freezing foot and leg lots of pain after having my cast of my broken foot

by shelley
(uk)

i broke my foot infact 4 of my bones in my foot metatarsals i think, other than the one leading upto my big toe. i had been in a cast for 5 weeks, had xrays during the 5 weeks too! when i asked if it has heald a little bit all i kept gettin was not much has changed . i had my cast of last week even though the doctor told me that the bones still have not healed! if its still broken shouldnt it be still in a cast ? and 4 bones still being broken is this right ? well since having the cast off i cannot move my two smaller toes they are so painful even to touch, i can put pressure on the bottom of my foot but when i lift it of the ground the pain is emmense...im also suffering with blue colour foot and toes and to touch my foot and bottom half of my leg are freezing to the touch , i cant even get to the doctors to ask for help do u suggest mayb i should go back to the hospital!

RESPONSE

Hi Shelley,

By all means you should get back to the hospital and make sure you use a different doctor this time. In an otherwise healthy individual, a simple fracture (non-displaced, with small separation between breaks) should heal is six to eight weeks.
If I understand your story correctly, you had your cast removed after five weeks, the x-rays failed to show significant healing and you were in pain, but nonetheless the doctor "discharged" you. Does not sound like quality medical care to me.
Not that the fact you are still in pain is important, but there is another issue going on here that concerns me.
That is the problem with the cold blue limb that you are describing. It would help me if I knew how old you are, your weight, smoking habits and any medications that you may be on, but since I do not have that information I can only go by what you have supplied me.
A foot/leg that is cold and blue, particularly if your other leg is normal in color and temperature, is highly suggestive of two problems.
The first is lack of circulation going into the foot. This may have occurred from a cast that was applied too tight as that would be the most obvious thought and again if I knew more about your medical history, there might be other factors that I could associate with this problem.
The other possible problem going on here is a condition known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This is fairly common more so in women and can occur secondary to wearing a cast.
Poor circulation and CRPS are both conditions that need to be treated immediately as they both have serious potential complications.
So for that reason I would suggest you get to the hospital immediately and be properly examined.
Going back to the partially healed fractures it is important to point out that if these fractures are not properly treated, you can end up with what is known as a non-union, in other words the fracture site does not heal with bone but rather scar tissue.
Although in some cases people will not have pain, in the majority of cases when a fracture does not heal due to lack of bone being laid down across the fracture site, the patient may end up in chronic pain.
So while you are at the hospital, have the fractures looked at and evaluated to see if further treatment is needed.
I would suggest you do this sooner rather than later.

see related article....Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

see related article....poor circulation

see related article....fracture

Marc Mitnick DPM
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