Pain after lateral sesamoidectomy
Hi fellow sesamoiders
I had a lateral sesamoidectomy (tibial) in March of 25. I chose a very well reputed doctor who was the head of foot and ankle ortho at USC. He’s been recognized as one of the best in the world.
My recovery was smooth and I did a ton of PT to regain strength in my left foot/leg/ankle. All this is to say, I did this by the book and under the supervision of a really good doctor. Since then I’ve had trouble in my right foot (forefoot pain) which I have since healed with dancer pads and comfortable shoes.
My left foot, the one that I had the surgery on, was doing really well. It was pain free and I could do almost any activity. There were 23,000 step days where it held up great and there was very very little pain and no swelling. For all intents and purposes it was pretty much back to normal.
3 days ago I was walking barefoot in my apartment (I like to walk barefoot because it helps with burning pain I experience sometimes) and I felt a twinge of pain in my left foot. I took another couple steps and I felt it again. It was not severe, but a dull ache in the area followed these twinges. First I thought it was my fibular sesamoid as the ache seemed localized in that area, but yesterday and today it’s been more around the surgery site.
I know the mtp complex is interarticular and inflammation in one part of it can lead to inflammation in another which would explain why I have a diffuse ache all around the joint now. There’s no swelling and it really isn’t a severe pain. Today I walked about a mile and a half and it was ok. But it did start to ache a little towards the end of the walk. I’m pretty scared this starts to devolve again but hoping it goes away. Has anyone else had this happen a year and a half after a sesamoidectomy?