Recovery from posterior tibial tendon transfer week 12

left foot

I was originally told that I would be NWB for 12 weeks, but lucked out and only had to do 10. I think 12 weeks sounds pretty normal, especially for the amount of work you had done. Has your surgeon given you any idea of when you might be able to start partial weight bearing? Since you are in a job where you are on your feet a lot, maybe he's keeping you non-weight bearing longer to make sure everything is well healed before you start walking on it.

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1/16/14-FDL tendon transfer, calcaneal osteotomy, Gastroc Recession
6/4/15-Naviculocuneiform arthrodesis, removal of scar tissue, Evans osteotomy, Achilles lengthening

Clarence C

Hi left foot you really did luck out. He didn't tell me when I could begin partial weight bearing I'm assuming when I see him in a few days he will give me the ok. Could you tell me the process of returning to full weight bearing and how long did it take you to walk pain free with confidence with tour repaired foot.

left foot

My doctor gave me a schedule to follow and then the people at PT helped me. I started out at 25% weight bearing. They took how much I weighed and calculated 25% of that. Then the PT had me put my foot on a bathroom scales, and press down until it reached that weight. It was a lot more pressure than I imagined it would be. which was good because I was so afraid of putting too much weight on it. For a week I was allowed to "walk" at 25% with the aid of my crutches or walker. I increased it by 25% each week until I reached 100%, which was 4 weeks later. At 50% I was able to distribute equal weight on both feet and stand unassisted. That was a great feeling! When I got to 75% I was pretty much able to bear full weight as long as I used crutches or the walker. Only at 100% was I able to begin walking unassisted. That day was so exciting, the wait was finally over. It took awhile though before I didn't instinctively reach for something to grab onto because I was so used to having to balance myself. I still reverted back to my crutches or walker for a week or two when I got tired or sore. Per doctor's orders, I still used my knee scooter at work during that month when I was becoming full weight bearing so that I wouldn't get too sore. Once I was at 100% then I began transitioning into an athletic shoe over the next few weeks. I found the shoe to be much more comfortable than the boot, so I worked at making the transition as quickly as possible.
Once you are walking again, you will experience a whole new set of sensations and times of soreness or pain. You will need to keep moving to get your foot working again because it will be really stiff, but be careful not to overdo it. At the time you might feel fine & feel nothing, but then over the next day or two is when it will hit you and you will know you overdid it. Your foot will let you know when it's time to back off. It took a long time for my foot to feel "normal" and like it was a part of my body again. I'm at 10 months now and I'm finally catching myself doing things with that foot without thinking about it. Still struggling with a few issues that the surgeon is working on & I hope will resolve themselves within the next few months, but not sure.
Good luck as you continue to progress over the next months. The worst of it is over, and pretty soon walking will feel natural again.

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1/16/14-FDL tendon transfer, calcaneal osteotomy, Gastroc Recession
6/4/15-Naviculocuneiform arthrodesis, removal of scar tissue, Evans osteotomy, Achilles lengthening

Clarence C

Thanks! I guess I might be a little longer than you due to the cuneiform osteotomy . So I'm estimating another 2.5 - 3.0 months until I'm walking somewhat normal but I'm patient, does this sound realistic even though I had a lot of work done on my foot and I am also still having a few issues from my gall bladder removal I had 9 days after foot surgery but I'm thankful for feeling better

left foot

Yeah, your estimated time frame is probably pretty accurate. It takes awhile to get everything working right again. Just do your exercises faithfully and that will help a lot. What is the cuneiform osteotomy?

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1/16/14-FDL tendon transfer, calcaneal osteotomy, Gastroc Recession
6/4/15-Naviculocuneiform arthrodesis, removal of scar tissue, Evans osteotomy, Achilles lengthening

Clarence C

Medial Cuneiform Dorsal Opening Wedge Osteotomy Is performed when your arch collapsed and the
Big toe side of your foot is raised above the ground so the OS performs a wedge osteotomy of the medial cuneiform bone to push the bone down to the floor. Once the calcaneal osteotomy was completed my inner forefoot would be really high off the ground . So this was done to correct it just like the osteotomy of the heel , a bone is cut and a bone wedge is then placed into the cut area of the medial cuneiform bone

left foot

Do you know what stage your PTTD was in? Mine was close to being a 2 but he said he could still classify it as stage 1.

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1/16/14-FDL tendon transfer, calcaneal osteotomy, Gastroc Recession
6/4/15-Naviculocuneiform arthrodesis, removal of scar tissue, Evans osteotomy, Achilles lengthening