The Backstory…
Otherwise known as “Oooooooowwwww!!!” I hope it won’t also be known as “the injury that never quits hurting.” One day I was moderately athletic, happily jumping around on a martial arts mat, and then, suddenly, crouching on the mat trying not to pass out. So I sat on the side with ice on my foot when I could stand it, trying not to pass out , and finally, after about 45 minutes, came to my senses and decided to go the emergency room, where I was told that it wasn’t pretty (the medical term for “wow, you really trashed your foot”) and that the staff thought that maybe a taxi ran over it. So now I am lying on the couch with my new laptop on one leg, (on a tray) and the other leg up on two cushions and a pillow. The first month I was too blotto to write, and anyway, I couldn’t get to my computer, but I will try to remember what happened… The moral: If you plan to mash your foot-don’t. If you must, be sure you have everything you need arranged in the living room where you can reach it. And finally, don’t under any circumstances, have a loft bed! Or live in a fifth-floor walkup.
I am interested in hearing from other people who had similar injuries…how are you doing now? How did you handle it? Leave a comment to help other people cope with it!
This isn’t a story of woe!
Months later, I am adding this: And by the way...this isn’t a story of woe! This is my story of how I got better. At this point, I can do almost everything I could do before the injury, so I hope it will give a note of hope to other people who were unfortunate enough to break a foot!
Thank you so much for your posts. Today is day two after surgery. I just had the screw put into my foot to stabilize the ligament. I am now counting the days until I can resume normal exercise. My injury happened about 6 weeks ago. Took 3 weeks, two sets of xrays and a MRI to determine it was not all in my head.
Good luck with the recovery! I have read that this injury is often misdiagnosed, and to be frank, in my case, I think it is amazing that the surgeon picked it up from my x-ray. How long are you to be off your feet? I hope is isn’t too long…
Right now I am hearing one week in the bandages, two to four weeks in the fiberglass cast, and then four weeks in the boot. Seems like a long time but I know it will go fast. I am finding the crutches to be a challenge. I think it is me fear of falling over and injuring the bad foot.
Your website has been a godsend. It has really helped me understand the path ahead and has given me goals and milestones to work for. I think the biggest challenge for me is the unknown. Thank you again. Take care and good luck to you as well. Wishing you great health in the future
Sounds about right. Maybe PT to get the stiffness out of the ankle, the leg strengthened, and the nerves working again. Just take what the doctor says seriously, (keep it elevated, for instance), but ask lots of questions, because they sometimes forget to tell the patient things like,”you can take the boot off when you sleep” at the appropriate time. Crutches are more difficult than one would think if you can’t put the foot on the ground. Just remember not to take the weight in the armpits. Lots of good sites on crutch-using on the net. Good luck, again. It’s a bear, but it does go away!
Dear fractralfoot,
I would like to apologise in advance for the length of this comment, but I feel so relieved to find your blog that I would like to establish some sort of e-corresponence with you!
I have been scouring the Internet for the past couple of hours looking up everything and anything about the Lisfranc fracture/dislocation injury. Indeed, I have joined the club.
Two and a half weeks ago, I was training for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) competition. I went for a double-leg takedown when my training partner sprawled (as he should have) and I heard a snap and pop. He is easily 40-50 lbs heavier than I am, so his weight combined with mine was too much for my left foot to handle when it got stuck between us and the mat. Roughly 3 300 Newtons of force caused my first metatarsal to displace completely from the rest of the tarsus. My orthopedic surgeon (OS), a foot and ankle specialist, said the separation was one of the worst he’d ever seen (very encouraging pre-operative message, ha).
I had surgery two weeks ago today. No weight-bearing until this past Wednesday, when I got my stitches taken out and had a new fibreglass cast put on. It was disheartening to see the muscle atrophy in my calf. Nevertheless, my OS said I was healing well and has allowed me to bear slight wear on it with a walking shoe. I’m still hobbling round with the crutches, but being able to put even minimal weight on the left foot has decreased the frequency of cramps in my right foot, thank goodness.
When my parents came into town to see me through the operation and initial recovery, my mother vehemently forbade me to take up BJJ again. As a fellow martial artist, I’m sure you know the joy and exhilaration of being on the mat. I first started BJJ on February 1 of this year and immediately fell in love with it. I trained five, sometimes six, times a week, often receiving private lessons from my instructors. They said I showed promise, and I was all set to compete within five months of training. I had to push back my July competitions for the sake of applying to medical school (the preparation in itself was and still is time-intensive), so I trained harder for a local competition mid-October. I was crushed when I sustained the Lisfranc injury two days before competition. Everything I had worked so hard for, for several months, disintegrated when I received the news in the ER that the “mere dislocation” was surgical.
I’ve got a more positive outlook now, as I see more success than failure stories of recovery. But sometimes I get depressed when I think about how long it will take to get to the athletic ability I had before I was injured. Pre-Lisfranc, I regularly ran 5K races, was involved in various intramural sports, and generally led a very active lifestyle. Now I weigh myself weekly and realise it’s not fat that I’m losing but lean muscle mass that I’ve worked so hard to gain (I’ve battled body image complex and being “overweight” for several years).
I guess what I’d like to ask you is if you’ve been back on the mat, post-operation? Though I may not train five or six days out of the week (what with medical school) after what I hope to be a full recovery, I would still like to pursue BJJ and eventually compete. What I’ve read of your blog has been entirely uplifting and encouraging, and I appreciate you for documenting your Lisfranc experience.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Grace
Hi Grace, (I changed this entry a bit, because I always tell people who are in school that their education comes first…) what a bummer to have that injury! But in my experience, it isn’t that uncommon for someone to get injured just before a dan test or, in your case, competition. Now you will be one of the few budding doctors who know what a Lisfranc injury is! But seriously, yes, I am back on the mat, training and teaching. The foot injury really isn’t a factor in my training any more. I am also running, sort of, and I may do a 5K myself soon. In my case, the things that are holding me back are beta blockers and anastrozole, so don’t let any of my griping affect your thoughts of recovery.
You seem to have caught the bug, so it seems likely that at some time you will get on the mat again, whether its Jiujitsu or another art. One thing to remember is that you have to start gradually. At 5 months you’re still a beginner, so you probably don’t have some of the instinctive reactions you’ll develop over time, and the fear of someone landing on your foot will probably freak you out for a while, whatever you do. However, you should always put your education first, so if you are going to medical school, you might have to put the martial art off for a while, or do one that you could practice at home and take class once a week!
It took me a while to re-learn how to roll, because my toes were very stiff, but I did it. I presume you keep your foot off the ground when you do high falls, but you probably should get a good physical therapist’s opinion on that one.
I’m amazed you are allowed to put any weight on the foot so soon. That may really cut down on the muscle loss. Do let us know how it goes. And to answer the question in your other post, the surgeon who worked on me said that he didn’t like taking out stuff. If I find the screw bothers me, I’ll get a second opinion, but so far it hasn’t been a problem.
Good luck, keep in touch, there are several people who will write encouraging comment to you!
By the way, take a look at Rebecca Wardell’s blog, if you haven’t already. She’s an Olympic athlete who is recovering from a Lisfranc injury…
Wow. That was just what I needed to hear! May I ask which martial art you practise? I meant to ask, how is your current treatment coming along?
I believe I will be fitted for a walking boot at the end of the month, assuming the x-rays indicate continued recovery. I was surprised as well when he gave me the walking shoe, but he said my speedy recovery is a function of my age and athleticism. Now, I’m just trying to find exercises that resist muscle atrophy. Read something on cross-transference of nerve stimulation today, so I suppose I’ll try to incorporate that into my workouts…
My OS spoke with certainty that my three screws will be removed in four-months’ time. I’m guessing they’re not made of titanium, my screws. I’m sure recovery after that surgery will be fun, too.
Indeed, I checked some of the other links on your blog. Her journey is an amazing one. I can only hope that my recovery becomes such a great story of success. This has probably been the most humbling experience of my short life thus far, haha.
Again, thank you for your insight!
I’m not being treated for the foot at this point. I did get some trigger point exercises to do since the toes are stiffer on the left foot than on the right, and there’s some residual stiffness in both ankles, but otherwise the foot is pretty good. I basically am keeping the blog going because people are posting comments and because one of my sisters asked me to! Keep in touch and best wishes!
Hello! Has anyone ever had a lisfranc injury that surgery was not an option? I was in a car accident back in February…it took over 3 weeks (after an ER visit and 2 visits to my PCP) to finally get a referral to an ortho surgeon. I had multiple x-rays and then a CT scan, which showed multiple bony chips on the bottom of my foot, a fracture on the top, and a torn ligament, thus confirming the lisfranc injury.
Due to the number of bony chips, I was told that surgery would not be beneficial. I go back on Monday to hopefully get a walking cast, but there is a knot on the top of my foot that has not gone away, which is the key for getting the cast.
I am on a leave of absence currently from work so time can heal the foot and the fragments can fuse back together, but I am just wondering what the prognosis is if surgery is not done?
I am currently non-weight bearing and in a boot with crutches and a knee-roller to help me get through the day.
Thanks for having this post! Nice to know there is life after lisfranc
. Looking forward to getting back to work and running!
I have read about Lisfranc injuries that didn’t result in surgery, but I don’t know if anyone posted here who didn’t require it. Let’s hope someone will respond. How long were you told the recovery period will be? And best wishes to you. Keep us informed about your recovery…Chris
Thank you so much for this! I am 5 days post surgery… I fell on my foot while running on ice (bad decision, lesson learned) and thought it was sprained for 2 weeks before getting a second opinion. The surgeon opened me up 3 days later and put 5 screws in my foot.
I’m sure I’ll learn all of this as I continue to read, but what did your recovery look like?
I’m a college student, studying outdoor leadership in the hopes of joining a wilderness therapy program. I do pretty much everything outside, so this surgery was a real bummer. I’m hoping to resume my camp counselor job in late May, but now I’m not so sure that will happen…
Hi Sarah..I also love to be outdoors, so it was a relief to find that I can still hike, canoe, go out birding and mushroom hunting. I don’t technical climb, but I don’t see any reason why my foot wouldn’t let me do that, too. The recovery for Lisfranc injuries seems to vary widely; for one thing, the injury itself seems to take a lot of different forms. The first thing, then, is to listen to what your surgeon says and follow the directions for recovery and rehab.
That being said, in my case, I was told I had to keep the foot elevated above the heart 24/7 for 10 weeks. That meant staying on the couch with my foot up. It wasn’t that hard, because whenever I lowered it, it hurt and turned purple! Except for one day when my sister rented a wheelchair and took me birding in Central Park, I pretty much only went out for doctor’s checkups. I had to go up and down 4 flights of stairs to get out, which limited my mobility!
After 10 weeks I started physical therapy (two weeks non-weight bearing, two weeks “toe touching” and about 3 or 4 months with weight bearing) and at 11 weeks I went back to work. At that point, I was still using crutches. I was lucky in that I had enough leave time to take off from work, still have medical insurance and a job when I returned. You may find that your recovery is quicker–for one thing, you are considerably younger than I am, to say the least. My doctor was pretty conservative, too. Many people who have this injury are running around with knee walkers, for instance. One suggestion I would make is to have someone qualified give you a set of exercises you can do with the hurt leg as well as the with the other one in order to cut down on the atrophy that will develop from lack of use.
Good luck in your recovery…take the time to do it properly, and you will thank yourself later, I think.