Limping and pain 5 months post talus and calcaneus ORIF surgery
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Hey guys I was just hoping to see if anyone has had a similar experience as me or has any advice on what to do about my foot injury! I am a 25 y/o female.
I attached photos of me walking from a few days ago just to give a visual...
March 21st 2022 I got into a car accident and fractured my talus and calcaneus bones. The report from the emergency room says: Severe comminuted vertical fracture of the talus, complete comminuted fracture of the neck of the sustentaculum tali of the calcaneus bone, large avulsion fracture of the roof of the calcaneal bone, & multiple tiny bone fragments are seen in the subtalar region.
On March 25th 2022 I went in for ORIF surgery and was NWB for 8 weeks. I now have 1 plate and 5 screws. Following that I was placed into a CAM walker boot but still NWB for 3 more weeks. From there I slowly transitioned into weight bearing and I think it was about 4 weeks of walking in the boot before my doctor allowed me to walk in regular sneakers.
I have been doing physical therapy 3x a week since I started weight bearing in the CAM boot. I can tell my foot is stronger and I definitely have better range of motion but I am still limping and have severe pain around the top of my foot and behind my outside ankle bone every day. But the worst part... I can tell that I am walking on the outer edge of my foot instead of putting weight through the ball of my foot and it's so painful! At my last follow up appointment I mentioned this to my surgeon (who is a general trauma orthopedist) but he assured me my foot was healing beautifully and that it would just take time to start walking correctly again. I was reluctant leaving that appointment because I sort of felt like something was not right and my surgeon literally dismissed my concern so I ended up making a follow up appointment with a podiatrist to get a second opinion.
He told me that I am not crazy, I am not walking correctly because the ORIF surgery had left my foot in an incorrect position. He said that my calcaneus is in varus position and that unfortunately another surgery would be required to correct that. I really liked the podiatrist and felt much more listened to but I am thinking of getting a third opinion from another orthopedic surgeon because I don’t want to just jump into surgery again without being really confident in my doctor and that the procedure will correct the problem.
I attached photos of me walking from a few days ago just to give a visual... I was hoping at 23 weeks post injury this would all be behind me by now but unfortunately that is not the case for me. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated! Until it is YOUR injury nobody truly understands how frustrating and depressing breaking your foot is! Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance!!!
Julia
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