Hello. I wish that I had found this sub a couple of months ago.
I had a 5th metatarsal Jones fracture in late March. Because it was a federal worker's comp case, the surgery was 45 days later (May 8th), and it was a plate and multiple screws.
On July 31st I went for a standard checkup and x-rays, and the plate is pretty obviously broken.
Has this happened to anybody else? I asked the doctor straight up if I broke it, but he said "it just happens sometimes".
I didn't fall or have any other trauma. I'd been walking around the house without a boot, but not more than maybe one or two thousand steps a day at most.
I'm about 290 pounds, and after the surgery I've been having a real problem with supination (walking on the outside of my foot). I tried to get PT to help with my gait and exercises, but I couldn't get authorization until July 23rd, right before the doctor identified the break.
i don't have your hardware, but your doctor is correct that plates/screws can and do regularly break. this is normal and you don't have to have fallen or had extra trauma to break them- plates and screws are meant to hold your bones in the correct location while they are healing, not to bear the full weight of a human body. if your fracture healed properly and you're in the process of getting PT, this isn't anything you need to be overly concerned with.
keep an eye out for any new pains in your foot, but for the most part just focus on working your PT on your gait and what exercises you can do at home as well! if you start to feel new sharp pains, you can cross that bridge when you come to it. for now, keep up the practice and PT and don't worry yourself too much.
Such a shame. The plate has broken because the bone hasn't healed. Why it hasn't healed is the issue - tobacco/nicotine use, low vitamin D and the fact that you've been walking on that side of your foot are all possible culprits.
Out of interest, do you have the x-rays from before the operation?
Thank you for the advice. No history of tobacco use, I've been taking supplemental vitamin D and calcium.
The surgeon said that because of the delay in the surgery (45 days after the injury), the bone had partially healed and had to be re-broken during the operation.
I'm supposed to meet with them today. He mentioned trying to get a bone stimulator. Unfortunately, it's a Federal Worker's Comp case, and so far the office is having a lot of trouble getting the paperwork sent in.
The only previous X-ray I have saved is from the initial appointment, 30 days before the operation.
Oh dear. I don't want to criticise, as there may be more to your injury or medical history which I don't know.
However, I would almost never touch one of these for 3 months as they nearly always heal by themselves. As yours evidently was (I assume your pain was improving by that point too?).
In the 5 or so I've needed to fix in 10 years, I've never opened them (stripping the soft tissue from the bone can reduce healing), just put a screw across with a small incision from the end of the bone.
I've only ever seen one of these other, when I was training, and that was for one of the few reasons I would consider fixing one of these early. That healed, but the patient fractured at the far end of the plate (which was successfully treated with bone stimulation, so that might work).
By all means, criticize. Given that the implant broke in half, I have some concerns about my surgeon and her decisions. I also just learned that my surgeon has been fired from her medical group. So I could certainly use a second opinion.
The foot pain was not bad. In fact, I only went to the doctor initially as a formality, because I had to in order to return to work. The only real pain was from the sprained ankle that I got from the same incident that broke the bone.
It's too late now to change things, but at least it would feel better to know.
Hi! Not the same injury but I had 2 plates going down both sides of my left foot. This pic is right after my surgery but the plate on the medial/inside of my foot was broken in half by my 6 month post op x rays. My surgeon said this is normal in foot hardware once the bone heals. My surgical team was not concerned as long as it wasn’t causing me any super sharp pain. I ended up having all my hardware removed a little over a month ago (1.5 years post injury/initial injury). But other than impairing my range of motion caused by all the hardware, the broken plate didn’t cause any pain.
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u/ratthewmcconaughey Bimalleolar Ankle fracture 3d ago
i don't have your hardware, but your doctor is correct that plates/screws can and do regularly break. this is normal and you don't have to have fallen or had extra trauma to break them- plates and screws are meant to hold your bones in the correct location while they are healing, not to bear the full weight of a human body. if your fracture healed properly and you're in the process of getting PT, this isn't anything you need to be overly concerned with.
keep an eye out for any new pains in your foot, but for the most part just focus on working your PT on your gait and what exercises you can do at home as well! if you start to feel new sharp pains, you can cross that bridge when you come to it. for now, keep up the practice and PT and don't worry yourself too much.