Well, it’s been nearly four months since I broke my foot and I thought I’d feel just like I did before, but not exactly.
I do still get foot pain when I walk. I feel the pain in different parts of my foot. Sometimes it’s still my heal, sometimes it’s the ball of my foot. I limp a little, but my doctor said to walk slow and walk normally.
I think walking through the pain and walking normally is the only thing that will get my foot back to the way it used to be. I honestly think that not walking on it for several weeks hurt it just as much as the broken bone. It’s just got to get used to be used again.
The other major pain is if I hit my baby toe or bend it in any direction other than curling down to the ground. I went to the doctor after Christmas and he pushed my baby toe in casually and it felt like he smacked it with a hammer. It hurt so bad. Stubbing my toe is extremely painful.
Up until about a week or so ago, slipping shoes on and off my right foot even hurt, but today I pulled my sneaker off without even untying the laces, so progress is happening, albeit slowly.
As for the X-ray, there is no longer an open gap where my foot broke. At least as of the week after Christmas, it was filled in, although you could see and trace the break very easily. Normally I take photos of my X-rays, but I didn’t for this one. I think maybe the direction I broke my tone in, on that slanted angle (“oblique”) could explain why bending it in hurts so badly.
One other weird thing: balance on my right foot is quite poor. Again, I think that’s just my foot not used to being used. My doctor gave me some balancing exercises and when I first tried them, I about fell over even though I could do them on my left foot with absolutely no trouble.
I haven’t been great about doing my exercises, but the more I walk, balance, dance, do whatever, the better it seems to go. I wish the pain would go away, but it’s not terrible. My natural inclination would be to limp, but it’s not so bad that I must limp.
All in all, as surprising as it is, this whole saga isn’t really behind me. I’m hoping the pain starts to really go away, but if not, I’ll make a follow up appointment to see a doctor. I’m getting rid of my car in a few weeks, so I’ve committed myself to a life of walking — fingers crossed all goes well.
Side note: If you wear your Aircast to the airport, ask for pre-board and you get your first pick of seats on the plane. Not bad.
Broken Fifth Metatarsal 
Hi brokenjules, I’ve just read your most recent post so I thought I would drop you a line – I hope you don’t mind! It’s interesting to read what you have said about the healing of your foot because I am also experiencing similar symptoms.
I went back to the consultant on 8th January. It was my fifth appointment at the hospital. Ironically the Consultant I saw was the first one I saw at the very beginning when I first broke my fifth metatarsal. He wanted me to have surgery and said it was what was needed to fix it, but I didn’t want the surgery so held off. As I think I’ve already mentioned, we have the NHS here in the UK so unless you go private you get who you are given. I was a little disappointed I didn’t see the previous one as he seemed very good. Anyway, after examining my foot and asking some questions, he said he was discharging me as he felt clinically it was healing well. He did not do an x-ray which I was a bit disappointed about because I would have liked to have seen my foot healing up, as all the images I have seen of it has been broken. I didn’t push for it though. I took the opportunity of asking him once again if it was a `Jones’ fracture. He said `yes’. Yet the previous doctor said it was not! I honestly don’t know where they get their information from but one medic seems to contradict the other. I asked him why I was still experiencing various forms of pain (although I could walk on it without limping too much). He said it was probably scar tissue and if I still have pain within a couple of months to go back and have an x-ray. He also said that it can take up to a year or more for bone remodelling and so it could still hurt depending on the healing process. I asked him when I could wear regular shoes and he said when I feel I could do so comfortably.
I am still wearing my hard soled trainers because, just like you, I’m experiencing some pain. Sometimes it’s a lot and sometimes just a little. However, the swelling has gone down. The pain is nowhere near the actual break (it’s weird). It’s across my toes and just before my toes on the top of my foot. I have no pain in the base or heel of my foot, just across the top. Sometimes it can be so sore at night it wakes me up. I am so longing to feel completely normal again (like you) but I think it’s going to take a few more months and I just hope it gets better so I don’t need that x-ray! Also it would be so nice to wear a normal pair of shoes.
Turning full circle from our respective breaks at the very beginning, I suppose the question to ask is: did I make the right decision not to have an operation? Would we still be experiencing some pain/difficulties if we’d had surgery? I guess this is an unanswerable question. It seems that everyone is different in the way they heal and I personally have no regrets because surgery also carries risks, in particular infection. I just don’t like the idea of having a screw put into my foot and having a general anaesthetic.
So all in all, despite still having pain, which can bring me down at times and is nothing short of a nuisance, (not to mention wearing my usual girly shoes) I have no regrets not having the surgery and wouldn’t change anything. My daughter has been offered several university places and we will be visiting again the one that we visited last time where I broke my foot, so I’m a bit tentative about it – I’d better watch out for that foot!!
I do hope your foot heals soon, especially as you will be travelling around more on your feet – you will be relying on them now more than ever! Take care. Tracey 🙂
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Hey Tracey, I’d recommend checking out my newest update. I have plantar fasciitis, apparently! That sounds pretty similar to the symptoms you’ve described before, so you might want to look into it. My plantar fasciitis hurts the most when I walk barefoot and what helps is a shoe insert I bought that essentially just cushions the heel. Your symptom about pain in the toes sounds unusual — not anything I’ve felt — and maybe you should just switch up your footwear. There are shoe inserts for all sorts of things, so maybe something can help. Many years ago I was having foot pain in both feet due to my high arches and inserts did help me then, and they are helping me again now.
I wonder the same thing about surgery: Would things have gone better if I had surgery? The thing is, what’s done is done so I’d rather not dwell on it. I’ll never know what the right call was, and I suspect that putting all sorts of pins in my foot and then having them removed may have come with its own set of annoyances. Despite my heel pain, otherwise I’m doing well. Once I lose the weight I gained from being sedentary, I’ll be able to finally put all this behind me (and hopefully the heel pain does resolve soon).
Hope you’ve seen some progress and are feeling better since you wrote. Good luck!
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Hi, I know it’s been while for you, but this is happening to me now. I’m at 6 weeks and there is no progress. One doctor says I should get surgery and in 6 weeks I’ll be fine, the other says to keep waiting to see what happens. Did anyone gave you an option for surgery. Your fracture is extremely similar to mine.
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