Foot pain after ankle tightrope surgery

[jblack17]

I had a small linear tibia fracture and upper fibula fracture of my left leg on June 24th. There was also a small chondral defect on the talus. On July 6th my I had ankle tightrope surgery. Immediately after the surgery I had pain between my big toe and the second toe. It was excruciating for the first 2-3 weeks after surgery. This pain eventually seemed to subside and after 4 weeks on crutches I was walking in a walking boot and after 7 weeks I was walking with no cast. I have since gone to 5 weeks of physical therapy and am walking pretty well.  As soon as the walking boot was gone I had severe pain across the bottom of my foot. It seemed to go away within a couple of weeks but the pain in the ball of my foot is still here after 13 weeks. It hurts when I walk at the point of push off. Feels like a stretching type of pain. There is also still numbness on the medial portion of my akle just below the bone (size of a nickel) also the top of my big toe is numb on the lateral side. The pain in the ball of my foot is driving me crazy.  I have been doing some exercises in the pool during rehab. During this pool time the feeling under my big toes is more like numbness than pain.  I will admit that my extensor tendons, ligament, and muscles were very weak and it took a while to get the abilty to lift my toes/foot up but now can do this with no problem. Why does it feel different in the pool? Also it hurts more when I put on athletic shoes than with slippers or crocs.Is this foot pain normal? Is this the result of the atrophy of my calf, leg, and foot muscles? What do I need to do to get it better?

[Michael L Gross, MD]

Its only been three months since a fairly severe injury and extensive surgery.  A lot of your symptoms should improve with time, however, all of them may not.  Either way, be patient, recovery may take up to a year.

[jblack17]

Thanks for the quick response. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. I guess I need to continue to be patient. Never had a big injury before though. How can one tell the difference between muscle/tendon/ligament weakness and pain and nerve type pain? My pain only occurs when I use the ankle. When I rest it there is now pain. Isn't this good news?