Pain In foot after surgery

[mlb16]

I had surgery where I broke my foot. I had three screws put in. Now if I take a deep breath in and let it out, I get a sharp stabbing pain in my foot. I asked my surgeon what it could be and he said he did not know. Any suggestions.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi again!

You may not be imagining this; but breathing is ‘unlikely’ to be related to foot pain. An extremely rare possibility would be an underlying vascular abnormality in the region which could be aggravated by breathing in individuals with autonomic disturbances. In the absence of any other symptoms, this is a ‘very unlikely’ possibility. A more likely explanation would be a subconscious movement when one is concentrating more on the breathing and ignoring the movement or putting strain on the ankle. Also episodic pain (unrelated to breathing), is more commonly related to neural causes and hence this may be a possibility that one would like to rule out.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!

[mlb16]

Do you think that i am imaging this. This pain did not start until after this surgery.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Breathing is unlikely to be related to the pain in your ankle. The pain that you describe is more likely to be related to movement which could be secondary to neurological or orthopedic causes. If your orthopedician does not find an issue, you may consult your primary care physician for an evaluation to see if this could be related to neurological or vascular causes.
Hope this is useful.

Take care!