u/Puzzleheaded-Dot5686

It's been a while since I posted here last time. Which is a relatively good sign, I got back to life.

However I always say, the injury cost me half of my happiness.

That's why I'm going for fusion surgery now - 1 year after the failed tight rope surgery for my lisfranc ligament rupture.

I pray it will go well and I will get back some of the happiness I lost. I am confident for now, and my doctor is confident as well. He says in everyday life I will not feel a difference (to before the injury) - which I think is actually too optimistic.

After I learnt in February that my surgery failed, I was in a cave for three months, and I was crying every week. I couldn't believe to be handicapped for the rest of my life.

After the three months, I got back to my normal life. I was going cycling a lot, travelling a lot, gardening and home improvement a lot. But I couldn't run anymore, and hiking and even swimming was too painful for me.

But the biggest issue for me is the daily pain. With every step. Every day. I don't have painless days anymore. The pain is not severe - maybe somewhere between 3-5/10. But it is just there every step, every day.

I'm confident from all the research I did, all the stories I read that there is a good chance I will get rid of most of the pain. I am not at all worried about the NWB phase anymore, whether it's gonna be 6 weeks or 12 weeks, I don't care anymore. I prepared some projects, some books, movies and games, so I am even slightly looking forward to that ;)

Wish me luck and pray for me - next week Thursday is the day!

Here is the continuation of my story. Basically for guys interested in reading stories. Disclaimer: This is not a motivational story...

Management summary of my injury:

Stupid accident, lisfranc ligament rupture, tight rope surgery, surgery failed (gap between TMT1-2 is too wide (~5mm instead of <2mm)), thinking about how to proceed...

Here's what happened so far:

1 months after surgery - still positive: https://www.reddit.com/r/LisfrancClub/comments/1opalet/lisfranc_ligament_rupture_orif_tight_ropesuture/

3 months after surgery - starting to panic: https://www.reddit.com/r/LisfrancClub/comments/1pjfkrn/no_progress_after_11_weeks_frustration_panic/

4 months after surgery - surgery officially failed: https://www.reddit.com/r/LisfrancClub/comments/1qq7do0/orif_tight_rope_surgery_failed_repost_with/

5 months after surgery - conservative or fusion: https://www.reddit.com/r/LisfrancClub/comments/1ribumt/tight_rope_surgery_partly_failed_continue/

No fusion yet - Continue with conservative treatment

In the end, I decided to try conservative continuation for 1/2 year. But it now seems it was the wrong decision. Nothing is getting better. The only big improvement is that I hardly limp with shoes anymore. That's nice. Some people even do not notice that I am limping. Though I am still slower when walking than before.

But the biggest problem is that I am always having pain when weight bearing. So no step without pain! And even when cyling or swimming, I have pain (though less than when walking).

I actually got back to a semi-active lifestyle. I cycle quite a lot (city, MTB, race), and I go swimming. I also did a small 2h hike again. It worked better than expected in the sense that I did not have more pain then when walking in the city. So I know that's better then some others here...

But for me it's hard to handle mentally. I guess if I would have been born that way, it would be bearable. But having 40+ years of pain free life experience, and having the left foot always in comparison with no pain, and the right one with pain, is hard for me. I feel like a cripple - and well, I am.

It's really mentally terrible for me - I am not having a single pain free day anymore. First step of the day out of bed - pain. Last step of the day before bed - pain. How beautiful was life before that, compared to now! The pain is not terrible. I would say it's 3-4/10. But it is always there when weight bearing...

Further complicating stuff, I do not only have pain in the lisfranc ligament area, but also in the 5th metatarsal / cuboid bone area. In my accident, I had a minimal bony ligament avulsion there as well. All doctors said that this is so small that I will not notice it. In February when I first noticed the pain, the doctor said it does not come from the accident, but from the limping and therefore wrong weight bearing. As with many things in these injuries, I do not know what to think about that. I have the feeling that this is becoming permanent as well.

My PT experience

After February, I didn't have doctor's visits anymore, but I did my PT sessions. After winter, I changed my PT, and I was quite happy with the new one. He had a focus on feet, and he tried a lot of different things besides exercises (like taping, compresses), and he gave me recommendations for doctors. Now, after three months, he also said he cannot do anymore for me. He doesn't want to do different exercises because the pain is a contra-indicator for him. He also noted that - besides getting rid of the limping - there was no progress. And he said, the lisfranc ligament is not something that can be replaced by muscles.

I actually always wondered when I read many stories here about the importance of PT, and how little but constant progress it does. In my case, I did not have progress. Basically my pain level is the same since four months, my range of movement has always been good, and otherwise I do not know what progress it should make.

My inlay experience

I got three different inlays for shoes. One "normal", one which was fit by heating it up, and one is still arriving, with a rigid spring in TMT1.

For me, the harder inlays that are supporting the arch worked the best. And there is a big difference to going without inlays. Without inlays, I am visibly limping, and having more pain, so inlays make that a lot better.

Where to go from here?

So how will it continue for me? I'm 90% sure I will do fusion in autumn. And I will pray that at least I will get pain free. I think then I would get some life energy back. If it stays like this, it is quite unbearable for me. Not sure if time will change something.

As I warned you, this is not a motivational story. But unfortunately it's the reality for some of us. For those you with fresh injuries: Don't worry now, I'm in the bottom 10%, it is highly likely that your outcome will be much better.

So that's it - mainly just wanted to write an update, but comments are always appreciated. Actually I also have two questions now:

* How actually does PT make a lisfranc ligament rupture better? I always wondered what exersices others do that improve the situation.

* Did pain significantly decrease with anyone after a longer period of time? (after 6 months, a year...) So can I still expect pain to decrease, or is this usually the final stage after half a year?