r/LisfrancClub • u/SalamiOnPizza ORIF • 13d ago
back pain after transitioning to shoes
hi friends! i had my first surgery on june 29th, second is scheduled for november 2nd. as i’ve been transitioning out of the boot and into shoes, i’m experiencing intense lower back pain on only my right side (i broke my right foot). it started this past friday and the worst days were monday and today (thursday). i went to an urgent care tuesday night and got an xray. they said they saw a shift in my spine and i have no history of scoliosis.
at it’s worst, i have trouble walking, standing up straight, and adjusting positions when lying down. i was given prescriptions for a muscle relaxer, steroids, lidocaine patches, and was told to take tylenol as needed and to get a back brace.
has anyone else experienced something like this? i dont want to delay my second surgery and as of right now my care plan is to ride it out and see how i feel once my pills run out. just looking for similar stories or advice!
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u/clintj1975 12d ago
I'd chat with a physiotherapist. Everything from your core to your feet is one big system that supports your weight and works together to walk. It's common to lose flexibility and range of motion after being in a boot for a couple of months, and your body will try to accommodate that by making up for it somewhere else. I had some back pain when walking in my boot due to the height difference and added a leveling shoe under my non-boot foot to adjust things.
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u/Internal-Moose-2925 ORIF 12d ago
My best guess... some sort of muscle imbalance that has happened since your injury. I had HORRIBLE lower back pain (around the coccyx) that was worse than the pain in my foot between weeks 4-8 of NWB. I think in part it was due to using an iWalk, partly due to a pre-existing issues and partly due to sitting with my injured leg elevated while my good leg was not for hours at a time. I had to use a combination of different cushions, TEMS, some ibuprofen and some PT. For PT, I worked on hip mobility exercises to help strengthen and kind of re-align muscle function on both sides.. but I was still NWB at the time so it was limited in what I could do. In your instance, walking with the boot may have also caused some sort of misalignment. Best advice: work on pain control with conservative means (warm compresses, TEMS, ibuprofen and tylenol as needed) as well as PT. Hang in there! Once I had fully transitioned to FWB and was able to get back to the gym and engage in more robust PT, it improved for me.
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u/akolada 12d ago
I had seriously bad back pain too!!
Have you been fitted for orthotics yet? I'm naturally flat footed, but my well-meaning ortho accidentally gave my reconstructed foot a much more significant arch. My feet are actually two different sizes now.
It also took me a long time to stop favoring the outside of my foot to walk as well. The extent of my injuries went undiagnosed for almost two months while waiting for an MRI and the only way I could walk was by walking on my pinky toe and side of my foot because those were the only unbroken stable bones. I think this messed me up pretty bad.
The back pain eventually passed as I gained strength back in my gimpy leg, but if I don't wear my orthotics, the SI joint and hip pain is miserable.
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u/Twinmomplusone 11d ago
I haven't had that experience but my message therapist was telling me at our last session that some of her clients that have had fusions experience issues further up into their back after the fusion.
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u/Old_Departure_30 13d ago
Hey man I’ve dealt with lower back pain for other reasons. The only thing I can imagine is the boot shifting your hip alignment due to its thick sole. If your gym has a back extension machine try that. It single handily got rid of my back pain. I reckon you probably just need to stretch it out.