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Fractured Cuboid Bone in Left Foot
Right before the memorial day holiday I got up from the desk in our home office and noticed my left foot was really hurting me. I was limping around as I got the kids to bed and thought perhaps when I was sitting at the desk that maybe I overstretched the foot and it needed to just calm down. By 4AM the next morning I made the decision to go to the ER as it was hurting that bad.
Because I had not recalled falling or tripping, no xray was done and I was told I had plantar fascitis (sp?). They allowed me to leave with crutches and pain meds.
I did a follow up with my primary the next morning - he sent me for an xray to be sure nothing was broken. The report he got back from the xray showed nothing, or so it said.
I stayed home from work for 2 days thinking that between those 2 days and the long holiday weekend, I would be much better the following week. However, the pain continued and I noticed after work the next Tuesday my foot was very swollen.
Our onsite nurse at work suggested asking my primary for an MRI to ensure there was no break in the foot or ankle. I called and scheduled the MRI for 6/4 - almost 2 weeks since the initial symptoms had started.
Meantime, I wore a walking shoe we had left over from other toe injuries that the hospital had given us mainly because my foot hurt more when it was in a sneaker and the walking shoe just had soft velcro closures.
I got the MRI done and went to work. The primary called me around lunchtime that day and said the MRI showed a cuboid bone fracture in the left foot and explained that this bone was right where I was indicating alot of pain.
He also wondered how I broke that particular bone and suggested that it could have been a stress fracture where you do an activity every day and at some point the bone cannot handle the activity and breaks. Also, I had given birth to my 2nd child a few months prior and was very anemic the entire pregnancy - they thought this could have been a contributor as well to the bone breaking.
He told me to see an ortho Dr. that day as I needed the foot stabilized in a cast or cam walker.
My regular orth Dr. was in the process of relocating his offices to a new space (he had done 2 knee surgeries on me) so I was forced to call any ortho Dr. in the area. The only Dr. who could see me that day was a podiatrist who worked within a large group of ortho Dr's in the area - my primary assured me that a podiatrist was just as good to address the break so I made the appt.
I found out once I was there that the break was actually seen on the xray from 2 weeks prior - apparently whoever read the xray and did the report overlooked it so in essence, I had been walking around with a broken foot for 2 weeks. The MRI simply confirmed everything.
I was put in a cam walker and told it was 6 weeks minimum to recover. I was instructed to only take it off to bathe and the rest of the time I had to wear it.
As much as I was relieved to find an answer to the issue with the foot, I knew this was going to be hard as I just had my 2nd child the end of 2006 and my husband works 2 jobs. They did not instruct me to stay out of work - they simply said rest it as much as possible.
I elected to stay out of work for 2 days and then return after that in an effort to get the swelling down.
I am currently in week 3-4 and the foot started really hurting me last week and continues to hurt just as much as it did when this first happened. In addition, my 2nd toe is numb and it is not from over tightening the cam walker - I have been very diligent in ensuring the boot is not on too tight.
I did notice with the 2nd toe that when I press on the top of the toe in the corner by the nail, I get alot of pain and wondered if maybe it was an ingrown nail - never had one so I am unsure how it would feel and can an ingrown nail cause numbness?
Needless to say I caved as the pain became more then just a distraction and I first called my ortho and found he was out on vacation this week for the 4th of July holiday. So I called the podiatrist office and bumped up my 5 week follow up appt. to this week (Thurs) as I felt that having pain at this point wasn't normal........my fear is that the foot is not healing for some reason and they will either continue with this boot for more time, put a permanent cast on me or say only surgery can repair.......the last 2 options I really have no inclination to do as it would severly incapacitate me in being able to care for the children.
My questions:
1. should a fractured cuboid hurt this much at the 1/2 way mark (3-4 weeks in cam walker)?
2. what am I looking at realistically if it appears that the break is still there and not healing?
I have found limited information on this particular break in this particular bone and am very frustrated in having to wear a boot almost 24/7 and now it hurts more then when I first injured it.
At home I have 4 floors in the house so everything is stairs - by the end of the day it feels like I am lugging around 50 extra pounds on the leg when I trudge up and down the steps.
Any information reg my partiicular injury and what the possible reasons for the pain to start up again would be appreciated as well as what I am realistically looking at if this week's xray shows it is not healing.
Thank you in advance.
Because I had not recalled falling or tripping, no xray was done and I was told I had plantar fascitis (sp?). They allowed me to leave with crutches and pain meds.
I did a follow up with my primary the next morning - he sent me for an xray to be sure nothing was broken. The report he got back from the xray showed nothing, or so it said.
I stayed home from work for 2 days thinking that between those 2 days and the long holiday weekend, I would be much better the following week. However, the pain continued and I noticed after work the next Tuesday my foot was very swollen.
Our onsite nurse at work suggested asking my primary for an MRI to ensure there was no break in the foot or ankle. I called and scheduled the MRI for 6/4 - almost 2 weeks since the initial symptoms had started.
Meantime, I wore a walking shoe we had left over from other toe injuries that the hospital had given us mainly because my foot hurt more when it was in a sneaker and the walking shoe just had soft velcro closures.
I got the MRI done and went to work. The primary called me around lunchtime that day and said the MRI showed a cuboid bone fracture in the left foot and explained that this bone was right where I was indicating alot of pain.
He also wondered how I broke that particular bone and suggested that it could have been a stress fracture where you do an activity every day and at some point the bone cannot handle the activity and breaks. Also, I had given birth to my 2nd child a few months prior and was very anemic the entire pregnancy - they thought this could have been a contributor as well to the bone breaking.
He told me to see an ortho Dr. that day as I needed the foot stabilized in a cast or cam walker.
My regular orth Dr. was in the process of relocating his offices to a new space (he had done 2 knee surgeries on me) so I was forced to call any ortho Dr. in the area. The only Dr. who could see me that day was a podiatrist who worked within a large group of ortho Dr's in the area - my primary assured me that a podiatrist was just as good to address the break so I made the appt.
I found out once I was there that the break was actually seen on the xray from 2 weeks prior - apparently whoever read the xray and did the report overlooked it so in essence, I had been walking around with a broken foot for 2 weeks. The MRI simply confirmed everything.
I was put in a cam walker and told it was 6 weeks minimum to recover. I was instructed to only take it off to bathe and the rest of the time I had to wear it.
As much as I was relieved to find an answer to the issue with the foot, I knew this was going to be hard as I just had my 2nd child the end of 2006 and my husband works 2 jobs. They did not instruct me to stay out of work - they simply said rest it as much as possible.
I elected to stay out of work for 2 days and then return after that in an effort to get the swelling down.
I am currently in week 3-4 and the foot started really hurting me last week and continues to hurt just as much as it did when this first happened. In addition, my 2nd toe is numb and it is not from over tightening the cam walker - I have been very diligent in ensuring the boot is not on too tight.
I did notice with the 2nd toe that when I press on the top of the toe in the corner by the nail, I get alot of pain and wondered if maybe it was an ingrown nail - never had one so I am unsure how it would feel and can an ingrown nail cause numbness?
Needless to say I caved as the pain became more then just a distraction and I first called my ortho and found he was out on vacation this week for the 4th of July holiday. So I called the podiatrist office and bumped up my 5 week follow up appt. to this week (Thurs) as I felt that having pain at this point wasn't normal........my fear is that the foot is not healing for some reason and they will either continue with this boot for more time, put a permanent cast on me or say only surgery can repair.......the last 2 options I really have no inclination to do as it would severly incapacitate me in being able to care for the children.
My questions:
1. should a fractured cuboid hurt this much at the 1/2 way mark (3-4 weeks in cam walker)?
2. what am I looking at realistically if it appears that the break is still there and not healing?
I have found limited information on this particular break in this particular bone and am very frustrated in having to wear a boot almost 24/7 and now it hurts more then when I first injured it.
At home I have 4 floors in the house so everything is stairs - by the end of the day it feels like I am lugging around 50 extra pounds on the leg when I trudge up and down the steps.
Any information reg my partiicular injury and what the possible reasons for the pain to start up again would be appreciated as well as what I am realistically looking at if this week's xray shows it is not healing.
Thank you in advance.
How is everyone doing with their cuboid fractures? I almost don't want to ask for fear of hearing bad news. I broke mine almost 6 weeks ago and have strange pain and weakness-still in cam walker. I too was misdiagnosed for the first 2 weeks, and then received poor treatment for a week until i sought a second opinion from a podiatrist, who is fantastic. I would really appreciate any replies.
Hope you're all feeling better!
Hope you're all feeling better!
I too had a motorbike accident and broke my cuboid and medial cuneiform - luckily diagnosed immediately. Am 17 weeks along now (but was not allowed to weightbear for the first twelve weeks) and have a limp which increases as the day goes on/foot swells. Still have pain over fracture site. I'm guessing my limp will eventually go as my foot gets better. Are you limp free at the moment then Therion? Would the op cause a permament limp or just a temporary one? If it's temporary and gets rid of the pain that would be a positive. Could you have physio/chiro to alleviate the pain?
i had a motorcycle crash 5!!!!! years ago and smashed my left leg cuboid as well, i had a cast for 7 weeks,i also had my toe joint removed .now 5 years later my leg hurts really bad with no improovment at all the funny thing is it hurts much more when i am resting and less when i am active,sometimes for no spetial reason when i walk or get up from sitting i have a sharp pain all over my foot the pain feels exactly as if i twisted my ancle.my doctor told me i need surgery to fix it but it will make me limp and he cant promiss me that the pain will stop,so if eney one can help me and suggest me shuld i do it or not
On 6/16/10 I was on vacation in Mexico. On my first day there I was walking in the resort and fell off one step. My entire weight landed on my left foot ( I was also wearing high shoes). I immediately thought it was broken but I brushed it off. I was too scared to go to the hospital down there, so I used an ace bandage to wrap it and wore sneakers. I walked on it a lot and it hurt, but I have a high tolerance for pain so I thought it was just sprained. It never really swelled up too much and had minimal brusing around the sides and a big bruise spot on the bottom of my foot.
When I got back from vacation I made an appointment with a podiatrist. He took x-rays and said it was not broken but put me in a CAM walker (soft cast). The next week I had repeat x-rays since he said the break may not come up right away but when he got the results of that, he said it definitely wasnt broken. He gave me a prescription for physical therapy. He said I could wear sneakers or the boot, whatever made me more comfortable so I was walking around on just sneakers for about 3 weeks. Also, on my second visit to him, he said I had tendonitis (which I found out is a common misdiagnoses when someone had a broken cuboid).
I took it upon myself to visit an orthopedist. I showed him the same x-rays and he also said it did not look broken. But he said since I was still in pain and couldnt bear weight correctly (I was limping) that I should get an MRI. I got the results of the MRI a day later and doc called to say I have a broken cuboid bone. I cant believe I had been walking around on a broken foot all this time!
So I am back in the CAM boot and he said to use crutches. They are such a pain and annoying to use, so I just hobble in the boot and try not to put too much pressure on the injured part of my foot. It seems to be working ok. But when I sleep and shower and walk around in the morning before I put the boot on for the day, the foot moves around a little and is painful. Doc may put me in a plaster cast. Not sure for how long though. I have an appt with him in one week. UGH.
When I got back from vacation I made an appointment with a podiatrist. He took x-rays and said it was not broken but put me in a CAM walker (soft cast). The next week I had repeat x-rays since he said the break may not come up right away but when he got the results of that, he said it definitely wasnt broken. He gave me a prescription for physical therapy. He said I could wear sneakers or the boot, whatever made me more comfortable so I was walking around on just sneakers for about 3 weeks. Also, on my second visit to him, he said I had tendonitis (which I found out is a common misdiagnoses when someone had a broken cuboid).
I took it upon myself to visit an orthopedist. I showed him the same x-rays and he also said it did not look broken. But he said since I was still in pain and couldnt bear weight correctly (I was limping) that I should get an MRI. I got the results of the MRI a day later and doc called to say I have a broken cuboid bone. I cant believe I had been walking around on a broken foot all this time!
So I am back in the CAM boot and he said to use crutches. They are such a pain and annoying to use, so I just hobble in the boot and try not to put too much pressure on the injured part of my foot. It seems to be working ok. But when I sleep and shower and walk around in the morning before I put the boot on for the day, the foot moves around a little and is painful. Doc may put me in a plaster cast. Not sure for how long though. I have an appt with him in one week. UGH.
I recently fell and hurt both of my feet. I broke the medial cuneiform in the right foot (diagnosed by mri two weeks after my fall like many of you on here), and i have bone contusions to the 5th met. base and cuboid bone on the left foot. I have used my left foot, placing weight through the heel, to help transfer myself in and out of the wheelchair. Other than that, there has been very little weight placed on that foot. I have no cast for it, as the aircast was given to the right foot, and i was told i can't have two.
I get in the pool each day to prevent blood clots in the legs. I wrap my foot up in an ace bandage and let the foot move slightly and passively in the water.
I really need to be up walking in the next six weeks (my due date!). I am panicked that i wont be. How long can i expect this to heal? The report said it is a bone contusion, possible trabecular microfracture of the cuboid. Do i need to have it casted or is the brace on it most of the time ok? Seems to be different schools of thought... some say movement is good and weight bearing slightly heals bone, others say nothing and casts. I dont know what to do.... please help! I need to know how long to expect til i can get out of this wheelchair. I can't imagine having a newborn and being in this wheelchair. I can't even take care of myself!
I get in the pool each day to prevent blood clots in the legs. I wrap my foot up in an ace bandage and let the foot move slightly and passively in the water.
I really need to be up walking in the next six weeks (my due date!). I am panicked that i wont be. How long can i expect this to heal? The report said it is a bone contusion, possible trabecular microfracture of the cuboid. Do i need to have it casted or is the brace on it most of the time ok? Seems to be different schools of thought... some say movement is good and weight bearing slightly heals bone, others say nothing and casts. I dont know what to do.... please help! I need to know how long to expect til i can get out of this wheelchair. I can't imagine having a newborn and being in this wheelchair. I can't even take care of myself!
Wow! Can't believe there are so many people suffering like me from the same kind of injury that was never diagnosed or was missed on an x-ray in the first place! I injured my left foot 6 weeks ago when I stepped on a garden hose and twisted my left foot. I heard something crack and was in excruciating pain and couldn't weight-bear. I RICE'd and it didn't swell up much at the time so I thought I just sprained it real good. Then about 2 weeks later (with me still limping around, it started swelling a lot if I was on it much, which I was. I finally went to my Dr. and he ordered an x-ray at the hospital. Well, I've been in the medical field most of my life and I don't have much confidence in ER x-ray doctors readings. Sure enough...nothing wrong. My doctor had thought I had a fractured 5th metatarsal. So, being a self-pay person (no insurance), I decided to live with the reading. Now it's 6 weeks and I am still swelling (but not as bad as before) on the top of my foot under the ankle bone and you can see there is a "protrusion" where I believe the cuboid is. I suppose I should go back to my doctor and see what he thinks. I'm afraid of the cost to go to an ortho since I don't have insurance. Wonder if it'll get better on its' own???
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