5th metatarsal fracture help

I`m so sorry to hear about your kitty - i understand the stress and emotional trama losing a loving pet can do to someone. I had to put my 15 year old black lab down 3 days before my 25th birthday. I went to pick her up to help her down the stairs (not any different than normal) and her bone cracked I rushed her to the VET and we found out it wasnt anything i had done but she had bone cancer and her bones were completely hollow. It does get easier, esp. since you will have pieces of her with you till the end of time! The vet gave us a little bit of her hair and her ashes of course.  I am happy to hear you are doing better minus the pain from todays struggles.

On to your son in law -  i am thankful that he isnt doing worse than what you mentioned. It could have been much harder but glad he is in good spirits. You both will continuously be in my prayers.

Thank you very much 🌹

Amamdeep,

Seeing as I just have recovered from a break of the 5th metatarsal,I can only share with you what the course of recovery was for me. I broke mine back on July 23rd. Mine was broke inbhalf at a 45degree angle. It didnt need a pin as it was lined up good enough for healing. I went to an ORTHOPEDIC surgon not a foot Dr. Anyway i was in a hard non weight bearing cast for 4-5weeks. Then put in an air cast and told to be non weight bearing for another 2-3 wks. Then i could try walking on it. Rotating the days. I did that for a week

.then when I feg

Sorru hit send by mistake. After rotating days of walking in the boot and out, i decided to just go for it. I got a real good pair of supportive shoes and off I went.

I would imagine it would depend on how bad your broke it as to just how soon you can start to without the boot. If its a hirline fracture then its not as bad as a complete break. My foot still swells and aches when Im on it all day. Thats the long and short of it.

Let me just say this you will get through it. I have 16 stairs that I had to get up and down every single day. I have an upstairs apartment so I understand how you feel regarding the stairs. I just crawled up them on my knees and hands and when I went down I just scooted down one at a time. I didn't have to have surgery thankfully, but I do know That it is common with the jones fracture break. Regarding your toes being swollen just make sure that you wiggle them and keep the blood going to them at all cost. Also keep your leg elevated as much as possible and remember to lay flat because you're fat has to be higher than your heart.

The worst part for me is not being able to run around and play with my puppy. It broke my heart not being able to take her to the dog park, you realize how much you take for granted until you can't do it anymore. I was in a non-weight bearing cast for six weeks And then moved into a boot for a Nother four weeks. At that time I found a physical therapist that would do bone stimulation's and massage my foot and help me start walking again until I was fully released to start PT.

I found comfort in talking to people that was either going through the same thing or how to gone through the same thing. I am praying for you that you do not have to have surgery !

I also found that my orthopedic surgeon was not very informative on how to go about my daily life with tips or tricks. So I came up with my own. So if you need any help please do not hesitate as we are here for you

If you don't mind me asking where are you from?

Hey Shawney!! Hi devsmom, shawney and I became buddies on here because we both were laid up with a broken foot! I sure do know how hard it is to be out of commission, it was a very humbling for me. I have never had a broken anything in my 67 yrs. This was horrible to me also, im extremely active and found having to sit with foot uo, in a NWB cast for 6 werks almost like torture. I had a wonderful Orthopaedic and he helped me at every turn. It's been 8&1/2 months since I broke mine and still my foot will start burning for no reason, and I will get sharp pains shooting through it. My Orthopediac said this would happen so he forewarned me . sure enough i have had both of those. My foot is affected my the weather too. Also if Ive been up on it all day it will still swell some. Get some good supportive shoes, they will make all the difference in the world when you get back on your feet. I too have stairs and did as Shawney did crawled up and sat down and took one step at a time on my butt... Not very lady like , but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Hope Shawney snd I have been of some help. Welcome to the 5th Metatersal sorority.. Hiw ya doing Shawney? I left you a note on Did ya get it?

Hi devsmom, please read my long nite below to Shawney, it was meant to go to both of you. Shawney and I are byddues on here abd we get all posts that come on here about 5th metatarsel breaks. I gave you my experince in her note. Hope it is of some help. You can ask me anything and if I know the answer I sure will tell ya. Im hinky 2949

Greetings Hinky and Shawney too,  How nice to hear from you both.  I grew up in Southern California.  Jobs took us to Huntsville AL for 11 years but when I retired I wanted to get back to the left coast and we have been living in Vancouver WA (just North of Portand OR) for 12 years.  I will concentrate on keeping my foot elevated and moving my toes often.  I do want to concentrate on healing and hope for the best when I visit the Dr. on Tuesday.  I am very grateful that I live in a 1 story house with just 2 steps into the garage and into the room where I fell.  I'm glad that I didn't fall into the concrete garage but onto carpet.  I'm also grateful that I have a helpful husband because I don't know how I would manage without some assistance, for example just getting into and out of the shower and duct taping a plastic bag over my NWB cast.  What is puzzling to me is what did I do to make my ankle twist on that first step.  My foot was fully on the step.  I didn't catch my heal going down and I didn't over hang that step.  There was no "accident".  If I can't figure out what I did wrong how can I prevent it in the future?  I have never broken a bone before.  After the first 3-4 days I was not in pain and I am not having the pain that you discuss.  I don't know if that's good or not because I want "healing" pains.  I hope to learn more next Tuesday and I will let you both know what's up.  Thanks for your friendship.  Where are you located?   

Hinky!!!

how are you doing? i`ve been holding in there. have been having a few problems with my back and my knee but my foot has been doing well! Slight tings of pain here and there but otherwise i have been decent!

I didn`t recieve a note);

Hi devsmom!! Im in the North Georgia mountains in a small town called Mineral Bluff. Pop.aprox.20,000. The larger city is called Blue Ridge Ga. Which more people are familiar with. I work in Blue Ridge on our scenic railway and thats where I broke my foot. Stepping off the train and stepped down wrong. Although tge steps were not flat they are mesh and wavy. They are supposed to fix that but to date have not..shawney and I keep in touch and every so often compare our healing and healing pains. We will have a girls thing going here it looks like..lol. Wonder if any men get on here and compare? Anyway, do keep us up on how it goes Tuesday. We are interested and care..Good luck. Ask lots of questions. There is such a thing as bone simulation. Ask Shawney she had it done. My Dr. Was going to do it but I was healing fine, so I didnt have to. Ok thats it fir now..

Hi Shawney!! Sorry to hear your back and knee are giving you trouble..do you think its cause your walking different since you broke your foot?? I developed Platnter factious since I broke mine and the Dr. Said its cause I walk different on my feet. I have to wear the support things in my shoes fir that condition now. If its not one thing its another. Sorry you didnt get my note. I left it on the social media that we go to. I wondered why i didnt hear back..now I know. You never got it!! Well poop.. Looks like we've got a new member to help along on here. Between the 2of us she should have all the info. She might need. Well Ill keep in touch.. You too! Glad your foots doing well sirry about the back & knee..ttyl

Devsmom, I am in southern california. I grew up in Huntington Beach and have moved now to Costa Mesa. How are you doing? Sometimes it's almost easier to not try and figure out what had happened and it went wrong. It could be simply the fact that you just happened to put the weight distribution wrong and it broke the bone. The way i see it is no pain is good pain. I got the healing pains but it was sparse. What happened on tuesday?!

Hinky!

Bummer ): what did the note say? It could very well be from me not walking normally or how i normally would walk. I`m having a bit of trouble in my ankle lately with the foot i had broken but i`m getting passed it. Yes, we should have if not all but most of the answers to her questions!!

how are you feeling? how's your foot?

Hi Shawney and anyone else.  I am very jealous of you living in So. CA.  I grew up in San Diego then moved to Long Beach to go to CA State LB.  Lived in Belmont Shore.  Got married and lived in LB and Lakewood but worked in LB, Garden Grove and Santa Ana............then 11 years in Alabama.  We were not able to afford to move back to CA.  Vancouver WA is quite nice but I really miss the beach!  Thanks for asking about my Tuesday Dr appointment.  It went well but I was my normal ticked off.  Dr. was 45 mins late and the medical staff told me I was to have theNWB cast removed, an xray, and then a new cast put on for another 4 weeks, but I could walk some with it.  I didn't know that was the plan, but then they didn't tell me much during the first visit.  When the Dr came in to take a look I wanted him to show me the old and new xrays and explain how I was doing.  Gosh, I saw that I had 3 breaks in the little 5th metatarsal!  Two on one side and the third on the other joining the two.  The side with the two breaks looked to me like when I would take a chip out of the rim of a porcelain plate.  Anyway Dr. said I was healing well but needed more time.  I told him that I contacted the supplier of the low top boot and had then swap it for a hi top boot because he told me that was what I should have had and HERE IT IS.  So he decided to put me in the boot rather than a walking cast.  I so love showers without a duck taped plastic bag over my cast!  You're so right about not trying to figure out what went wrong.  Guess that's just what accident means.  Now that I've been in this boot for a number of days, I must say that it's not at all like the low top one.  Whine, whine, whine.  I'm kind of afraid to put weight on my R foot because I do want to continue to heal well like I did as NWB.  So I'm also using an old lady, that would be me, walker and trying to share the weight with my good left foot.  I still sometimes use the knee scooter too because it's soooooo much quicker.  Spoiled me.  How is your back, knee, and puppy doing?  If you get to drive around say hi to Seal Beach and Surfside for me.  I so miss the beaches.  

Hinky,  So glad to hear you were able to return to the scenic RR.  I loved traveling in the South when I lived in Huntsville.  Such beauty and charm. I wanted to let you know that I also had plantar fasciitis in the past but didn't wear any support shoes or inserts.  What worked best for me was a foot exercise and it's something that you can do just about anywhere during your normal day.  I started when I was watching the news on TV in my recliner.  You need a belt.  Hold the ends in each of your hands and put the belt middle around the ball of your foot and pull the belt toward you.  You will feel the pull from the bottom of your foot all the way up the back of your leg to your knee.  It sure worked for me and now I do something that gives me that same stretch when I'm just out and about.  Like when I'm getting gas in the car or checking out at the grocery store.  Get close to something flat in front of you like a check out counter or even just the curb that the gas pumps are on and put you toes up on that surface with your heel still on the floor, lean slightly forward and bend your knee slightly also.  You will feel that back of the leg stretch.  Good luck.  Doorbell.  Must be my son, got to run.  

Well I was wondering just yesterday as I was responding to a post on here just what happened at your Drs. Appointment. Sounds like your doing pretty darn good. I too had a walker after I got into the airboot. Made life much easier especially cause I kept fallung iff my crutches..yes, i know... Dont laugh. 3times I did that. Onetime i fell straight backwards..luckily I never got hurt just bruised.. My husband went out and got me the walker he called me pitiful..guess I was. So good to get your input on the excerises for the Planters Facitisis. I will give the belt thing a try. It is a bothersome and painful thing to have. My heels hurt the worst. Wellvwant to tell you Thanks for the info and iIm glad your getting along pretty well. Stay in touch on here..if you havent read teresas post do. What a horrible time she has had!! We can. Thank our blessings!! Byee

Hi Hinky,  You are so lucky you didn't break something else with your falls!! I never even considered crutches cause I knew they would hurt under my arms.  I'm glad I'm in the boot.  Didn't know they called it an airboot.  I wonder why.  I must say that I liked the low boot much better than this hi boot, but at least I'm not in a cast.  I think I understand why you guys have had trouble with knees and back problems from walking differenty cause I'm definitely walking differently.  This boot is probably an inch higher than my shoes so I'm off balance and the hips are doing something to compensate.  I don't want to see what that looks like from behind.  The boot also hurts my ankle since it wants to flex but can't too much.  I'm still not putting much weight on the R foot mostly using my hands and arms on the walker to carry the weight.  That was great that your husband went out and got a walker for you.  What a sweetie. Tomorrow (week 2) I'm going to start trying to put more weight on the foot and less on the arms.  Week 3 I'll try no weight on the arms, just using them to keep the walker in front of me while I walk "normally".  We'll see.  I thought of another "exercise" for the PF.  On that gas pump curb, or any curb, or on any stairs, put the front of your feet on the stairs and the back are in the air without support.  Relax your feet so that your heels drop somewhat below the stair.  Don't fall backwards, keep your body forward just lower your heels.  You will feel the stretch.  My PF was in one foot at a time.  Didn't hurt at all sitting down with no weight on it.  Oh boy when I got up it was a stabbing pain in my heel with every step (limp), but after about 25 steps it went away.  So I either had to walk all the time or sit all the time.  Did you get a shot in your foot?  I did then the PF moved to the other foot!  I think the exercises work the best.  I did read Teresa's post, OMG I feel so sorry for her.  Sometime I'll drop her a note.   

Hi Devsmom, i tried your PF excerise. The onevwhere uou put your toes on the wall andcheel on the ground. I did it on the foot that I didnt break. I felt the stretch and it felt good and hurt some. I may have sttetched to hard. Anyway, im not going to do it to the foot I broke yet because my Dr. Told me not to stand up on my tippy toes to reach sometjing because it might mesd up my foot as its still weak and healing. So i would think that exercise might do the same thing to that area of my foot. Bending the foot up like that. Ill stick to the right foot and hope tha it will help the foot/heel on that foot. Im going to try the belt pull and if it hurts where I broke it I'll stop.. Thanks again for those exercises..i'll tell you how it goes. Stay well and keep moving..

I absolutely will shout hello to the beach for you. I tried to keep myself inside and under heating pads this past weekend as we had a set of storms come through. My foot froZe with the weather and my knee couldn't handle it. I went to the ER Friday night in fear that maybe I broke something else because the pain was unbareable. They said it looks to be arthritis, bleh! It happens ): I'm so glad you seem to be doing much better ! My pup is doing great! I wish you could insert pictures here so everyone could see her. My back is doing much better. It scared me to practically be paralyzed for a few days but it did end up coming back to normal status (thank god) my knee is a work in progress and have been getting fluid removed on a monthly basis.

I too walked with a walker. It felt much better than the crutches (which I ate pavement a couple times using) lol! When I was in a cast I ended up just opting for a wheelchair was it was easier to work with and get around.

Oh Shawney, I hate it that your having such a time with all these others off shoot problems. Your foot freezing up like that! Would have scared the bajebies outta me too! Glad your doing better. You and me are the organial 5th matatarsal gals.. You can't get sick on me here..ler me know what happens. I have arthritis too, very painful at times, along with my Fibromyalgia. Especially when the weather is bad.!

I hate that you ended up in the ER. again! Geeez... Stay well my little friend. I will be watching on here for updates on you!!

Hinky, 

Even though i am having many issues, i still battle it with a smile and a laugh on my face. It's definitely put into perspective how important it is to take care of your body and continue to take care of it even after "accidents". It has all stemmed from my foot being broken. My knee was severely dislocated and shattered two seperate occasions in my teens because of highschool as well as club soccer. When i broke my foot my knee was no longer active resulting in the fluid building up. I went through a spout of lower lumbar facett syndrom. Because i over compensated my right side when i broke my foot it caused my spin to actually spin, again resulting in lower back pain. I laid down at work to crack my back and my spine jammed. I had to rush to the Chiropractor inside of my PT office in order to help me unjam it. Let me tell you, worst pain in the entire universe. I coudn`t feel my legs or move my toes or anything. UGH. 

Slowly but surely i will prevail and all this will be behind me! 

 

Hi to everyone,  Well, I'm about 7 weeks into this process now and I'm wondering about swelling.  It's been almost 2 weeks that I've been in a tall boot and able to put weight on my R foot.  Since I can see my foot everyday now I can see how the swelling has gone away from my toes back all the way almost to my ankle.  I'm a bit worried about my ankle because that's what twisted and caused my fall.  My foot has been xrayed twice but never my ankle.  The diagonsis was a "moderate" ankle sprain (and a Jones fracture).  Except for the first few days my ankle has always hurt more than my foot.  I will certainly ask my orthopedist when I see him next week but I wonder how long it took for the initial swelling to go away in your foot.  Since I was liberated from NWB I've been walking in my house without my walker (always with my boot).  I have been going to the market with my boot and walker.  I think I overdid it last time because for the first time I did get some moderate throbbing where the fracture is located.  Advil took care of it.  So, any ideas about the swelling?  Hinkey I'm just a bit older than you and I was so impressed with you frolicking around on stage!  I can't wait to get back into my daily routines.  I've put on 5 lbs as I'm not going to my morning aerobic classes.  I don't know if I'll every be able to do "step" class again.  Dev's Mom

Devsmom, my ankle was not sire at all. I did have swelling in my whole foot for months after and still do if on my foot all day without much sitting or off of it. This is month 9 since I broke it. It still will burn and I still get some sharp pains evey niw and again. All these my Dr. Said was normal. I havent been back to the Dr. For month's but dont feel the need to. I think your correct in waiting to ask him if this is normal. What may be normal for me may not be normal for your case. I think your doing great for "our" age. I used to clog.. Well sadly i cant do that any more. So I dont know about step dancing??? It may be a while befoe you can get back to that. I also gained 12lbs. And havent taken it off.. Grrrr. Let me know what the Dr. Tells you next week. Keep moving ,keep on, keeping on. As my dear Aunt used to say, "It's a great life if you don't weaken"!