Calf Pain after Ankle Surgery

[project240]

Just about a month ago, I had surgery on my left ankle. The surgery went fairly well and even though my ankle initially looked pretty butchered (with about 40 stitches) the surgeon and any nurses who have seen it say it looks really good.

Anyways, about a week after my surgery I began having severe pain in my left calf muscle, most significantly felt when I first wake up and stand after sleeping. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but a few mornings this almost brought me to tears in bed. After 2 mornings of this incredible pain and slightly less pain throughout the day I went and saw the surgeon down at Peter Lougheed Centre. While there, their first concern was a blood clot. I was immediately sent for an xray and mri, both came back negative. The surgeon didn't really offer any explanation for the pain besides "possibly low on potassium" or "being dehydrated". I've experienced muscle cramps from this before, but never to this extent, so that didn't really make sense to me.

Anyways, surgeon told me if the pain doesn't go away in a couple days to come back. Fortunately, within another day and a half it disappeared almost completely.

Fast forward a few weeks and the same pain is back. I've been back to see the surgeon, again with no explanation. Anybody have any suggestions on what it could be? Surgeon/Doctor tells me it's most likely just a muscle cramp, but that just doesn't make sense.

Help... It hurts.... Alot.

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by project240
this almost brought me to tears in bed.

Pussy. :)

Seriously - I wonder if it is just that you're walking on it *differently* and using muscles you're not used to using for walking. Also, if your foot is not falling naturally, it will strain a lot of other things in your leg. It's a system, really....

Now, I don't know if this would cause the severe pain you are describing, but I know a lot of people come into our stores complaining of pain in their calves and shins due to improper footwear. If just wrong footwear can cause that, I can imagine that walking incorrectly on your injured foot could do the same.

Of course... if you feel your gait is exactly the same now as it was before the surgery, then you can just ignore all of this.

[project240]

Originally posted by Kloubek


Pussy. :)

Seriously - I wonder if it is just that you're walking on it *differently* and using muscles you're not used to using for walking. Also, if your foot is not falling naturally, it will strain a lot of other things in your leg. It's a system, really....

Now, I don't know if this would cause the severe pain you are describing, but I know a lot of people come into our stores complaining of pain in their calves and shins due to improper footwear. If just wrong footwear can cause that, I can imagine that walking incorrectly on your injured foot could do the same.

Of course... if you feel your gait is exactly the same now as it was before the surgery, then you can just ignore all of this.


Thanks, lol.

I'm in a full cast and walking on crutches, so definitely not "walking on it differently". The doctor suggested it could be the muscle is constantly cramped because of little to no movement allowed in the cast, but I've previously been in a cast on the same leg for weeks and have never experienced any pain like this.

I'm left with no explanation other than this. Most of my day is spent on the couch with my foot up... I can't even sit in a chair normally for more than 20 minutes without my foot starting to swell up now.