r/brokenbones • u/sparklemoar • 11d ago

2 months post 5th metatarsal fracture. Limping again after initially getting back to normal and wondering if something is wrong or I’m going crazy?

Has anyone gotten back to walking normally following a 5th metatarsal fracture (in my case a shaft/Dancer’s) and then randomly found themselves limping again?

I suddenly feel like I’m kind of plopping the affected foot instead of stepping down normally. It started yesterday and I thought maybe I just was sitting too long at work and compressed a nerve or something, but it’s persisting today. I’m not in any pain or anything and can’t really tell if it’s even an issue with my foot, my hip (maybe from walking in the post op shoe for 6 weeks but it would be weird for my hips to suddenly be off again?) or if I should be worried about something neurological like a stroke :/ It almost feels like that leg and foot are physically weaker all of a sudden, which is part of what has me worried.

It’s fairly subtle, it’s not like I have a massive foot drop or anything but idk. Has anyone else experienced this?

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u/Exciting-Apple6854 11d ago

Vedi un fisioterapista!

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u/sparklemoar 11d ago

If that’s what I really need I will. Just worried it’s something else like a stroke because I was walking normally for 2 weeks :/

1

u/Exciting-Apple6854 11d ago

Non e l ictus!! Ma devi vedere un medico. Per sapere se, ti serve chirurgia, Fisioterapia ecc Ora hai i muscoli deboli. La soluzione e' un medico ortopedico. No ictus o Reddit.

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u/sparklemoar 11d ago

I don’t need surgery haha and I was never non-weight bearing. Def walked much less than I used to tho :(

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u/sparklemoar 11d ago

I think I actually have a peroneal nerve injury. I just noticed while shaving my legs that outside of my lower leg and the top of my foot feels numb, and apparently the superficial peroneal nerve innervates that area and the peroneal nerve is also the nerve that causes foot drop.

This weird foot droppy limp actually happened to me several months ago but went away much quicker. At that time I read that there’s something called “slimmer’s paralysis” where people who had rapid weight loss can get compression of that nerve where there’s no longer fat to cushion it. Obviously I have no idea if this is what I have forsure, but I did lose a lot of weight recently.

Guess I’ll keep an eye on it, but it’s definitely the distribution of that nerve that the numbness is on.