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Foot problems 13 years after club foot surgery

Discussion in 'Ask your questions here' started by taniejay, Sep 14, 2008.

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  1. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest


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    Thank you everyone for your stories and ideas. Seems that there is a little bit of a trend here in regards to the "years after". Club foot surgery is wonderful and allows a child with club foot the chance at a normal walk, but it seems that the long term affects need to be looked at earlier in life rather than later. Maybe an additional appointment at age 8ish to test the tendons that were surgically altered. Maybe an intervention at this time can be remedied with physical therapy rather than the possibility of additional surgeries.

    Update on my daughter. So, she ended up having 3 stress fractures in her foot, which required wearing a boot to allow them to heal. She was out of the boot in time to play in the state soccer tournament, she was so excited! (We placed 4th out of 4, but, we were the only PUBLIC school in the tourny, other three schools were private schools and can "recruit" their team.)

    Anyway, NOW, she is having other issues. She is having pain in the bottom of her foot and and across the top of her ankle. I've taken her back to Children's and it seems that her achillies tendon and the tendon along the bottom of her foot, both which were lengthened during surgery, are no longer growing with her or stretching enough. So, basically, the tendons are short and affecting the "flexibility" of her foot. She cannot take a "regular" step, it comes up short because she reaches the end of the stretch. It's to the point that if she tries to force the full step, her first two toes start to curl under.

    This is also causing issues in her knee and lower back. Unfortunatley, the physician we saw at Children's was not a surgeon, but we have been reffered to one. She see's him on the 21st of this month. If anyone would like to discuss this individually, you can contact me at peace_frogs at comcast dot net.

    I appologize for the delay in the update :)
     
  2. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest

    Thanks for the post. You would think that at the age of 14, you shouldn't have any pain and that there MUST be a reason behind it. I believe the pain to be an alarm of an underlying issue, like a smoke alarm, the alarm's not the issue, it's the fire! This is why I am so persistant in finding solutions to these issues for my daughter. I want her to be active and do the things she wants to do and not have to think about if it will "hurt". I will attempt to post in a more timely fashion. You may reach me at peace_frogs at comcast dot net if you wish :)
     
  3. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest

    My daugter was also given the insert to wear in her shoe but that actually made things worse, well with this last issue anyway. I've been told that stress fractures are hard to see on xrays until they start to heal, but the one physician that told her she needed to tie her shoe tighter, didn't bother to even take an xray.

    Unfortunately, I've not found a solution to take all the pain away, yet. I'm working on it and when I don't get the answer I want, I go to another doctor. She would still have stress fractures if I wasn't determined. There has to be a reason for the pain. 14 year olds don't have pain "just because" and with the club foot issue, it's an easy out for someone who doesn't want to really listen. Not thats what all doctors do, but sometime's I just don't think they take teenagers seriously enough to actually listen to them. If you would like to keep in touch with what we can find out in a more timely fashion because I dropped the ball on responding on here, you can get a hold of me: peace_frogs at comcast dot net
     
  4. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest


    See, the thing is, had I read this information before taking my daughter to the first 3 doctors and the ER, I would have asked if there was a possibility of a stress fracture, in turn, they may have taken an xray and the treatment for my daughter could have started MONTHS earlier than they did and she could have played the entire soccer season last year instead of having to sit it out.

    Now, someone reading this information, may say "hey, I wonder..." and ASK their physician if this could be a possibility. An educated patient can actually HELP their physician rather than just go in and say.... " my foot hurts." How about " my foot hurts, do you think it could be a stress fracture?" It gives the physician some place to start.

    Physicians can sometime's miss the most obvious issue because they are "looking to hard, or not hard enough"

    I did this for my daughter and myself. I wanted to know if there were other sufferers of the same issues that started with the same condition as my daughter. I do not deem this forum as god, I use it for information only as I'm sure do the other's who have posted on here.

    I seek out medical advise from physicians I take my children to, not from forums on the internet. Sometime's, if I don't like the advise I receive from a physician I seek out another physician...it took 4 physicians to determine she had stress fractures to begin with...
     
  5. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest

    How did the appointment go? You can reach me at peace_frogs at comcast dot net
     
  6. Taniejay

    Taniejay Guest

    I'm happy that you have found something that works for you, so far, we have been unsuccessful in finding the same for my daughter for this new issue.

    I do have a question though, do you think that teenagers should have to "deal" with the pain? I believe the pain is there due to an underlying issue and that issue needs to be found. I'm a very stubborn person, especially when it comes to my kids :)

    Good wishes to you and yours :)

    TJ's mom
     
  7. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    I myself had surgery on both feet when I was a baby. I am out on this forum trying to find answers of my own as to why I have increased pain in my feet for about the last 4 years (I am now 34 years old). I certainly did not think I had anything to add to this, but I think I do - stretch, stretch, stretch. I find my pain is little to none on days that I spend a significant amount of time stretching. When I go even a day without any stretching, I immediately notice.

    However, I am still on the hunt for things I can do to improve my pain levels. I plan on speaking with a professional, but in the meantime, keep the suggestions coming.
     
  8. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest


    Have you read that club foot can actually come back and subsequent surgeries may be required? I am 34 and had club feet when I was born. Having some serious pain the last several years and found this forum. Anyway, I am sad to say that surgery may be in the cards for her again some day.
     
  9. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    I just found this forum as I was looking for some info to help decide if we should have our 14 yr old son go through a procedure to equalize his leg length due to his clubfoot leg being 2 cm (almost 1 inch) shorter. If anyone has had this procedure done or knows about it - please post.
    I also have to say there is an amazing Club Foot Clinic at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, BC (suburb of Vancouver). My son has been treated since birth at this clinic & followed up every 2 years or so. This Dr. has a whole team of professionals working with him (xray tech, physiotherapist, UBC Med students, orthotist, etc). He himself is a Paediatric Orthopedic Surgeon. Kids from all over B.C. & Yukon are sent to this particular Dr. for treatment. We have been very happy with the treatment our son has received so far. He had castings from birth up until surgery at 6 mos. old. He then had a pin through his foot for 6 weeks & brace until about 14 mos. Since then he has had no procedures, only check ups every 2 yrs as things have been fine. Our son is an elite hockey player (if you can call them elite at this age?) - he plays competitive Rep hockey, and along with that goes all of the dryland training, hockey camps, etc. He has been skating since the age of 3 and started hockey at 5 yrs old. My point is that kids with club feet can be athletes. - and who knows maybe he has been relatively problem free because of the sports he has been involved in all of his life. This leg length procedure though is a new one for us. The Dr. says there is a "window" of opportunity to do this at his age. I know it involves interfering with the growth plates on his normal leg. I must qualify my dilemma with this - I was born with a club foot as well. I'm 44 and had surgery at 1 month old in Europe, and a 2nd procedure at 4 yrs old in Canada. I also have a leg length difference but have suffered no pain or other issues. This is where my problem comes in deciding what to do for our son. This procedure is something that was not offered to me 30 yrs ago - and I know 2 cm can be significant especially for someone so involved in sport.
     
  10. Im 38 years old and I was born with a severe club foot, my corrective surgery was done at 6 months. At the age of 12 I got tendonitis in my achilles tendon and that made me walk with my toes curled and on the outside of my foot. At the age of 20 I was diognosed with sciatica and that was caused due to the difference in the length of my legs, yes there was a window of time in which the orthepedic surgeon could have corrected the difference, but we missed it and I really wished we wouldnt have. The pain sciatica causes is horrible and messing with my growth plates would have been absolutely fine with me. At this point my only options offered so far for surgical correction are taking length from my normal leg, thats the only corrective one that I was made aware of, and another surgery offered to me was back sugery to straighten my spine (straightening rod) so that I would no longer have sciatica (not going to happen). So what ive done on my own is, I see a chiropractor, physical therapist, and I go to pain therapy, this teaches me how to deal with severe back pain. I also keep my weight down (too much weight causes problems all around), exorcise, and stretch.
    Now for the past 5 years I have also been experiencing foot pain, its a very intense continual sharp pain that radiates from my outer ankle to my calf and sometimes it switches to a very intense kind of muscle spazmey pain from both ankles to my toes. Not a pain im used to, and it has been very upsetting. Im deffinatly releived to find out im not alone, the mind tends to think thoughts like 'is my sugery failing after 38 years' and so on. So as you can see, I have no insite on the foot pain situation, just empathy.
     
  11. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    To the poster above - THANKS! I'm 27, have bi-lateral club feet and though I am in no pain really (unless I walk/stand for hours) I do worry that one day I will have pain. I'm a Vancouverite - been my whole life - and neither my parents or myself had any idea there was a Club Foot Clinic nearby!

    We will be going there very soon, just to meet this doctor and see what's what.

    Thanks again.

    Karina

    foreverwanderlust (at) yahoo dot com.
     
  12. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    I was born with a club foot and had two surgeries, one shortly after birth and another when I was 1. I went on to have a normal childhood but had two different size feet by two shoe sizes. I played sports and when 18 I went into the NAVY. While in the NAVY I injured my foot which I think was weaker then normal but fine none the less. I had many tears in the achilles tendon and had to have debridgment surgery with augmentation with my big toe tendon. I did okay after the surgery but my range of motion for the ankle was very limited. My calf shrunk to a point that was noticeable but still usable. After going back to ship duty, my ankle could not handle the up and down on the ships ladders and flight deck work and tore again. I was then medically discharged from the NAVY and went on with my life. With the label of Disabled I triep to go into police academies around where I lived with no luck. I stopped for a few years and when I turned 29 I tried for another academy and got in. While finally starting what I was hoping to be a career in law enforcement, it did not last. I worked out regularly and ran miles and miles with no problems, but during the academy I had to do an excercise I never gave much thought about. Mountain climbers, and in the heat of being yelled at and not thinking about it I torn the tendon again. That ruined my chances for that and now my range of motion is less to the point that my calf is much smaller and everyone notices it. I have had pain and problems with it for the past 3 years. I never had it treated after the academy because I had to concentrate on getting my old job back before I went into the academy. So here it is 3 years later... I am 33, and am looking at another surgery for this stupid foot. I am getting to the point that I hobble around limping everywhere trying to make it look not so "limpish". I have tried every heel lift, insert, boot, splint, pain killer, therapy.... it all is not very helpful.... I hope they can get rid of the late nights with the throbbing, burning and acheyness pain.... sometimes I wish it could be cut off and I could have foot attachments for different activities.
     
  13. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    I was born with a right club foot. I was casted for two years starting in 1985. I was braced until the age of 3. At 12 I went in for a check up and they found a bone spur on my right upper ankle. I had the spur removed and my Achilles tendon knotched 3 times for lengthening. At 16 my check up showed another bone spur in the same place. The spur was removed and my outer ankle was cleared of scar tissues from the previous surgery. I am 24 now and I have been having cramping in my outside ankle only to feel better when I rotate my foot and it pops. I have visited my podiatrist concerning this problem. After my billionth photo shoot (xray and MRI) he told me today I have bone spurs all along the top of my foot, inner and outer ankle. My docotr recomemded surgery again, including complete heel reconstruction, pins in my heal, removal of bone spurs and taylors bunion, and repairing my ligaments that have been destroyed over the years of falling due to instability. I haven't yet decided if I am getting the surgery, I just found out all this information today. I want a second opinion from an orthopedist as well. For everyone out there with a club foot, would you go to an orthopedist or a podiatrist for this type of surgery? Dies anyone know any allternatives to surgery or another procedure that has been successful? I know that my ankle is deformed and something needs to be done to fix this. I just dint want a shirt term fix. Most club feet will get bone spurs because the bones aren't mechanically the same as normal healthy feet, so our body heals itself in a differnt way by creating spurs. Is there any way to avoid bone spurs with club feet though? My doctor said probably not. If anyone else has this problem I would love to understand this occurance further. Any resourses or recomendations would be appreciated. Lyndz9205@yahoo.com.
     
  14. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    Hi, my name is Kristin and i also was born with a club foot. As a newborn my parents opted to have my foot casted. This seemed to have solved the problem until I was 12. I was very active in sports, which led to even more pain. I then decided to have my first surgery which was a bilateral heel cord lengthening, because of the rolling sensation I had in my foot. This solved my problems until a few months ago. I again started to have this ankle rolling sensation in my foot. Now at 17 i had to undergo a complete ankle reconstruction, another lengthening, and ankle osteotomy. I hope in someway my story can help your daughter. I'd like to say good luck because the recovery is rediculously long!
     
  15. John M.

    John M. Guest

    Major foot problems at 30

    I was born with a severe right club foot. From birth to age 2 or 3, I had multiple surgeries and casts to correct it. When I was in grade school/middle school, I went in a few times for checkups, and at one point used a shoe disk to help keep my foot aligned while walking, as I tended to walk with my foot turned in. I recall having occasional pain in my heal/Achilles tendon, but haven't experienced that for years. As an adult, my right calf is noticeably smaller than the left (perhaps 60-70% of the size).

    Around 5 years ago, I started having some pains in my foot on occasion. I decided to see a podiatrist, who was surprised that I hadn't had surgery on it since being a toddler. When I asked if that was a good or bad thing, he said, "let's put it this way: your foot could be better, but it could also be much worse." The only thing he really suggested, though, was to make sure to wear shoes that have at least a 1 inch heel (at the time, I was wearing Sketchers that had basically no heel).

    For the next few years, pain came and went. The past year, however - I'm now 31 -I've had frequent, awful pain in the top right section of my right foot (just under the baby toe area and surrounding). After I've done a good amount of walking or exercising, it is especially painful after I've rested it while sitting, so much so that I can hardly walk on it. I wonder if I may have developed arthritis there, or something similar. I'm currently a "starving" college student with no medical coverage, so going to the doctor is not an option for me right now.

    I read many of the posts here, and notice that most seem to be having pain in the heel or back end of the foot/feet. Have any of you experienced this pain I describe in the front outer side of your feet? If so, what are your methods for alleviating the pain?
     
  16. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    Because of the way our feetare formed it is possibly a taylors bunion. I had the same problem and told my doctor it felt like the bone was popping out of my skin. The doctor replied that the bone basically was popping out. It hasto do with wearing too tight of shoes basically. It could also be torn legaments if you tend to fall alot like I do. Go see your doctor and he/she will be able to help.
     
  17. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    53 years later

    To All - At 55, and 54 1/2 years after surgery, I believe I am the oldest patient on this thread. It amazes me to read of the pain in teens and twenties, 30 years or more after my surgery. When I decided to run cross country in HS, I was up to about 80 miles a week when my mother insisted I return to my orthopedist for a check. I had not seen him in over 10 years. He cried, because he could not believe I had no pain or other side affects, despite a half size smaller shoe, and a very slight difference in leg length. What I have found as I have become older is that I need to be extremely careful to stretch my foot, and extremely careful to react to pain (answering the mother's question with regard to her teen) as opposed to dealing with it. I also am very conscious of my body alignment - i.e. posture. My foot started doing some weird things in the last two years - painful cramping, and very sore, particularly on the arch and at one toe. What is fixing it is standing on my toes for 30 seconds, and then putting my toes on the edge of a stair and pushing the heels down below the stair. Escalators are a great place to do this! With my knee alignment and back issues, a tape "Yoga for Athletes" has worked wonders. Keep in mind that each of these solutions are the result of trying numerous things, from PT to homeopathic medicines. But my main message based on the your conversations is to not ignore the pain, but seek solutions - and that as with all joints, surgery should be your last solution, not your first. (I have had knee surgery suggested twice - I workout every day, and my knees are fine with no surgery.) And no offense to the medical profession, but begin with a sports therapist - they tend to see more of the problems, and thus have a wider range of solutions than the orthopedist. I have never known one who did not refer someone to a surgeon when an x ray or other exam indicated a medical issue, such as a tear.
     
  18. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    I have an 8 year old daughter with bilateral positional club feet. She was casted during her first year and is walking fine without having had any surgery. She does tend to walk on the lateral edge of the bottom of her feet and turns her feet in when she picks them up to run. We have been seeing a pediatric orthopedist who is recommending surgery. He wants to split the tibialis anterior tendon and move part of it laterally. Also take a wedge of bone out of the lateral side of her foot and put it on the medial side. She has never had any pain and is very active in sports. She has been wearing orthotic inserts in her shoes for a year to try to keep her foot in the proper position and this is helping slightly. I don't know if we should go forward with the surgery or not. I'm concerned about causing problems instead of fixing potential future problems. Any input?
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2010
  19. FootDoc

    FootDoc New Member

    In my opinion, it would be terribly unwise for you to make your decision based on what some patient or patient's parent or even a doctor who has not examined your child might say. And don't tell me that, as you are asking, such a comment from any of these will not really influence you even though it will not based on first-hand knowledge of the case. From what you say, your daughter is under the care of a doctor who specializes in orthopedic conditions in children, and, if well-chosen, SHOULD have sufficient experience with such a problem. Ask him/her how may such cases he/she has treated and what the long-term results were. If you want another responsible opinion, have her examined by another well-vetted pediatric orthopedist, even if you have to travel to see one. THEN, you will have some basis for determining whether you are or are not comfortable with having the procedure performed. There are no guarantees in medicine, but having responsible opinion based on first-hand knowledge of the specific case is always the best basis for making a choice.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2010
  20. travis

    travis Guest

    i have club feet. i had the surgery when i was little as well but as time went on i did things to not make my feet hurt. nothing helps. maybe some one rubbing them and then soaking them in hot water but that only works for a little bit and not all day. i play basketball, football, and soccer so im on my feet constantly and they hurt constantly. my doctor gave me some inserts that were specially made for me, but they were hard plastic so they always hurt me so i couldnt wear them ither. so now we are going to have surgery again. maybe u guys you should try surgery again. it may help.
     
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