Avulsion Fracture of 5th Metatarsal & reattachment of Peroneus Brevis

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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