Questions posted in the Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome - recovery

Forum: Neurology Forum
Topic: Neurosurgery - General

I suffered from TTS in my right foot and had an operation a week ago.
Does the numbness in the ball of the foot/big toe area reduce then disappear over a few weeks, or should it disappear after the operation.
I still have numbness as stated above.
Apparently I had a cyst in the area affected which was succesfully removed.
Also when can I safely drive a car again: I have been told between 2 and 4 weeks.

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Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome where the end branches of the Tibial Nerve are compressed at the medial ankle is a difficult syndrome because it is often overdiagnosed. It has a certain EMG pattern that can be difficult to test if a person has other problems such as neuropathy or even if too old. And many doctors go purely on symptoms which can be difficult as many things can cause pain in the foot. Te reason, I'm saying this is that many are operated on without improvement of symptoms at all.

But if you had a cyst there compressing the nerves, it sounds like surgery for TTS may have been the right option. Your recovery is based on how badly the compressed nerves were affected - was there evidence of the nerves dying back off the muscles (seen on the needle portion of your EMG) or were only the nerve conduction tests affected in a mild way. If the nerves were badly affected, it may take several months for them to regrow to the muscles. In fact there may be no improvement - but an imprortant factor is that with the cyst removed, progression/worsening has been prevented. Ask your doctor how much the EMG indicated that the nerves were involved.

As for driving, you're going to have to go with what your doctor says - we're certainly not going to disagree with him without knowing the full nature of your operation. The 2-4 weeks is based on recovery of the post-op swelliing and pain that may prevent good handling of your gas and brake petals.

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