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How can I reduce swelling after surgery?
I am 5 weeks from a major ankle/heel repair and my swelling has not gone down enough to put me back in regular shoes. They took a tendon from calf and that area is swollen too. I am not able to lift my foot very high and I am concerned. I am 67 yrs old
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@brigette22 Hello, and welcome to Connect. Ankle injuries are tough to deal with. It is hard not to be able to bear body weight, and then you wait for healing, and begin again needing rehab for weakness because of the strength that was lost. I can relate a similar experience because of a bad ankle fracture. That was more painful and over a much longer period of time than my cervical spine surgery. The ankle swelling goes on a long time. The entire first year, I got swelling that would come and go depending on how much I tried to walk on my foot. The first several months out of the cast had constant swelling. Gravity isn't helping when your foot is on the floor. Elevating it helps when you get it above your heart. I still get some swelling now, but just not as much, and it seems to happen when my muscles fatigue and I have to get off my foot. It takes a very long time to regain strength in atrophied muscle and it has been close to 2 and half years since the fracture.
5 weeks post surgery is very early in your recovery, so I am not surprised about swelling and not being able to wear a shoe. If you are concerned, it is always worth checking with your surgeon, and to watch out for blood clots that can also add to swelling. They are a risk after surgery, and also for people who are not walking because the blood can pool a bit and isn't flushed through fast enough. Swelling of course would slow that down, kind of like flood water that backs up from a stream.
Another question worth asking is how did the tendon transfer affect normal movement? You would be loosing the past function of that tendon and it's function was altered by the surgery. My podiatrist described something like this with a transfer that is done because of an Achille's tendon tear where another tendon that runs behind the ankle is moved, and the patient looses the ability to flex their foot. Is that kind of loss of movement what you are describing? Did your surgeon explain how your function would be altered by the procedure?