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Bruised medial sesamoid and tarsal tunnel syndrome?

Discussion in 'Ask your questions here' started by Unregistered, Feb 23, 2011.

  1. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest


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    Over two months ago, I was running down our carpeted stairs with bare feet. I was carrying items which I dropped as soon as I slid on my my left foot and put my hands out to catch myself. Meanwhile, I slid down a couple of stairs on my feet, and then stopped very hard as I caught myself. The bottom of my left foot was really rather numb feeling (it felt kind of "shocked" actually) for a while that day. By two days later, I could not walk on it properly - lots of pain around the ball of my big toe. I found myself walking on the outside of my foot. I was waking up at night in pain whenever the inner part of my foot touched the bed. If my baby crawled near my foot I would just jump. My primary care physician had first mtpj xrays taken. Nothing. Again the next week - nothing. So then referred me for a MRI - which took a MONTH to get (they took a week to process the referral, and then the appointment was nearly three weeks out from there).

    The MRI showed bone marrow edema of the medial sesamoid (which made a lot of sense to me given where the pain is) and possible sesamoiditis.

    So my pcp referred me to an orthopedic surgeon then. Why she couldn't have done this sooner, I have no idea. Also, surprised that she didn't refer me to a podiatrist. Anyway, it took another week and a half to get in to see the Ortho. He took better xrays, but agreed that there is not an outright fracture. He did not really listen when I was trying to explain that I had some pain down around my arch and sometimes pulling near my inner ankle area. Since I have been having lots of pain just even standing, he put me in a boot cam walker thing to see if I'd have an easier time walking (I do actually, better than when I'd been walking on the outer side of my foot for almost two months), with directions to go to physical therapy and start weaning out of the boot in 2 -3 weeks.

    It's been two weeks in the boot and I still can't imagine weaning out right now. I have been to phsyical therapy three times. THe PT thinks that probably in addition I have tarsal tunnel syndrome going on - inflamed nerve and/or possibly tendon irritating the nerve. That might explain my high sensitivity to warmth and heat. (Just warm water in a shower causes me pain when it is anywhere around my inner ankle all the way up to my toes. It can make me jump!) I can find very little about heat sensitivity and nerves online, which is frustrating. Or when I do, it has to do with diabetes complications. I am not diabetic - and didn't even have gestational diabetes during two pregnancies (for that matter, never had much edema/swelling in my legs during pregnancy. Impressed my doctors. Weird.)

    I had ultrasound today on my foot to see if it would help, and just the warmth from the gel was painful (the tech thought this was rather funny, because usually people complain when the gel is cold!), and though they said it was very low ultrasound, I still felt every single moment of it. She also pointed out that the (inner) side of my foot is swollen. I hadn't noticed, but then I compared to my other relatively normal foot and realized that she is right.

    Is this normal? Is any of this normal?

    The PT is going to call the Ortho. Ortho told me no shots, no surgery. The PT really doesn't know what to do with me since my pain isn't really getting better - he thinks maybe a shot might help, at least for a while. I have an 11 month old that I am chasing around . . . getting into everything..

    Thank you!
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2011
  2. Smokey

    Smokey Guest

    When I got a referral for PT after my foot fracture, my doctor warned me that the ultrasound may actually make the healing fracture area (12 weeks post-fracture) hurt as it causes the healing area to vibrate. It doesn't do any damage, just makes it vibrate.

    I am mentioning this because you had issues with the ultrasound frequency hurting even on low. You could have a fracture that is being missed.
     
  3. Unregistered

    Unregistered Guest

    It's me again (the original unreg poster) . . .

    Thanks for the reply. I have wondered about a missed fracture. I've had no more ultrasoud done, but they have done some electric stim on my foot and ankle, which kind of make it (tarsel Tunnel area) numb, but my sesamoid area seems extra painful during and after.

    I tried just around the house without the boot yesterday. Tried to walk as normal as possible. It was so painful. I told the pt today (who was filling in for my regular pt) about this, and he said something that the other pt has never metioned -- he said that because I have a bone bruise in a major weight-bearig area, I should try to stay off of it altogether! Well, yeah. However, I am not sure how to do that as the primary caretaker of my son, in a place only accessible by stairs.

    My next appt with the ortho is in a week ad a half.

    Thank you!
     
  4. Smokey

    Smokey Guest

    Do you have any other symptoms other than the sensitivity? You mentioned the gel feeling hot, so that also makes me wonder about RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy), which is where the nervous system goes haywire after an injury and feels things more intensely. It can get way out of hand (and spread) if not caught early.

    Some of the possible symptoms are that your foot turns color (purple or red), loses color, sweats, is super sensitive to things that shouldn't hurt (e.g. brushing it with a feather).

    If you have any other symptoms, I would suggest you do a search online for RSD or reflex sympathetic dystrophy and see if any of it rings a bell. If so, please ask for an immediate referral to a pain management doctor.
     
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