Question
I fractured my calcaneus 2 months ago jumping off a trampoline. I have seen 2 Drs--their opinions are conflicting. The first told me to bear wt on it now and the bones will compress together. The second Dr said it should have been repaired surgically when the injury occured. I am having much pain and I'm really confused about what to do. The ER Dr said it was the worse calcaneus fracture he had ever seen--he said it was "shattered". Can you please give me an opinion?

Answer
HI Mary,

I cannot give you an accurate opinion without seeing you and some diagnostic tests.  I also do not know all of the facts and circumstances that were considered by each doctor.

I can give you some general facts.  If you have a shattered calcaneus and you are still having pain, you may need to consider surgery now to repair the bone.  What should have been doesn't matter at this point.  I would recommend that you get several opinions from several podiatrists that do reconstructive surgery.  You can then make a decision on your treatment course going forward, whether conservative or surgical.  Just look to the future and seek someone that can help you resolve the problem.

Also please realize that a shattered calcaneus usually results in arthritis within the foot and can result in chronic pain even with perfect treatment.

I wish you luck.

Sincerely,

Marc Katz, DPM
Tampa, FL
Advanced Podiatry
http://www.thetampapodiatrist.com
http://www.tampacryosurgery.com
http://katzpodiatristtampa.blogspot.com
http://painfoot.blogspot.com
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http://www.notoenailfungus.com

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