A good news Jones Fracture story

Thank you Chris. I too fractured my 5th met- mid April. 30 and in good shape. I was not compliant for the first two weeks as I have a very active job and life. I have been completely non weight bearing for the last three weeks.
I am happy to hear about your success as it gives me some hope. I have a follow up appointment on Tuesday and I am going to discuss partial weight bearing as that would make my life much easier. Our fracture looks the same.
Couple questions
Was that image of the fracture from the first X-ray? Early in the healing period or on a later check up?
What did your follow up image look like? Do you have an image?

 

Hi Grant,

It's the first X ray, on the day I broke it. I was so chuffed when the surgeon said it was healing well and I could loose the boot that I completely forgot to take an picture. I've been discharge, therefore I'm not sure how to get a copy of it.

I've had a look on the web and I've uploaded an image that's similar to what I saw. Sorry, I know this isn't ideal. It was by know means completely back to normal. The callus (like the uploaded image) could be seen as a much lighter bubble around the break. When he zoomed right in, the early production of Trebeculae could be seen.

I've continued to progress well since last Wednesday. I've swam 1 km or done a steady bike ride of 5 miles every day since Wednesday. I went to a wedding on Saturday in a pair of smart shoes and was standing for 4 out of the 8 hours I was there. I walked round a retail park for a couple of hours yesterday, my foot did feel a bit stiff towards the end.

I worked from home today, given the level of activity over the weekend I decided to do very little other than a swim this evening and the foot feels good. My limp is reducing every day and I'm almost back to my normal walk. I can now walk down stairs fairly normally too, for the first few days my calf felt weak and stiff, so I was taking them one at a time.

My car has quite low seats, so I'm really taking my time getting in and out and making sure my feet aren't twisted when I transfer my weight. But given the fact that I couldn't drive for 6 weeks, I'm certainly not complaining.

Good luck with everything tomorrow, let me know how you get on.

Chris.

 

Great good news, Thanks for the update.
Please let me know how you are fairing a couple weeks from now! I will do the same

Thanks
Grant

 

10 weeks today since the Break. I've done 3, 1km swims followed weight sessions including deadlifts and squats and 3 20 mile bike rides a week for the last 2 weeks. I've started wearing my clip in cycling shoes and they feel absolutely fine.

I've stopped limping completely and really couldn't be happier. The only (very slight) negative is a small lump under my foot about an inch further down my 5th toe from the fracture site. The physio says its some scar tissue that developed from my modified gait while wearing the boot. It's not really a big deal, but it can feel a little sore towards the end of the day, if I've done a lot that day. He's working on it at my physio sessions and says its very normal.

I'm going to hold off running until I'm completely symptom free, on the advice of the surgeon.

How are you getting on Grant? I hope your still doing well.

Chris.

 

Hello!
Not going to lie I teared up a little when I read your post. I am 3 weeks post injury with a Jones Fracture, and everything I am reading online all sounds bad and was getting me so upset and down about the recovery of this type of break.

I have virtually no pain in my foot. I've been in an aircast walking boot the entire 3 weeks and I go to see my Orthopedic Surgeon again on December 9 for more Xrays. He told me that if I don't have any pain I can weight bare on it, but everything I've read says not to do that...so it's quite confusing. I would like to think a surgeon knows what he's talking about! I was getting to the point with all the bad forums I've read about healing time I just wanted to call my surgeon and say let's just do the surgery now nevermind waiting for 2 months for the inevitable.

Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you so much for writing a positive story about Jones Fracture healing! I vowed that after mine was all healed I was going to right a good news story too because it sucked feeling like there was no hope that this would heal without surgery and not take 6 months!

Cheers from Canada!

 

No probs, I'm really glad it was useful! I was the same, I was even up until 2am the night before my follow up, reading the negative posts and thinking, why the hell didn't I just have the op!

It's about 6 months now, I've done a Triathlon, a half marathon and am averaging 30 miles running a week. It's like new, I've even managed to shift the extra 10kg's.

Good luck at the follow up in December, as my Surgeon said "It's a very good signif it doesn't hurt much"

 

Thanks Chris! Ya I literally have no pain, it's so weird. I guess you could say I have a little "discomfort" where the break actually is. But it's not enough to take pain meds...on a scale from 1-10 (10 being unbearable pain) I would say it's a 1.

I kind of have in my head it'll be 6 months until I'm fully recovered and able to be back at the gym etc...thinking worst case scenario here so I'm prepared!

Glad to hear you're back to full activity!

Cheers,
Michelle

 

You recovery sounds very similar to mine Michelle. I was cycling at 8 weeks, running at 12 and I'd forgotten I'd done it by 16.

Please keep posting your progress, the more positive stories to offset the "I want to cut my foot off" ones the better!

Chris.

 

That's amazing, hopefully mine is the same! Thanks Chris, and yes I will definitely be posting my story!!

Cheers!

 

I too have spent many hours online researching forums and articles and did not find many happy stories, so I feel obligated to share mine now that I've received some good news. Hopefully it helps someone out there feel a little less uneasy and gives some hope for a full recovery. **Sorry in advance, it's super long**

[Keep in mind I am a 30 y/o F, 5'8, 150lbs, in excellent health (physically active pre-surgery, runner, plant-based vegan diet, positive mental attitude, overall happy person]

June 17/17: I went on a kayaking trip with work buddies and about halfway through the river we came up on a clearing that had a huge tree and a tire swing hanging out over head. As we came up on it I thought, "I'm totally Tarzan-ing off that!" and was the first to climb up the side of the bank. Unknowingly, the water level had dropped considerably right around where the swing was located, (why I didn't check, I will be asking myself until the day I die) so after I let go I landed straight below into the very shallow water landing on both feet and instantly thought "OH SH*T... THIS IS BAD" so my body's instant reaction was to pop up off of my feet and I somehow managed to twist while I was at it. I still landed standing up, albeit I was a little wobbly and in shock. My friends behind me shouted "You okay?" and I paused.... for a long time... thought about it and replied, "No. No, I'm not." I did not feel any pain in the moment following my accident (my leg felt oddly wobbly) and didn't feel any pain leading up to the ambulance arriving. I was shaking a lot, talking A LOT (apparently, I talk a lot when I'm in shock.) When my coworkers lifted my kayak up the side of the bank (team building) I was able to see the damage done to my legs. My LL had a huge hematoma and flopped over as if it was unattached to my person- it felt and looked like a rubber gag leg. Thankfully no bones jutted out, as I would have vomited making matter much worse, I'm sure. My RL looked fine, mostly. The RF had some swelling and more bruising down the outside edge starting at the ankle, but other than that I felt no pain in it.

I made it to the emergency room unscathed, although I'm pretty sure Scott, the EMS driver, hit every pot hole on purpose. There was a lot of joke yelling, "Damnit Scott!" ... okay, half joking. The most painful part of everything were the x-rays and being lifted from the stretcher to my "hotel suite" hospital bed, it was the most pain I've ever been in, in my life (I don't have children, so I guess I have that pain to look forward too.) At that point the swelling had gone up considerably- the pain rose. My doctor came in to go over the x-rays with me and told me that in my LL I fractured my tibia and fibula badly in spiral fractures, jacking up my ankle pretty gnarly. In my RL/RF I had sustained two metatarsal fractures- one of them being a non-displaced dreaded "Jones fracture." I couldn't believe I had broken my RF too, as there was no pain, but he said my brain's pain receptors were working overtime with the LL so it wasn't uncommon.

Since I broke both, and definitely needed plates/screws in the LL with a next day surgery, the doctor decided to wait and see if my Jone's fracture would heal on its own and to boot my RF right away. A custom orthotic company in the area made me a boot that had an air pump to stabilize my ankle and was slightly curved at the bottom to take pressure off of my metatarsals, but still allowed me to use crutches while my LL leg healed post surgery. I'm not going to lie, it was awkward as hell to balance in that Air Jordan moon boot, but the alternative was a wheel chair and I just wasn't all about that. After the surgery on my LL, I was in a plaster back with bandages.

2 weeks post accident/op: Stitches came out of my LL and I was fit with my taller CAM boot (so many awful velcro straps! I can't tell you how many times I almost peed my pants racing to get those boots on so I could crutch to the the bathroom! Seriously, there were a few close calls.) I was told to wear a compression stocking at all times unless showering and put on an aspirin regimen to prevent DVT. My RF was still in no pain, but the x-rays did not show any sign of bone healing, so I was still NWB for both with the exception of getting to the bathroom and back. I was not required to wear my boots to bed or when I was sitting in a relaxed elevated position. My ortho told me that the fractures in my RF were in hard to heal areas (he said a 1-in-4 chance it wont heal) and that there was a possibility we may need to pin it if it came to that.

4 weeks: I stopped taking my pain medicine completely. Not only because I ran out, but because I didn't love the way I felt on it- sort of wibbly wobbly timey wimey if I had to describe it. I was consistently taking pain killers for a good week after surgery and then started to wean off from every four hours to every six hours and then only once a day as needed. Primarily used ice to control pain, did resort to using 2 Ibuprofen twice because I had been vertical too long those days and ice wasn't cutting it.

[[ I want to take this moment right here to say that between operation - week 6, post op/fracture depression is very REAL and very serious. If you are feeling hopeless, alone, sad, etc. CALL SOMEONE. Reach out to family and friends. DO NOT hesitate. My friends, co-workers, and family (especially my husband) saved my sanity and my well being. It is REALLY hard dealing with injury and lack of mobility when you are normally a healthy active person. Even though you realize people have it far worse than you, it still knocks you down and you have to fight to get back up. It's not easy, but it is possible. On days that I was all by myself at home I did chair exercises & chair yoga I found on YouTube, and the endorphins/ blood flow really had a positive impact on my day and I truly believe thats one of the main contributing factors that helped heal my bones so quickly/ well. ]]

6 weeks post: Evening before appointment I spent all night on forums trying to prepare myself for the possibility that my Jones fracture didn't heal and that I might need another surgery and what questions to ask so I could see if there was a way around it. I read so many sad/ disheartening stories I couldn't sleep and was so worried I'd be out of work for even longer than expected (I work at a brewery and am on my feet a LOT.) I went into the appointment excited, but also nervous and prepared for the worst. Thankfully though, my ortho came into the room and gave me the good news: he said my xrays looked great! He told me that not only was my RF healing, it was completely healed and used the words "rock solid" to describe the bone. He was very impressed. He also couldn't believe that lack of swelling I had in my plated leg. He just kept moving my ankle around in disbelief and kept asking me if it hurt (it was only slightly sore) I was told to "keep doing whatever your doing" and to start wearing a running shoe on my now HEALED Jones fractured RF and to wear the matching shoe on my other foot indoors and use 30% body weight pressure (use pain as a guide) around the house with my crutches! While I know everyone is different, and injuries are different, it is so relieving that I wasn't one of the really bad Jones fracture stories.

Main things that I believe helped contribute to my personal recovery (keep in mind I'm not a doctor and not everything works for everybody):

-WATER #1 best thing I did was increase my water intake. By a lot. Not only did it flush out the residual pain killers in my system, I felt ultra hydrated my skin became more plump, radiant and less dull looking and I just felt "better."
-NO alcohol. This was rough, working at a craft brewery I'm accustomed to drinking good beer whenever I want. But beer/alcohol can interfere with bone healing and I didn't want to chance it. I did have small sips of whatever my husband was drinking to taste and on rare occasion I'd indulge in a 6oz something... but overall staying away from alcohol was a good choice.
-NO smoking. Do I need to really say much more? I don't smoke and I didn't pick it up while being on fracture house arrest either. It's just a bad idea and restricts blood flow which is horrible for healing a Jones fracture.
-Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. Being safe while exercise is key, and by just doing something active and keeping your mind occupied really helps the positivity/oxygen/blood flow around your body and I feel it was crucial to my recovery.
-Diet is important. What you put into your body affects it for better or for worse. For me, I've been plant-based vegan for 3 years now (10 years veg prior) and the lack of high inflammation foods in my diet ie: cutting out milk & meat, really helped curb the pain of swelling. Also, I stay away from highly processed food in general- and stick with whole nourishing foods high in nutrients, so my sodium intake was lower (helping again with inflammation/swelling) and my blood pressure was on the lower end of healthy. The doctors just kept saying my blood pressure was perfect and I should never have a heart problem. I kept my protein way up by eating a lot of legumes (lentils) and beans (black, pinto, etc), nuts and seeds (one brazil nut a day, almonds and hemp hearts on whole grain cereal, etc) cooked quinoa, and also upped my tempeh intake as it is high in protein as well as a good bioavailable source of calcium and naturally gut protecting probiotics. I ate/eat a ton of vegetables, especially dark leafy greens, and thankfully, since it is summer, I have a lot of fresh fruit available to choose from. I cut back on sweets considerably (I have a huge sweet tooth) and that alone made a big difference in how I felt over all. I don't drink soda to begin with and started drinking a lot more green and herbal teas. If anyone is interested, there are a lot of great resources online and in print that can help steer you in a more plant based/nutritious meal direction. "The China Study" by T.Colin Campbell, PHD and Thomas M Campbell, MD is an enlightening scientific must read. "Eat to Live" by Dr Joel Fuhrman is an easy to read comprehensive nutrition guide with practical information. The documentary "Forks over Knifes" and "What the Health" on netflix are life changing. Even if you don't agree with me and the countless studies/scientists, it's hard for anyone to argue that adding more fruits and veggies won't help aid recovery, so there's that!
- I tried to stay away from Ibuprofen as much as possible since there is a lot of controversy surrounding whether it affects healing time or not, erring on the side of caution.
-I did my band exercises (almost) every day, multiple times, as directed.
-Deep breathing/ guided meditation was a HUGE life saver for pain management. Seriously. Look some up on YouTube and find one that doesn't make you completely lose it laughing. (some are really hard to listen too and feel SILLY) But there are some that truly make you stop and relax and control your pain in a way that is so noticeable that the one night at the hospital, when they first splinted me, my initial swelling was so bad inside of it I couldn't stop crying/yelping, I pulled up a meditation on my phone started following it and within minutes I was calmed down enough that they were able to rewrap my dressing (it was WAY too tight) and the nurses asked me if I was told to use meditation and that they would suggest it to their other patients since it worked so well/ efficiently!
-ICE ICE and elevate. Keep it above your heart, BABY!

Just keep your head up and follow your doctor's orders (unless you feel there is a mis-judgement and then always get a second opinion or ask more questions) Be your own advocate! You can do this. Even if you are on the rougher side and struggling, or if there is no way around surgery for you, you can still do something to help make things go better in recovery.

Now, I'm on a new part of this journey of trying to regain the strength/ muscle I lost while NWB, it's going to be a long road til I'm 100% but there is light at the end of the tunnel! I look like Bambi taking his first steps, and I've never been more proud of myself.

Cheers, and best wishes to everyone who is going through a similar experience. You got this!

 

hello there thank you so much for this positive story in Jones fracture. it's very helpful. i'm a student and unfortunately i broke mine and now is on a cast for a week. i'm in a rush to find myself an air cast so that i'll be able to attend my classes and exam.. i'm anxious and couldn't get decent sleep after i've read many reviews and horrible story regarding this fracture but yours has lift up my spirit. i guess patience is the key tho we all wanted it to be heal in a jiffy but there's nothing we can do than just wait isn't. anyway thank you and have a nice day

 

Hi all, I just wanted to give a progress update, it’s nearly 2 years since I had my Jones Fracture. I’ve been completely symptom free for over a year, am still running 25ish miles a week and doing a couple of spin classes. I also enter a Sprint Triathlon or a Half Marathon most months of the year. For anyone who’s sat at home after a Jones, reading all the horror stories. It’s not all doom and gloom and you can have a really smooth recovery. I wore the Gimp boot and didn’t drive for 6 weeks, I was walking around in my own shoes at 6 weeks and a day. It took a couple of months to get rid of my limp and a few months to get back into the full swing of running/spinning, but that was all. It’s really not all bad news!

 

Good luck with your recovery!

 

Hello,
My doctor gave me the option to either go for the surgery or not.
I am a dancer and would love to get back to living my life.
Should I go for the surgery or try the natural healing?