by Karen S.
(Eugene, OR)
I injured my left foot almost five months ago either from a long rocky hike in snow in regular shoes or by slipping on ice and jamming my toes into a post. It felt like a bad bruise on the bottom of my foot, mostly on the ball of my foot around my third and forth toe. After a month of limping I went to the local orthopedics/sport injury clinic. An xray showed nothing, but I was told I had a stress fracture and was given a walking cast. It started to feel better but a couple of weeks in I walked into something in the middle of the night with the same foot. (light burned out, industrial sized bleach bottle left in middle of bathroom). Hurt horribly, like lightning hit me.
Fast forward in time, go back to clinic still in pain. Xray still show nothing. Have an MRI that shows my second, third, and forth metatarsals have 'micro' fractures and the bones are swollen. Another month, back at clinic. There has been some improvement and pushing on my foot in most places no longer hurts, but honestly it's only moderately better than when I first came in. Xray shows nothing, what a surprise. I was told to transition to a post-surgery shoe.
A month later: My toes are still swollen, still don't want to move and hurt when I try. I swear my outside three toes are pointing a little to the left (outside). My foot is still too swollen to fit into almost all my shoes. It still feels like there's a lump on the bottom of my foot. I can only walk slowly in my post-surgery shoe and only wear it in the house. I still wear the walking cast most of the time. I have not functionally improved since I first went to the doctor and I'm getting pretty desperate. Both myself and my dog are now fat from lack of activity. My right knee is starting to give out from all the limping, uneven shoe heights, and going up and down my three story house in the walking cast. I have another appointment with the doctor, and I suspect all that will happen is another Xray... which will show nothing.
Please help!
Hi Karen,
Your doctor needs to start thinking "outside the box". Your symptoms this far down the road are not proportional to the original injury.
Do not bother having another x-ray, what is it going to show? Nothing! If anything I would order another MRI with contrast and look for a soft tissue growth like a neuroma, or damage from all the accumulated trauma over the last few months.
If the MRI is normal other than the small stress fractures (which should be healed by now), I would request physical therapy in an effort to rehab the foot quicker.
Marc Mitnick DPM
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