child's pain

  Last fall, my 11 yr. old daughter was on a spill on a tampoline, broke her
   little toe, was put in a cast for 3 weeks, when the cast was removed, she
  had pain at the achilles tendon, put her back in a cast for 3 more weeks
  she lost alot of her muscle tone. After a month, she's still unable to walk
  correctly, she walked stiff ankled. Months later, after a MRI and bone scan
  both being normal and months of PT her leg is about 1/4 the size of the other
  has lots of pain in the  back lower part of her leg about 2" above the ankle
  for about 3". Drs. thought it might be RSD but only has the pain part of
  it and no others. Her leg is about 5/8" shorter  and it appears that her toes
  are being pulled  back to be shorten. Please if you have any suggestions as
  what to do with her now I would appreciate it. She takes 100mg. of Darvon for
  pain, and sometimes has to talk 2 to have any relief. She takes elavil
  at bedtime so we can get some sleep. Thank - you very much.
dear linda,
it sounds like the problem began after she had the cast put in. I am not
an orthopedic surgeon nor was i there to see how tight the cast might have
been. It is common to lose muscle bulk when one has a cast in place because
of the immobility. The pain you are describing does not sound like RSD and
it seem to be related to the casting.
For being a young child she is on hefty doses of narcotic. Elavil is a great
drug for pain and as a sleep inducer. How much elavil is she on? this can be
increased and eventually she will not need to rely on nartcotics.
I am not sure how the leg length discrepancy occurred but this is for the ortho
docs to help you with.
I suggest you have your child re-evaluated by a pediatric neurologist who can
determine the exact nature of any possible nerve damage and order the
appropriate testing needed. You might also want to check with the orthopedic
surgeon to see if the cast had anything to do with it.