Any Peroneal Nerve recovery stories?

[mom444]

Has anyone here used a dorsiflexion assit brace?  If so, did it help at all?

[amdre]

Hey Mom444

I have used an AFO(ankle foot orthodics) brace and i do believe it helped. some of the ways it helped me was helping me clear steps so i wouldnt have to hip hike....also with general everyday walking ...having o hike the hip and the constant foot slapping on the floor kinda slows down walking. and also i feel that it helped me gain dorsiflexion back jst from being at a 90 degree angle all the time. i have finally been able to regain dorsi flexion and do not need assistance from it anymore ...so i would recommend it to someone with dorsi flexion issues.

Andre

[amdre]

Hey amberjade

Been awhile indeed ...i dont know what to say but....try and stay positive the negatives are already there and it is honestly up to you to make a difference in your health."whether you think you can or cant your right....." and about the "pop" you felt ...doesnt sound good especially if that "pop" has created a physical change in your the appreance of your knee...that most mean something has gone on inside and is due for another check up..just to insure things are ok and nothing serious has gone wrong.

Stay positive, proactive and keep us posted
Andre

[amdre]

Hey again Mom444,

I just read your first post ...and to start i would like to welcome you to this thread and let you know that we are all here for support on the road to recovery.

Im sorry to hear about the your daughter and her nerve injury. that is so strange and it must be tough not only for you but her as well. How are you handling this and how much damage has occured to her nerve? Did the EMG specify? From what ive learned the peroneal nerve can be so easily damaged as part of it becomes exposed as it runs down the outside of the knee before it splits and can be hit from a blow to that area ...or maybe even as you said her sleeping awkwardly on it. but i wouldnt know im not a doctor.I wish you all the best and from a recovery point of view she has age on her side so overcoming this shouldnt be a problem.

Take Care and please if you have any questions feel free to post ...there is a broad variety of injuries and alot of us maybe able to relate and help.
Take Care again

Andre 

[Hamish9]

Hey Guys,

Mom
I also wear and AFO and it makes walking a lot easier and more comfortable. Does your daughter wear a night splint? I believe it is important to keep all the tendons and muscles stretched at the back of the leg and also for comforts sake.

Amdre,
Did you wear a night splint? I was at the OS today and things are looking pretty good regards the PLC reconstruction and he was pleased with the strength and flexion I have achieved at 12 weeks and is keen to do the ACL reconstruction soon. Looks like this will be at the beginning of January, which is good as it is soon but allows me to enjoy xmas first. He is also going to book me in for an EMG test but said there is a waiting list for this and it may well be January before I get this. I forgot to ask whether I could start running in the pool but will ask my PT next week. I don't have a specialist knee brace yet but have been using the post op brace when at thegym when I need it. I have been looking at some websites and there seems to be lots out there. Try looking at the website below. Are you going to get a custom fitted brace?

http://www.kneeshop.com/products.asp?cat=18

Hamish

[mom444]

Hey again Mom444,

I just read your first post ...and to start i would like to welcome you to this thread and let you know that we are all here for support on the road to recovery.

Im sorry to hear about the your daughter and her nerve injury. that is so strange and it must be tough not only for you but her as well. How are you handling this and how much damage has occured to her nerve? Did the EMG specify? From what ive learned the peroneal nerve can be so easily damaged as part of it becomes exposed as it runs down the outside of the knee before it splits and can be hit from a blow to that area ...or maybe even as you said her sleeping awkwardly on it. but i wouldnt know im not a doctor.I wish you all the best and from a recovery point of view she has age on her side so overcoming this shouldnt be a problem.

Take Care and please if you have any questions feel free to post ...there is a broad variety of injuries and alot of us maybe able to relate and help.
Take Care again

Andre 

Thanks Andre and every one else.  I'm glad I have found some allies here!  I'm praying for all of your recoveries as well.

Her lesion was "incomplete" according to the EMG so that means that some communication was getting through to the muscles that are innervated by the peroneal nerve.  She has neurolysis surgery this past July.  The surgeon said she had a neuroma that had formed on the nerve.  We still have no idea how this happened.

She has not had any immediate recovery so far but we remain hopeful.  Yes she is still a toddler so we hope age is on her side.

I am a librarian and a college instructor and I have researched the heck out of this.  I have found many research articles about what happens after peroneal nerve surgery, in particular neurolysis.  Many of the studies say that patients did in fact gain improvement but some of the articles do not go into detail about how long it took.

Also, my daughter had this injury for about a year and a half before it was diagnosed and she had the neurolysis surgery.  That  made me very scared because time is of the essence if surgery is to lead to recovery.  However, I found a few articles that said that some of the patients had surgery over a year later past the date of the injury and still had some recovery.

Thank you again everyone.  I'll keep checking back to keep you posted on my little girl and to check your recover as well.

[j_smi001]

Hello Mom444 and welcome - sorry you need to be here for your daughter. 

I have been away for an intensive two week programme and have made excellent progress - OK the foot doesn't move much more than it did but I have got to grips with my dynamic splint and can use it to its full effect, my walking looks much more natural (with the splint on) and i have managed to jog a few steps!  I think that this two weeks has given me buckets full of confidence and the drop foot is no where near as traumatic as it first was.  I have been advised to research nerve transfer surgery that is quite new but a nerve that would not be missed is transfered into the damaged peroneal nerve and after the regeneration works like the original nerve.  Don't know if anyone has come across any articles about this?  The best news is that the quad has woken up and although tires very quickly it is firing so onwards and upwards.  The gym ball and I have a daily battle of me trying to stay on and the ball trying to wobble me off!  Good to catch up with you guys again.  Hope all is well and speak again soon.

[mom444]

Thanks for the welcome j_smi001 and good luck to you too! 

Andre,  I just wanted to ask you a question.  You say that you ARE getting some dorsiflexion back?  When and how did you injure your peroneal nerve?  (If you don't mind me asking.)  Did you have neurolysis or any other kind of surgery on it?   I have also heard that sometimes when the nerve is coming back that you get a tingling feeling in the leg.  Did you have any of this?  Or, in short, how long approximately did it take for the nerve to start to regenerate?

Thanks again everyone... 

By the way, I noticed this is a UK site...  I'm "across the pond" myself   I wonder if there are any resources available in the UK that are not available in the US or vice versa.  As I mentioned I am a librarian and a college instructor and have been doing a lot of research on these topics.  I'll post direct links to articles if you'd like, just note however that some of the articles from high end medicial journals are not available online in full text.  You need either a password to a database if there is an online version of them or you need to obtain an actual print copy of the article if necessary.  I know the lady who is the librarian at the local children's hospital and she has requested copies of articles for me.  Again, most of what I have found indicates that peroneal nerves can after sugery recover in most cases but the articles do not give many details as to time.   

[amdre]

Hey Mom444,

How is everyone?..hope you all are doing well in your recovery.

In answer to your question...yes my dorsi flexion has come back ....it is not at its full potential but it is on is way i believe. i have full range and maybe about 70 percent strength...the strength is kind of on and off sometimes depending on how hard i work it but the Tibialas Anterior muscles has restrengthend alot. I injured my knee in a football game ...i went to avoid a defender and my knee freakishly buckled and i had dislocated the knee crushing the peroneal nerve....i went in for surgery the next week to fix the posteriolateral compartment and it was then determined that my nerve was crushed and told it looked crushed to the point of no return. i didnt have surgery on it because of the fact that it was still intact. even though it was crushed it wa still better then being severed my Doc suggested. i believe he gave me this analogy.....picture the nerve as a phone cord...then picture the wires inside the phone cord...if they are crushed some stay intact and can grow back in the same path..but if they are severed and reattached then it would be a much more difficult taks due to the complexity of the wires inside. and i dont mind at all ...you can ask whatever you like. Yes i did i still do have tingling senesations...now they are stil tingly but when i first injured it ....it flt like shocks..sometimes unbareable and all through the night..i was told it was part of the degeneration phase of the nerve supposedly it does this before regeneration begins. i started experiencing regeneration about 5 to 6 months after i think ...i slowly started to regain my eversion .....then in about july august i started to notice that i could move my foot alittle different and it has just been progressing ever since.

Try not to be discouraged about the time estimates....everyone is heals different. I found that coping with the injury does play apart in compensation so try researching some different way in tricking the nervous system into reacting. as i had wrote before some of the things we did in therapy were using the bodies own retraction phase to dorsi flex. pull the foot down past its natural postion...and it automatical will spring back into its natural position....as you do this tell her to concetrate on lifting her foot. or have her lay on her tummy foot bent at 90 dgrees and instead of pulling up tell her topulldown. there are many different ways...but the key is to do them constantly and religiously...maybe it might kick start something. I Wish you the best and any info you find please feel free to post it.

Take Care,
Andre

[amdre]

Hey Hamish,

Good to hear things are going well...and good scheduling the acl for after the holidays ....that would be kinda crappy if you were gimpy on christmas..haha.
In answer to your question i did wear i night brace ....i used to almost neglect the fact that i couldnt dorsiflex and would catch myself tripping and almost spraining or even breaking the ankle....so a night brace was a must. Are you ready for this surgery coming up? what are some of your thoughts going into it ?....i ask because i was kind of nervous for my third one only because i had range and all then when i went back under i had to go through eveything all over again. how does it feel working out with a brace? i dont haveone yet ..i get it next month and it will be fitted...just dont know how i will pay for it yet....lol these things are expensive...i think everyone is gonna have to get cheaper gifts this year..lol.

Neways take Care
Andre

[amdre]

Hey Jacky,

How are you!......i see things went very well....and you are jogging thats Amazing..how does it feel to jog those couple steps? dont you feel like you just want to take off and run a mile...haha....i think i have heard about nerve transfer surgeries...i will look and see if i can find you the article....is it a nerve graft they want to do and if so where would they be taking the graft from? how do you feel about a surgery like this...what are some of your thoughts on it? how is everything else...do you have alot planned for the holidays...or are you just taking it easy.

Good to hear from you again Jacky kep us me posted
Andre

[mom444]

Thanks for the respones Andre and everyone else.

Has anyone else here ever had neurolyis or a "peroneal decompression" surgery?  That's what my daughter had this past July.

It's a bit more difficult with my daughter because she is only 3 and a half and although she is pretty verbal, you can't really dialogue with her about what is going on.

We are hopefully going to start the electrical muscle stimulation therapy soon.  Her PT said it may help the muscles during recovery.

I

[Hamish9]

Hi Andre

Feeling in two minds about going for the ACLR. I am glad we are doing it pretty quickly as I didn't want to wait around for months to get it done but also realise that I will be going back to square one as far as the rehab goes. I have a month to build up as much strengh as possible for it to all go again but know I have to do it    How long were you back on crutches for after you had it done. Its a bit of a hassle for me as i live in an apartment 4 storeys up and there is no elavator. Its a good upper body and one leg workout tho. How quickly did your ROM come back after ACLR, was it easier than after the PLCR?

Looking at the braces they are expensive. See it as an investment for the future. I found exercising with my brace ok it didn't inhibit me any way and gave me the security of some support.

Cheers
Hamish

[mom444]

Hey Jacky,

How are you!......i see things went very well....and you are jogging thats Amazing..how does it feel to jog those couple steps? dont you feel like you just want to take off and run a mile...haha....i think i have heard about nerve transfer surgeries...i will look and see if i can find you the article....is it a nerve graft they want to do and if so where would they be taking the graft from? how do you feel about a surgery like this...what are some of your thoughts on it? how is everything else...do you have alot planned for the holidays...or are you just taking it easy.

Good to hear from you again Jacky kep us me posted
Andre

Jacky,

I'm not entirely sure about what the nerve graft entails either  but the surgeon mentioned that if my daughter required a nerve graft during her surgery that it would have been a "sural" nerve graft and that it might have been taken from the side of her foot...  Don't take my words as gospel though because I may be remembering things the wrong way.  There is also a Web site from a surgeon in Texas in the US named Dr. Nath and he writes a lot about foot drop surgery and other types of surgery.  I am not sure about details about him, all I can do is give you the Web site:  http://www.drnathfootdrop.com  He is in Houston, Texas and we are up in the Northeastern US so we obviously did not go to him.  My daughter's surgery was done by the only pediatric neurosurgeon in our area trained in peripheral nerve surgery.

Best of luck to you on your recovery!
 

[j_smi001]

Thanks for the info on nerve transfer.  It is something to consider but need to get ready for the next surgery in March to derotate the left leg, first and see how that goes.  So looks like I will be around here for quite a bit longer yet.  Found a good site for helping to keep to an exercise programme www.physiotherapyexercises.com may be of some use?  Good to hear from you all again.  For me it is so important to have any small achievements to share with people that understand.  Most just look at me sympathetically but strangely unhelpfully - not sure if any one else can relate to that.  Well that pesky gym ball is calling me - this is a three times a day appointment and continues to be a challenge - note to self - never ask for a gym ball for Christmas!  Oooh gosh Christmas that is coming upon us real fast and not even started yet.  Still had a laugh at the Christmas do when a good colleague said, go on have another drink I would love to see you legless' and then went into reams of apologies, umm excuse me, I have not lost my leg it is still there and it is only the foot that won't play ball (or any other games)  but it was very funny.  Have a good week people and speak again soon.