Sunday, April 21, 2013

Sesamoid Fracture

About a year ago, I had to stop running because of a strong pain in my right foot. It would only hurt when I stepped on my foot. We lived in the center of Cambridge, MA, so I walked everywhere or used public transport. In the evenings or on the weekends, my foot hurt less. Still, I would step on the outside of my foot to avoid any pain. Needless to say, I couldn't really do anything, because even a simple trip to the grocery store, where you walk around looking for products, caused me pain.

I thought it was metatarsalgia and waited for my foot to heal on it own. I had a similar problem before, after wearing high heel winter boots. And the pain went away after I switched to sandals and ballet shoes in spring/summer. I was hoping the same would happen now.

Well, the pain was still there after 3 months of no physical activity besides walking. So, in July 2012 I went to see a podiatrist. After a quick X-ray he told me I had a sesamoid fracture and put me in a walking boot and prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pills like ic naproxen. The walking boot was sometimes painful, sometimes annoying, but I did eventually figure out how to use it to my advantage. I only wore it when going outside (I walked barefoot at home)

After 5 months in the boot, I went back to see the doctor. He took new x-ray pictures and compared them to the old ones. Even without comparing them, you could see that my sesamoid bone was still fractured. He wanted to take MRI screens to see what's going on inside my foot. I could't do that at the time because of my work situation (I was about to loose my job and medical insurance and didn't want to have to pay for MRI out of the pocket)
So, I kept wearing my boot and taking lost of calcium and trying other homeopathic treatments.
And then I lost my job and we moved to Texas. And since we usually drove everywhere, the walking boot became very uncomfortable. It actually hurt my foot if I sat in it for a long time. So, I decided to stop wearing it and instead wore my ECCO shoes that had a small heel but also had an arch support, and felt good on my foot. It was all good for a while, until it started to hurt again. I am not sure what exactly triggered it. I assume my fracture hasn't healed one bit, and it's all very understandable (knowing how little I helped it to heal), and frustrating.

I read so much about sesamoid fractures online. I know it takes a long time to heal and I know many people eventually get a surgery. I tried warm/cold baths and icing- but they make my foot hurt even more.

The next thing for me will be to get MRI and may be some orthotics. In a meanwhile, I do some cycling, some weights and try to take it easy on my right foot and feel jealous when I see people running in the streets or doing planks or downward dogs.