The Verdict

Well, the bad news is I re-broke my foot, but I don’t think there was ever really much doubt about that. The good news is I didn’t do it to nearly the extent I did last time and shouldn’t be out nearly as long or have to go through everything I did before. Furthermore, I really liked the guy I saw at Virginia Orthopedic and he seemed to be one of the first docs (actually he was the Physician’s Assistant) I’ve ever visited that had a concept of how to deal with an athlete.

That said, I’ll make a few observations. When I initially talked to the doc and gave him the history of the injury, his first response was “I’m thinking you probably re-fractured it, and in an athlete like you, we’re probably gonna need to put in a screw.” He then told me he would get me back to the x-ray room and walked out. It took 34 minutes before someone finally came and got me (yes, I timed it), and that gave me plenty of time to think. I was envisioning a cast and crutches during our beach trip in a couple weeks, throughout hunting season (which would be ruined) and Thanksgiving, and then maybe even still some problems into the Christmas season. I was also picturing myself hobbling around work again and trying to get back and forth in cold and potentially even snowy weather. Needless to say, I was pretty discouraged.

Once we got the x-rays done, I awaited the moment of truth, fully prepared for the worst. However, it didn’t take more than a few seconds of looking at them for the doc to say “Well, you definitely don’t need surgery.” I have to admit I was relieved, but at the same time wondering what was next. I mean I had already taken a bunch of time off to let it heal, gotten it to a point where I could run again, and then had it re-break, and while surgery would suck, I don’t want to repeat this cycle again and if having a screw inserted would prevent that I would be more than willing to do it.

From there, he did an exam on my foot, which hurt like heck with certain things he did, but once he was done, he said “I think you just need a little more time. 4-6 weeks and you could potentially be back to activity.” Now I was interested! He had me come up and look at the x-rays closely and showed me the fracture. It was in the same spot as last time but I made a comment that it didn’t look nearly as bad as before, to which he replied “No, it’s not at all. In fact, it’s really not that bad.” That made me feel even better. He went on to say that he thought it had completely healed but was still weak and I just got over-aggressive and it couldn’t handle the stress. He then told me to sit down so we could have a talk.

Now most talks with docs are about how you’re gonna have to wait forever to resume activity and you shouldn’t run as much as you do, etc., etc. This was totally different. He said again that it would probably be 4-6 weeks before I could resume normal activity. However, in the meantime, he said he had no problem with me getting in the pool or even doing stationary bike or elliptical machine. He said the key was not to do anything that would cause pounding or cause me to flex my foot and/or come up on my toes. He recommended I stay in the boot I used last time but did not say I needed crutches (in other words not totally non weight bearing). I go back on November 22 for new x-rays and hopefully clearance to resume at least walking. He told me I would have to start back like a new runner, but then went on to say he didn’t mean I would have to walk/jog but just wouldn’t be able to do any significant mileage and or hard workouts (how many docs use that type of terminology?). He also said I should start back on flat surfaces and try to stay off cambered roads or at least run facing traffic so the camber would be downward sloping for my right foot (again, what docs think about that stuff?). Finally he said that if it healed up again and I made an intelligent return to training only to have this happen for a third time, then we would have to do the screw. I didn’t like to hear that and hopefully it won’t be an issue, but again I liked the fact that it was never even a thought that maybe I wouldn’t be able to run again at the level I’m accustomed to (and I made him fully aware of just how hard I like to train).

I asked about orthotics for the future, and he recommended against them for now. He said I would probably be inviting other problems, and while it couldn’t be totally ruled out and would require a lot more investigation, in looking at my foot structure I didn’t appear at first glance to be someone who needed them.

So that’s that. I’ll be limited in activity for the next month, but at least not totally disabled like last time. I may even do a little cross training starting next week. I feel like I dodged a bullet and have an opportunity to avert what I thought might have been a major disaster. Now I just have to get down to healing and figure out how to come back next time without this happening again. I think I was on the right track this time, but no days off and adding in workouts as fast as I did probably did me in. It could even be that it was just the race that got me. I was reading an article yesterday that said with Jones Fractures you couldn’t let pain be your guide when returning to activity because often there would be no pain right up to the point of re-injury. That was exactly my case. I thought because I was having no pain I could keep right on going and then back off if I felt any twinges and/or soreness. Not the case and something I’ll have to keep in mind next time. I’m just glad it looks like next time might be 4-6 weeks down the road rather than 12-16!