Avulsion Fracture of 5th Metatarsal & reattachment of Peroneus Brevis

Hello,

I am a 30 year old male. Upon weightbearing I stand slightly supinated. At age 22, I was an avid long distance runner. My left foot begin to hurt when running and became worse quickly. Without health insurance, I quite running and waited a year before graduating college to get professional help. I was diagnosed as having a fracture on the 5th metatarsal.

I had surgery at 23. The surgery was performed to remove the old avulsion fracture of the 5th metatarsal and reattachment of the peroneus brevis tendon. The surgery was performed by an Orthopedic Surgeon. After recovery and physical therapy, I was advised to wait for 6 months to a year before running again which I did. I had a complete recovery with no further pain or discomfort in the area.

At age 28, I began a running program, jogging 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes. I woke up one morning with pain in my left foot, in the area of my prior surgery. I had x-rays and a bone scan two weeks later which didn't indicate a break or fracture. I was referred to a Podiatrist who ordered an MRI. The MRI was inconclusive as the metal anchor from my prior surgery caused distortion in the area of my pain. I wore an aircast on my left foot for 4-5 weeks which didn't relieve the pain. The Podiatrist recommended surgery.

Surgery was performed in February of 2007. From the notes, the tendon was partially reflected from its attachment on the base of the 5th metatarsal. A soft tissue anchor was used to reattach the tendon to its insertion point under physiologic tension.

Eight weeks after surgery, I still had significant pain when weight bearing on my left foot. It was 4-5 months before I was walking "normal" and at least a year before the pain became minimal at best.

It has been two years since the second surgery. I still have pain on some days on my left foot on the surgical area, although it is primarily a discomfort rather than sharp pain. I have not ran at all, or gone skiing, or anything else that is very active in nature. My right knee is now bothering me as my gate or walking pattern is off. I've been to physical therapy which helped slightly.

I recently had went to an Orthopedic surgeon for his opinion and he said that I would probably need to learn to deal with it through orthodics and that another surgery would be risky and possibly not beneficial or perhaps make the situation worse. I'm having a hard time with this as my life has been a challenge mentally as I think about it all the time and have discomfort when walking 60-75% of the time. It's hard to believe that there isn't anything potentially that could be done to fix this as I'm a healthy 30 year old. I have read online of many foot injuries and surgical corrections that seem so much more complex in nature, it's hard for me to just deal with this for the rest of my life. I'm not trying to get back to running, I just want to walk without pain or discomfort.

Does anyone have suggestions or recommendations? Anything, anything would be greatly appreciated.
Michael

[FootDoc]

In my opinion, you would be terribly unwise to act on any advice from persons who may or may not be qualified to treat a historically complicated problem such as yours, and even if they were, could not possible know the details and nuances of your situation sufficient to make any definitive recommendations. The danger in any professional offering specific advice in situations where he or she does not have the necessary details of the case is that the patient may and probably will act upon them out of frustration, and such actions may well best inappropriate and worse, harmful. The dangers of a non-professional offering such advice should be obvious to you.

I agree and won't take any advice without further research and/or recommendations. I was hoping to learn about any other options that others have experienced or taken in a situation similar to mine.

If there are any other possible options available, I want to know. It's hard to deal with the fact that my jogging routine has completely changed my life in that it is now uncomfortable and sometimes painful to walk and stand on my feet.

Is there a speciality clinic or type of individual that I can seek out to get further answers or insights? What do I do, live with it? If the potential to improve my situation exists, shouldnt' I seek it?

[FootDoc]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Is there a specialty clinic or type of individual that I can seek out to get further answers or insights?

I can't tell you what level and quality of specialists or facilities are available to you in your location, but certainly many are available country-wide. I would highly recommend that you thoroughly check out the reputation of each with the medically knowledgeable before proceeding, but that is the direction which I would think would serve you best.