries you than I think you need to trust your instincts and tell the PT "that hurts". You can always back off on stuff like inversion until you feel stronger.
The Following User Says Thank You to indaslot For This Useful Post: lightstepper (08-09-2011)
Thanks! The exercises she has me do are lots of rotation, balance, weight bearing and flexing of that foot. It's getting right into that tendon area and making it work. I'll back off a couple days and let it settle down and keep an eye on it. Ice and elevate! You are probably right to chill a bit. I SO don't want to rip it again!
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
LOL! Yes, the mood is definetely still worried! Thanks for asking indaslot. I rested the foot for several days and I still had the pain. We were having a rug installed on Monday, so I got to do some heavy cleaning over the weekend to prepare for it, and I still had the pain. (Got so bad at one point I got my walker, but that sharp pain was on the other side of my foot, not where I ripped it before.) It was pretty swollen today, but I had PT and she massaged that side on the tendon and taped it good with kineseo tape, gave me some new exercises and let me skip the ones that really make that tendon work. I only did those "homework" exercises once since I had seen her and I told her about the pain and how I was trying to get it settled down. I also have a call in to the surgeon, but of course I wasn't home to get the message when his assistant called me back, so I'll have to call them when they open in the morning. PT only suspects it is a tight tendon, hence the massage this morning. Maybe the Dr. has a different opinion? His assistant only said she had some info for me, so we'll see.
I really can't see how this would be a "tight tendon" at this point, since I was doing my home PT exercises religously when the pain started coming on. Hmm...
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
Last edited by lightstepper; 08-16-2011 at 02:11 PM.
The following user gives a hug of support to lightstepper: indaslot (08-16-2011)
Sometimes PT's have these unscientific theories that I am really skeptical about. Every pain they say is scar tissue. Sometimes I think a lot of it is guesswork or....snake oil
It's hard explaining to them about the pain, too. I feel like the PT thinks I'm trying to get out of the exercises. And I understand there is a certain amount of pain that you have to push through, but this pain is very close to the pain I had before surgery in the same place and it doesn't feel like nerve, heal or incision pain at all. It feels injured.
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
You are wise to back off of the pt until you speak with your surgeon. I remember my surgeon telling me that PT may cause slight discomfort but never real pain
I've done everything she has asked of me up until now. Pushed through a lot of pain, but this is different. I guess I do have the power to say "no" if it doesn't feel right. I've read some horror stories on here and don't want to be one of them! Scary stuff.
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
I'm sorry that you're going through this pain!
I'm 11 weeks post-op flat foot rec. and I did recently have a day where that tendon was very sore and hard to walk on but it only lasted for about a day or two and then it was completely fine again. It was just the tendon being forced to work more and it turned out to be fine. You should trust your instincts on this.. In my opinion I think you're right to back off a bit if you're still having this ongoing pain. My PT told me that on a pain scale from 1-10, if the pain is 5 or more then definitely back off. If it's around 2 or 3, maybe 4, then I'm fine to push through it. Just trust yourself and if it feels like it's too much then it probably is!
What is PTTD? Is it Posterior Tibial Tendonitis? If so I have it and would love some feedback. I'm 2 yrs. 3 mo. post op on OATS surgery Posterior Medial OCD. and started having pain in ankle. OS said I have this & through research I have all the signs/symptoms, etc.
Just talked with the surgeon's assistant and she said that he believes it is just sore from the physical therapy and to watch it to see if it goes away or not. If it becomes worse, they can get me in before my October appointment. She said they could put me in a brace or a boot before having to do another surgery, so there are options if it is torn (though it didn't heal before with those things). So, onward I go! I'll just "ignore" it for now and see where life takes me...
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
The following user gives a hug of support to lightstepper: indaslot (08-17-2011)
Lightstepper-it does seem unlikely that it would tear doing the activities you described. Was there some exercise in particular that you felt started the pain?
There is this one exercise that was REALLY hard for me to do that I believe kicked things off. Imagine a stretched out frizbee with 1/2 a ball on the base of it. You put your foot on the top edge, then rotate your foot so ALL the edges of the oval frizbee touch. I really had to force the thing to touch when it came to activating those inside tendons. Ouch!! She didn't make me do it this week. And it is getting easier for me to do it, so maybe it hurts while the tendon is getting re-activated with all this range of motion stuff. Who knows!
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"All American Procedure" surgery April 4, 2011
Hardware removal July 14, 2011
I had my first full session of pt today. I'm sore but I think I'll be alright. I've been walking w/o crutches a lot more, too. Most of the pain is in my heel. They iced it at the end of the session and I iced it again tonight. Hopefully it'll resolve overnight.
