The recovery is very very slow now. I hardly can see any change since last weekend. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon a few days ago, he looked at the foot and nodded his head when I told him that I was still unable to run. He said that arthritis in my joint is really bad, and I may need a fusion if I suffer a lot of pain, but for the moment the joint is fully functional, and there should be some improvement over the next few months. So let's see how it is going. I will be in the gym today and will try slow jogging for a few minutes.
***
Back from the gym: success!!! I managed to run up to 7 mph, I tried only for a few minutes - the first time since the surgery - but it was OK and I think I could easily make a few miles. Back to running now!
24 June, 2012
26 comments :
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Did your MD have to give you permission to start running, or were you instructed to take it as you could stand it? Does running with pain re injure the toe joint? I wonder if working it would actually speed healing. As you can probably tell, I'm a runner, and very worried about being off for too long. I have a stationary bike at the ready!!!
ReplyDeleteI made my own judgment - as adviced by the surgeon.
ReplyDeleteI was given the green light to run by my surgeon, who I saw for a post op visit 2 days ago. She said my healing is going remarkably well! I ran 3 miles this morning, and walked another 2!!! So good to be back on the road. Very little post run swelling and no pain, and the run went very well!!!
ReplyDeleteBeen trying to utilise and bend toe through walking and advised to do exercises holding weights standing on tip toes. Think I overdid it and it is inflamed and tender. Cycling and swimming no problem. Yoga balance still difficult and bending the toe in certain positions no better than before. Still can't wear ordinary shoes so sporting an interesting look in business suits and fitflops, running shoes or walking boots. Running has not yet seemed possible and I am going to wait until it feels right
ReplyDeleteI was having a pretty good week. I did not wear the boot to work for two days this week. I have only been wearing it in order to protect it from accidental bumps, etc. from the little children I teach. Yesterday, though, was a bit of a setback. When I wasn't wearing it, one student bumped into it and another backed a chair into it. OUCH! Then, last night, I attended my son's band concert. I think it would have been better to just stay home and elevate my foot after the bumps at work, but Mama wasn't missing his concert. This morning I couldn't fit my foot into the shoes I'd been wearing the last two days.
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful that it is now the weekend and I don't have to worry about my toe as much as I do when I am at work. The weather should be nice and I hope to be able to take a nice walk with my husband.
Bottom line, I'm making progress and I am happy about that. I think I am just getting a bit impatient and I wish that things were progressing faster than they are.
I can only fit into a wide pair of running shoes. That's still better than sandals. I can walk more than a mile now but still with a slight limp. When my limp's gone I'll try running. I'm now stretching all my leg muscles and doing exercises on my toe so that I can run sooner rather than later. Overall pleased with my progress but as said above its slow. I must be patient. I have a South America holiday in 4 weeks and I'm hoping that I can walk perfectly as we intend on doing massive amounts of walking
ReplyDeleteWeek 6 today and my foot is feeling fairly good, though progress (not surprisingly) has slowed down a lot. It normally feels pretty good first thing but gets a bit worse during the day I think due to swelling, which I had been told to expect. Luckily it doesn't seem to hurt if I accidentally bump it (which I do quite a lot!) The only thing I am not so happy about is that when I walk I now seem to get quite a bit of pain elsewhere in my foot (the other toes and the ball of the foot) - I think someone else mentioned something similar. Also, I haven't been given any exercises to do (the only thing the surgeon suggested was to wear heels around the house!) - I am trying to keep active but the whole toe area seems a lot stiffer than it was. I have a follow-up appointment next week so hopefully will get some more info then.
ReplyDeleteI am at week 6 and just saw my podiatrist/surgeon. He was not happy with my range of motion in the big toe and said he would have to sedate me and break up scar tissue if ROM did not increase. It's about 35-40 degrees. Like you mentioned, my toe is still sore-even the last joint feels painful- and I also have pain on the ball of my foot. It has been slow going the past week or two and I hope I continue to improve. I rode the stat bike today and walk around doing errands during the day and at work but it gets sore, swollen and painful still.
DeleteWeek 6 is drawing to a close after bilateral cheilectomies. Progress, like others have noted, has slowed a bit, but I'm mostly functional. I mainly feel like my baseline is sore feet. Like half marathon in not great shoes sore. Also, my left foot is very sensitive at the incision site. If I put pressure on it I feel tearing pains, and the incision site is prone to turn an angry purple if irritated too much. Oddly enough, the right foot has fewer incision pains.
ReplyDeleteToe mobility is definitely better than before on both feet. My right toe is not as numb but still tingling to the touch. Progress!
I was able to walk six miles in comfortable old dress loafers while in New York this week. My feet were sore all the way through, but I could do it. I was cleared to get back on my bike but it has been cold and ice, so that didn't happen. No running yet, but I hope in a couple weeks. I've lost three post op pounds from walking, but that's just a start.
Week 6 after left toe cheilectomy, 50yo active female.
ReplyDeleteGlad I checked in on this blog as I'm (somewhat) disappointed in (parts of) my progress. Seems par for the course.
I'm able to fit into 4 different pairs of shoes (vs 2)... but still no heels over 1 inch.
It's easy to do spin class and walk several miles... but I walk with a limp.
The size of the joint is way bigger than pre-op, barely smaller than 3 weeks ago. Same with mobility - worse than pre-op, only slightly better than 3 weeks ago.
So patience is in order. I see doc tomorrow and hope she'll agree this is normal progress.
I had my six week appointment a couple of weeks ago, and I fully expected to get the green light to go back to regular activity. Spoiler alert: it did not go well.
ReplyDeleteThe appointment started well enough with the doctor looking at my toe and telling me that it looks good and the range of motion is decent. The incision looked great, and he was giving me a mostly positive prognosis when things went south.
As he was talking about exercises to push range of motion and discussing plantarflexion. He said you can really "crank the toe at this point" and pushed it down fairly hard. There was a minor popping sound (with no real pain), and he said - let me actually take one last xray before I release you. After a few minutes, he comes back and said my osteotomy (fracture) has not healed, and he does NOT want me to push the toe and come back in 4 weeks.
This was a real bummer! He didn't seem terribly concerned, but said that he assumed I was fully healed as my recovery had gone so well to that point. His take was that sometimes it can take a bit longer for the union to happen, and I should be fine in December. I have been reading about delayed and non-unions, and I will not be happy if I need to get this corrected at some point. The screw in my bone looks fine thankfully, and I have not had any unusual pain, but it sounds like the bone should have healed by now. I'm a non-smoker with no other reason that would explain this, so I'm kind of miffed.
I am a fit 49 y.o. man, and am about where everyone else is in my 6th week, with a few exceptions. (1) I can't imagine jogging like Parsifal; (2) I have more ROM than pre-surgery, but there are snaps in my joint when I bend it fairly far, such as when trying to do a lunge (a rehab exercise). These snaps are less like cracking a joint and more like a rubber band twanging. The surgeon, who I saw last week, said it's scar tissue being broken up and pushed out of the joint, and I need to keep at it to get the ROM I want; and (3) I'm weak -- I was strong and cardiovascularly fit presurgery, lifting weights and going to Spin class, etc., but there's been a huge decline in my fitness. I have been trying to regain my flexibility and strength with Pilates, weights, and some full body lower impact HIIT routines on FitnessBlender, but I notice a before/after difference. Because my foot bends better, my calf is tight and sore, and the opposite hip flexor is really under a lot of strain. Each step hurts, though my toe bends more and more. I'm tired too.
ReplyDeleteHang in there. I too suffered from fatigue post surgery and it wasn’t week 6/7 that things resolved on that front. I think surgery is just not more traumatic than we think. As for the calf muscles, I had the exact same thing that resolved around the same time. I always suffer from tight muscles and imbalances so you are smart to do Pilates/stretching. I should probably do more traditional PT myself. Finally. I got the same lecture today on scar tissue. My plan is to get more aggressive with the joint ASAP to clear it up.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteWeek 6......Got the ok to try to do what I want! Bad news is, I don't want to cause somethings still hurt!!! Dr. said to use my judgement. Have noticed that the ball of foot under big toe (which is under each cheilectomy site) is sore much of the time. Dr. explained that the seismoid bones are potentially being shifted due to greater flexiblity in the joint. He feels that this will resolve in time and my body will adjust to this repositioning as my new normal. R side more so than the L side.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope so, because this is more annoying than the original bone spur pain!
Still some swelling in both feet, R more than L. Can fit into multiple shoes, but still mostly relying on my Hokas. Of note, today is the first day that I haven't covered the incisions with bandages to protect them from being irritated. So far so good!
Incisions look really good AND most of my flip flops and sandals have straps at the incision locations : ), so that is awesome.
I did share with him that I can see why doing them both at one time is challenging....the first couple of weeks were tough, but at least now, I know that I am over the hard part, and don't have to take more time off of work and life!!!
I am starting week 5 of recovery and having the exact same issue as you, Jhawk - mostly soreness under my big toe, nearly all the time - and the pain is definitely more annoying than the original bone spur pain. I can walk in shoes (athletic shoes) but very very slowly, and always with some pain (sometimes quite a bit of pain).
DeleteHaven't seen a PT yet, but finally got my surgeon to put an order for PT into my file; I'm hoping to get in for an appointment this week. Will be seeing my surgeon this week also. I hope the pain in the ball of the foot resolves, otherwise I will really regret the choice to have the surgery.
I had cheilectomy with cartiva implant, R foot.
I had this procedure twenty years ago. And as the Surgeon advised, the condition recurred. This year I went to an orthopedic Doctor. His advice was to immobilize the joint with metal plate. I asked about another Cheilectomy..he said cannot redo. No explanation why. Opted for Cortisone shots. Anyone know if that is so and why?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
DeleteI know that a reason cheilectomies fail is a lack of cartilage in/around the joint. My insurance wouldn't pay for the hemicap implant, so I decided to do the cheilectomy. The doctor had plans bed in drilling holes in the cartilage to encourage scarring/growth to keep the possibility open for an implant down the road.
Perhaps, if your toe is very arthritic, you don't have the cartilage to guarantee the possibility of a positive cheilectomy. Could your doctor poke holes in the remaining cartilage now, perhaps, to allow for a future hemicap implant? I would ask another surgeon; maybe yohr doctor is just loath to do a surgery he doesnt think will succeed, but there could be another doctor who has a trick or two up her/his sleeve and will give it a go! Don't give up on another surgery unless you've exhausted all possibilties! Crossing my fingers(and toes)for you.
Coming to an end of week 5 after bilateral cheilectomy surgery. The surgery itself and the recovery was so much easier than I anticipated. I expected to be further along and I thought it was going slow until I read this blog! This gives me some encouragement. I’m still unable to wear most of my shoes. I’m stuck in crocs for work and working out! Such a good look, but hey-it beats the heck out of those post op shoes! I can wear a thong sandal if the strap goes up the center of my foot. The incision scar is ultra sensitive and like a few others have mentioned, I am having weird pain or random stabbing pain in my feet. One month and we leave for Mexico-hoping it feels a lot better by then!
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI see the last post here is over a year old. Have any of you returned to running? I'm a 57 y/o female and have been running since I was 13. Rt great toe has gotten progressively worse with OA, bone spurs, pain, and swelling. I saw my sports medicine MD yesterday and he suggested I keep running and then look into fusion or joint replacement once it gets worse. I'd rather do something sooner (pain is bad after running and the weight of a sheet on my toe awakens me at night) and after researching cheilectomies, this seems like a better option. My goal is to run as long as I can... so when I'm 95 I will think about giving it up! :-) Please let me know if you were able to return to running. Thank you
I can only speak for myself - as you can see from the blog, I have had no problems exercising my foot - running, fencing, cycling, etc. But I know people (including my sister) who have not been doing so well. It is very individual.
DeleteI posted my progress here after bilateral cheilectomy due to hallux rigidus, including a six week post-op report for March 2017 (for context).
DeleteI'm happy to say that as of today (1/1/2021), there's no loss of running functionality at all. In fact, I've been running 20-25 miles per week through most of the pandemic, and had a record time (for me) on a 10K a couple days ago.
My surgeon advised that the underlying issue will recur, but so far, the surgery has been easily worth it.
One thing I'll note, however, is that my gait was really altered by the condition, so I went through PT well after recovery to help me do a whole body assessment and reconditioning to get in shape for running. I was having problems with knee, ankle, hip, and other random pains, and it was evidently due to some muscles being underdeveloped or tight, which was throwing everything else out of whack. Injury is always a risk, so it's worth some preventive care to get in overall shape before beating yourself up with long runs.
Week 6 today after bilateral cheilectomies. I saw my massage therapist 4 days ago, and he broke up scar tissue in both joints. The day before I saw him, I took a brisk walk for an hour and a half and had cracking in both joints with every step. The day after I saw him, I did the same walk with no cracking at all. It was amazing! He has also helped loosen up all the hip and leg muscles that I've been using while I've been avoiding using my painful toes for the past few weeks, so I'm not having any hip or knee pain now. Fortunately, that wasn't a longstanding problem, since my gait was ok before the surgery--dance and staying flexible helped with that.
ReplyDeleteI find now that if my toes are hurting, a 15 or 20 minute walk will help the joints loosen up. At least that's how it went today. I'm not really needing to use ice or heat anymore, but I do put my feet up sometimes, since I have the pillow I got for the surgery.
Most days, I don't have any pain with daily activities, but I'm not yet going up on my toes when I do ballet. Every once in awhile I'll lift my heels up a bit, just to start working the muscles in my legs again, but I'm far from being able to do demi-pointe yet. The massage therapist says he'll get me there, but I have to wait a little longer. The left foot still has some swelling around the joint, even though that's the one with more range of motion. But I probably use that foot and leg more than the other in general.
Right now I have about 50 or 60 degrees on the left, and maybe 40 or 50 on the right (that's up from 30 on the left and 10 on the right pre-op). I'm still using the Dynasplint toe-stretching device--slowing increasing the force and trying to use it for an hour three times a day. Plus doing an hour and a half of some kind of exercise every day, whether it's biking, walking, or ballet.
It will probably be another month or so before I can do tap dancing again. I used to be a runner, but started worrying about my knees, so I haven't done more than brisk run/walks for the past few years. I'd rather preserve my joints to keep dancing as long as I can.
My energy is still not back to where it was pre-op, so instead of working out and just getting on with my day, I need to stretch more and rest after I exercise. Much of my focus is still on my recovery (especially with that three hours of Dynasplint wearing most days), which is kind of a nuisance. But things are better getting day by day, so I'm glad about that.
Luciole here. I had my 6-week post-op appointment this week. My surgeon is very happy with my progress. She said I am healing very well and will likely reach a point of full recovery fairly quickly. My scar looks great—it's very small. I doubt I will have much of a mark left, but I am wearing scar sheets anyway. I no longer ice the foot; that seems to impede circulation at this point. I do soak it in epsom salts to help keep inflammation in check. My job now is to continue stretching the toe and moving the joint. I'm also supposed to massage the scar several times a day to break up any adhesions. The surgeon suggested utilizing K tape to help keep the foot aligned, lift fascia and keep lymph moving. I feel great otherwise; I started lifting weights a few weeks ago, and today I tried on a pair of platform sandals, about 2.75 inches high. My incision is still a bit too tender for that, but the joint feels good (I did not have a joint fusions; my joint itself and the cartilage are very healthy). I have another follow-up in 6 weeks; beyond that, I doubt they will need to see me again. I will report back in the upcoming weeks if I have any major break-throughs.
ReplyDeleteWeek 6 - This week I have got back from my holiday and was ready to do a bit more dancing. I knew I had to pace myself to get through the week. I found dancing in thick fluffy socks for the next few weeks worked better for me. I found shoes just hurt too much to walk in let alone dance in. I did as much as I could, had a go at some and sat some out. I really feel at this stage you have to listen to your foot. My foot soon starts to become swollen when I have done too much. I am hoping the dancing will help get some movement back in my toe. I see the surgeon in 2 weeks time for my first follow up.
ReplyDeleteWeek 6 for me: my overall functionality is getting better, and I was able to spend a decent amount of time on my feet cooking with my partner over Christmas; putting my feet up/icing intermittently helped a lot. Having some pain spasms in the toe in the morning when I wake up, and occasionally having some non-painful spasms/cracking as well. Taking my shoe off and putting it on hurts less and less each time, which feels like nice progress. I still have stiffness, swelling, and pretty limited toe motion (mayyybe like 10 degrees active ROM each direction, at best), but hoping that PT in a couple weeks will be helpful. I'm going to go for a longer walk outside this evening at a local outdoor event, and I'm very excited about it!
ReplyDelete