Advice after scarf, Aikin and Weil osteotomy

Hi Vanessa, I had my first foot done last august and it is only in the last couple of months that it has stopped swelling. It is a long road but it gets better week by week. Hang in there. I went back to work full time after about a month and had my second foot done in December . I still after work come home and put my feet up for an hour as my other foot still swells and I am nearly 5 months post surgery. I got told to allow 12 months for full healing, it will be about right too. Good luck. Amanda

You sound like you are doing the right things to me. I have ended up having physio as my stiffness didn't improve and I have complex regional pain syndrome which may have been triggered by the op. You should notice improvements week on week. Massaging helps and heel raises . Take it easy and listen to your foot in terms of if you overdo it it may swell but if it is ok then keep doing and gradually do more.  Walking as normally as possible is also a good thing but you sound like you are doing very well. The stiffness does take time to subside so just keep working on it,

personally i I have found the deep tissue physio that only they can do really helpful despite being very painful for me! You could always try a session but it is relatively early days so if you notice improvements I would stick with your own efforts!

good luck.

 

Hi Mandy. I agree with everything on this page but I will say that I found it helpful to have an appointment with a podiatrist who is also a podiatric surgeon. As you have probably found, even when you have a fantastic surgeon (NHS orthopaedic surgeon in my case) there is no real follow-up. The follow-up for me was just a few minutes at the 2- and 6-week points to take x-rays and check that the healing was going OK and then I was discharged. On a physio-friend's recommendation, I went to a podiatrist/podiatric surgeon privately (about the same cost as a physio) and he made a full assessment of my foot and gave me some excellent exercises and he custom-made some orthotics for me in his office there and then. The orthotics have been FANTASTIC and have allowed me to run where I certainly would not have done without. They are like magic. If you have the money and time to spare, I would thoroughly recommend this. By the way, I also had a one-off appointment with a physio but, although she was good, she did not have the same insight into foot and gait as the podiatrist. All the best!

Thanks for the advice.

Im due at the surgeons on thursday and this will be 12 weeks post op. Some days are ok, this evening it is so sore, and the lack of movement is concerning.

Will the movement ever come back? Is wearing a pair of small heels something I will never be able to do again?

Will i get the ok to do more exercise than swimming?

Probably being a tad dramatic but wishing I hadnt had the surgery, as the pain is worse and now i cant move my foot properly.

In my mind, paying for physio will be worth it. I was lucky and got it covered for me, but it helped a lot and I don't know where I would be without it.

I am nearly 18 months post-op after surgery on my left foot but it seems like compared to others my recovery has been slow (and not complete). It was more than 3 months before I was of crutches and I still have significantly pain when wearing any other shoes than trainers or if I walk for longer period of time (or run at all).