Nerve pain in heel/toe after ankle surgery

pawsplus

I saw my OS (thanks for translation LOL!) yesterday. He is GREAT. He's not the one who did the surgery, as I fired him for crappy bedside manner. [NOTE: Both OSs are board certified--no worries there!]

The surgery seems to have been done well--x-rays are all nice and normal. Good New OS says it is NOT nerve pain. It is disuse osteopenia causing bone pain and also plantar fasciitis and a tight Achilles tendon. Apparently I COULD have been doing some gentle stretching exercises well before I did--I kept begging for PT and Crappy Former OS kept refusing to send me. End result: everything has seized up.

The good news is that I'm a bit better. I can now walk in boot w/ just ONE crutch (impossible last week) and the pain below my little toe is gone. The pain in the bottom of my heel is less. There is now more pain in the Achilles b/c I'm using it more. Good New OS wrote a new PT order to make sure the PT is on the same page as he is--he even got up on a box in his dress shoes and doctor coat to show me a particular stretch LOL. So I think I'm making progress--it's just WAY WAY slower than I expected or have an easy time dealing with. But I have a good plan for the gym and I'm spending 30 min out of every hour or so at work at my standing desk (in shoe and ankle brace) to increase weight bearing time.

Fingers crossed!!!

Newleftside

Yay! I am so glad to hear you sounding so positive! It is excellent that you like the new OS and that you have a treatment plan drawn out and new orders for the PT to be sure everyone is on the same page. I am also glad to hear that your pain is not nerve related and that it is already improving.

Keep in mind you will still occasionally have days here and there that will seem like you have taken a step backward (have a bad day). Don't get discouraged, this happens to just about everybody occasionally during recovery. You should Howeever experience more good days then bad ones. Today I myself am having a bit of a setback from having over done, but at PT today we just took things a little easier and will get back at my workouts hard tomorrow.

Congrats on your pain decreasing some and on making progress. I am so glad you found a new OS that you have confidence in, that makes ALL the difference in the world! Have a great weekend and happy healing to you.

__________________
Blessings NLS
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Surgery 3/13-Left ankle, Modified Brostrom-Gould
Arthroscopic debridement, Synovectomy.

cristers

Hi Paws,

I'm brand new to this forum today. Feeling like I should jump in and offer my '2 cents.' I had surgery Feb 27th for Medial Malleolus break, tip of fibula break with 2 screws, achilles lengthening, and adhesive capsulitis. More extensive surgery than yours, but pain like you in the same area. Once I started partial weight bearing on walker I had severe heel pain. It was relentless. Told to walk through it, and I did. However, my surgeon did take an X-ray 3 months after surgery to make sure my bones were healed. I thought when I began full weight bearing with a cane I'd be thru the heel pain. No way. Came on with a vengeance again. I have been in rehab since mid April learning to walk again. Both my PT and surgeon say the intense pain near my malleolus where the break was is very normal and to be expected, but that it would last a while, and lessen with time. My surgeon said the swelling I still get in the medial ankle area is normal, and that alone can cause nerve irritation. I'm told I have plantar faciitis since the surgery. Hard to tell the difference between healing bone pain, plantar facciitis, and nerve irritation. One treatment that seems to have really helped is Astym at rehab. You'l have too look that up. It's uncomfortable, but I get relief the next day. They also have me using a golf ball and tennis ball which I roll under my foot a couple times a day for a few minutes. It's the only thing that's helped me so far. But hang in there - it does get better. The scary part for me was not knowing if the malleolus bone was fractured again or if it's just normal pain from the healing process. And a word about PT. For myself, I've learned that only I can monitor my pain level during my sessions. My surgeon told me if it hurts, stop. And what's what I do. I've only had one set back when my PT pushed me a little too far. It will never happen again. When something is too hard to do, I don't do it. Or I try a little, but don't push myself to a pain level. It may take longer, but I don't believe in the 'no pain no gain' motto. 'Pain as tolerated' is my motto. It does get better!

SlimShetty

Hi there, I am new to this site too :-)

I recently had an ankle surgery for broken tibia and fibula after a bad fall. After almost 3 months in a cast and boot, finally I was allowed to put weight on it. But the first thing I noticed is the pain in my heel when I started putting weight, even if partially. Pain is somewhat tolerable while using crutches and minimal weight on the foot but as I start shifting more weight on it, it becomes more severe. I've never had any pain in my heel until now, so not sure if it's from the surgery or not having used my foot in a while or if it's something else that needs to be checked out.
I noticed you had similar issue - has it been resolved? Was there something you needed to do or it went away on its own after some time?
I'll appreciate your reply.

Thanks,
AJ

patish6

Ive broken my ankle twice and torn my ligaments countless times. I havent had surgery yet but its always been very painful when first fwb. I still will take a hydrocodone at nite if my ankle aches after pt and its my 4th week! It is a very slow process and pain is your guide. Heck ive read of runners running after 8 weeks. God im barely walking. And have terrible balance. Youll make progress but dont compare yourself to anyone but yourself and what you canbhandle on a given day.