How long for a 5th metatarsal to repair itself?
Discussion
At the weekend Mrs Panda had her foot stood upon by a heavyweight visitor to the bar we were in, net result, a "non-displaced fracture of her 5th metatarsal" meaning that she can't put any weight on that foot and is currently on crutches (with a special boot). The issue is, we're booked to go on holiday (an African Safari followed by a few days on a beach) from 4th-14th September, and we're trying to get a handle on how likely it would be that she can walk sufficiently well by then. We do have insurance, so could cancel, but we I guess we can leave it a week or so before we decide.
Looking at the x-ray, the fracture is barely visible, but it is still too painful to bear any weight so it's obviously not as minor as it looks!
Anyone have any thoughts?
Looking at the x-ray, the fracture is barely visible, but it is still too painful to bear any weight so it's obviously not as minor as it looks!
Anyone have any thoughts?
The_Doc said:
usually 3-4 weeks for 70-90% healing.
factors: age of patient, their health, nicotine, gap between fracture fragments, if they slow down and walk less.
Flight after foot trauma has increased rick of DVT.. Go and chat this over with a doctor. Not me I'm afraid.
Thanks for the feedback Doc. We did have a chat when we were in the hospital but it was all fairly inconclusive ("you might be OK but it's hard to say really" type of response). I understand that everyone's different but your response has already given us a little bit more to consider; Mrs Panda is extremely fit and healthy, weighs c.50kg, visits a gym three times per week (normally), never been a smoker, works from home so can stay off the foot very easily. The gap in the fracture looks (to my untrained eye) to be almost non-existent - it's a barely visible light grey line that only shows up on the side X-ray and is invisible from any other angle. Only potential issue is that she has just turned 60, so I guess that's not a tick in the plus column?factors: age of patient, their health, nicotine, gap between fracture fragments, if they slow down and walk less.
Flight after foot trauma has increased rick of DVT.. Go and chat this over with a doctor. Not me I'm afraid.
My Mrs recently did exactly the same end of June fractured 5th metatarsal
Had a boot put on and was told to wear it for 6 weeks not 24 hrs a day obviously and then go back to normal shoes / trainers etc.
Its taken until last week that the boot is not used she tried before and it was too painful to walk without
Everyone is different with recovery , she is wrong side of 60 used to walk a lot not overweight etc.
Her foot was swollen badly and is still slightly swollen , she has bought a bigger size pair of trainers to make it more comfortable to wear them and walk / drive but still limps when walking
One thing to note in your case your going on holiday soon , hopefully you have insurance , tell them about it in case something goes pear shaped and a claim is refused
I rang holiday insurance as we buy yearly policy and they noted it and didn't increase cost
Had a boot put on and was told to wear it for 6 weeks not 24 hrs a day obviously and then go back to normal shoes / trainers etc.
Its taken until last week that the boot is not used she tried before and it was too painful to walk without
Everyone is different with recovery , she is wrong side of 60 used to walk a lot not overweight etc.
Her foot was swollen badly and is still slightly swollen , she has bought a bigger size pair of trainers to make it more comfortable to wear them and walk / drive but still limps when walking
One thing to note in your case your going on holiday soon , hopefully you have insurance , tell them about it in case something goes pear shaped and a claim is refused
I rang holiday insurance as we buy yearly policy and they noted it and didn't increase cost
I did mine a few years ago; running, rolled my ankle and with some bad luck rolled the metatarsal onto an exposed tree root. Non displaced fracture.
Boot plus crutches and completely non weight bearing for two weeks, then boot for another four weeks. Cartilage will bridge the gap in two weeks and that takes another four (typically) to ossify. My ortho guy got my attention really fast when I was trying to be a bit gung ho about the crutches and the boot: he told me that there is a tendon that attaches to the ankle end of the bone, which was just itching to turn the fracture from non displaced to displaced. And if it displaced, he’d have to go in with screws to hold the bone together while it healed.
Can’t help with the flight risk aspect, though personally I’d be pretty careful about that, and check with the airline in any event to see whether they will let her fly. I was reasonably mobile with the crutches and the boot, so flight permitting it may be possible for her to go on safari, but whether it would be enjoyable is a different matter. I found walking with the boot put my lower back out of whack. And be aware that the air bladders in the boot can split. If you don’t have access to a replacement boot while you’re away that could be problematic.
Boot plus crutches and completely non weight bearing for two weeks, then boot for another four weeks. Cartilage will bridge the gap in two weeks and that takes another four (typically) to ossify. My ortho guy got my attention really fast when I was trying to be a bit gung ho about the crutches and the boot: he told me that there is a tendon that attaches to the ankle end of the bone, which was just itching to turn the fracture from non displaced to displaced. And if it displaced, he’d have to go in with screws to hold the bone together while it healed.
Can’t help with the flight risk aspect, though personally I’d be pretty careful about that, and check with the airline in any event to see whether they will let her fly. I was reasonably mobile with the crutches and the boot, so flight permitting it may be possible for her to go on safari, but whether it would be enjoyable is a different matter. I found walking with the boot put my lower back out of whack. And be aware that the air bladders in the boot can split. If you don’t have access to a replacement boot while you’re away that could be problematic.
omniflow said:
One other thing to bear in mind - you'll probably be covered by insurance if you cancel, but if you go on holiday knowing that your wife has this problem and it causes issues whilst you're away you almost certainly won't be covered.
Yes, I have just been going through the insurance docs. It looks like as long as we let them know (and haven't been advised by a doctor not to travel) then we're OK, but it's a good point!FlyingPanda said:
At the weekend Mrs Panda had her foot stood upon by a heavyweight visitor to the bar we were in, net result, a "non-displaced fracture of her 5th metatarsal" meaning that she can't put any weight on that foot and is currently on crutches (with a special boot). The issue is, we're booked to go on holiday (an African Safari followed by a few days on a beach) from 4th-14th September, and we're trying to get a handle on how likely it would be that she can walk sufficiently well by then. We do have insurance, so could cancel, but we I guess we can leave it a week or so before we decide.
Looking at the x-ray, the fracture is barely visible, but it is still too painful to bear any weight so it's obviously not as minor as it looks!
Anyone have any thoughts?
I have a similar fracture. Happened at the weekend. I was told keep weight off as much as possible for 3 weeks, don't walk too far and stop if I get pain for 6 weeks, no sport (I play squash and badminton) for 12 weeks but after that stop if it hurtsLooking at the x-ray, the fracture is barely visible, but it is still too painful to bear any weight so it's obviously not as minor as it looks!
Anyone have any thoughts?
My wife broke her 5th metatarsal while running earlier this year. It was about three to four weeks before we were due to fly to Mexico for a week's diving holiday. She was fine to travel, so we went ahead with the holiday, although she but did miss out on the diving. Overall recovery was actually fairly rapid and while we didn't walk miles in Mexico we wander around a bit and her walking was fine.
She was in the big boot for the first couple of weeks post injury, and then she bought a support sandal from Amazon which still gave the foot plenty of support and was a lot less cumbersome compared to the boot. I think she wore the sandal on the way out to Mexico, but was in normal shoes by the time we came back.
She was in the big boot for the first couple of weeks post injury, and then she bought a support sandal from Amazon which still gave the foot plenty of support and was a lot less cumbersome compared to the boot. I think she wore the sandal on the way out to Mexico, but was in normal shoes by the time we came back.
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