Foot First Aid
A few days after receiving a knee replacement, my mother began to feel a pain in the inner side of her foot (same leg as her ‘new knee’) just above the arch each time she exercised / walked. This grew more intense until two weeks after the operation, whilst walking she suddenly heard a ‘snap’ and felt excruciating pain in that area of her foot. If I had been with her, what immediate first aid should I have provided? Would it be to take additional painkillers and to carry on exercising? Does the immediate first aid / treatment over the following few days have any bearing on the long-term recovery? My Mother is vague about what the injury was but says that nothing was broken. After visiting her, six months after the injury, her knee was fine but her foot still pains her when she walks. I was quite worried to notice that her foot was turning outwards as she walked – yet when sitting, she could point it forward as normal.
I wondered if you could suggest what the reason for this could be and whether you think any physio / exercises or an orthotic device would still be beneficial now?Many thanks, in anticipation, Your suggestions and time are much appreciated.
1 Comment found
Vivian Abrams DPM
First of all, without examining her I can not be sure. One of the first thoughts that I had reading your post is that she tore a tendon in her foot. The best guess is the Posterior Tibial tendon. This can be seen often in older folks and they will commonly tell me “all of a sudden my arch collapsed.” As far as what you could do, I can’t say because I do not know the extent of the problem. I recommend she see a podiatrist or her orthopedit and have an MRI for further evaluation.