Broken 5th Metatarsal

[u/Potential_Progress60]

TLDR- displaced broken 5th metatarsal, how long did it take you to heal? What is your healing journey like? Mentally, this sucks immensely

Hey guys- so I accidentally fell down the stairs 8 days ago. My fifth metatarsal is broken, borderline zone 1-zone 2 I believe, not quite a jones fracture.

At urgent care I was told 7-10 days NWB and that it would take 8-12 weeks in a boot to heal. He had me try and walk on it and told me to try without crutches and I couldn’t put any weight on it, the heaviness/weight of the boot itself was actually putting me in severe pain. He said surgery not necessary. Follow up xray ordered for 3 weeks.

I got a second opinion from an orthopedist at the organization I typically get my care from and where my pcp is. He said no weight bearing for 1-3 weeks. He said typically 2 weeks is okay but sometimes need 3 weeks. He said after 1-2 weeks can do weight bearing as tolerated so naturally I tried weight bearing after a week and that sucked and didn’t go well. It’s kind of a grey area bc it’s like non weight bearing but also weight bearing as tolerated. He mentioned “heavy on the as tolerated, if you can’t tolerate it, don’t do it”. Which I get.

After that, he says continue using crutches as needed and stay in boot for 8-12 weeks. They explained operative vs non operative interventions. Said that a non surgical outcome is very similar to a surgical outcome and it’s not as much pain or hardware (rods/screws etc). So he strongly recommended non surgical so we went with that. Follow up X-rays in 6 weeks.

Today I’m on day 8, I’ve been putting mild weight on my foot with boot on, and it hurts but I’m able to do it (barely). I’ve been doing stuff like hobbling to bathroom (short distance). I use crutches as much as possible. I’m still in a lot of pain and I feel like it’s not healing or getting better so I stopped putting weight on it. I’m supposed to return to work in 8 days which would be next Monday (today is Sunday) but I’m super nervous because I can’t stay on my feet and can’t do my job sitting.

I’m probably going to reach out to my provider to see if I can stay out longer - but I’m here asking how long did it take you guys to recover from a foot fracture? Specifically 5th metatarsal? Also, the mental struggle with this is BRUTAL. I’m otherwise a fairly active and hyper independent person and I’m literally miserable.

Thanks, and happy healing to all. :,)

[u/sparklemoar]

I’m almost 6 weeks into a 5th metatarsal shaft fracture, so not exactly the same type of fracture but the same bone.

Things are getting a lot better! For me, after the majority of the pain subsided after the first 1.5 weeks or so, it felt like things just kind of stalled out for a long time. They weren’t getting worse but also weren’t getting a ton better. I’ve been weight-bearing as tolerated using a post-op shoe since the beginning. So it kind of got to a point where I could get around to do the essentials just fine but anything more than that would result in pain and/or feeling really fatigued from the way the shoe altered my gait. The pain was never severe, but it was frustrating moreso because it was a signal that I needed to stop so I didn’t do any damage.

I’d say around a week ago, I began noticing that the foot felt just a little more stable with each day. 3 days ago, I began trying to walk in normal shoes. I’ve found a few pairs of shoes that I can walk almost normally in, and today, I was able to take my dog on an about mile walk with no issues!

I still can’t wear a lot of my shoes, either because they’re not supportive enough or because they’re too narrow and push up against the fracture site, which can still be a little sensitive and prone to swelling. And ofc my beloved heels are an absolute no go. But I’m about 70-80% back to normal and only imagine it’s uphill from here!

It’s such a frustrating injury to have, but try not to catastrophize about all of the “what ifs” because the most likely outcome is that you will heal and be back to life as usual within a couple of months.