Any Peroneal Nerve recovery stories?

[soccerdoc]

Hey Jacky....

Good news lad, and no they shouldn't leave the foot hanging like a soggy end.  As nerves recover there is often excessive sensation, pain etc as the fibers are sorting their connections out.  What is the OS saying in terms of NWB or PWB?  If you are PWB they may want to use  an AFO but that's something the OS and phsyio will work out.  Be patient, bruised, stretched or injured nerves heal slowly, usually more slowly than we would like..  Hang in there and take care.

jim

[rozzzie]

Quite a while ago, I fell and cracked the fibula right where the peronal nerve crosses, also a very bad sprain.  It took 6 months but I did get rid of the food drop.  I had the ankle in a cast for 6 weeks then I had an AFO (ankle foot orthodic) to allow me to walk.  I think I had about 4 months of PT.  It is possible to recover from this. 

Have you had an EMG to check on the health of the nerve?

Wishing you the best.

Rozzzie

[j_smi001]

Thanks soccardoc and Rozzie,

I see my surgeon on Monday.  I have already been in a cast for 6 weeks and go for intensive physio for two weeks on the 5th June.  I will see what the surgeon says on Monday re if any tests are necessary - you never know when the cast comes off this time it may be all healed! (always the optimist)  i know I have some hard work physio wise ahead but that is OK and doesn't phase me.  Thank you and will post monday with the result.

[amdre]

Hey all,

good too hear from all of you and hope you still check in now and then...sorry for the late post ..just been very busy.
as you recommended jak ...i was able to see another nerve specialist for another EMG (8months after the injury) unfortunately his readings were not to my liking. he told me that he was still getting no reaction response from the peroneal nerve to the "tib ant" muscle. i dont know if he doesnt know how to read it properly or what  but i have motor function in my foot again. i can evert and invert fully with strength and know i can dorsi flex half way with little strength. when i asked how i was pulling up ..he again said compensation. "that my body must be finding unique ways to dorsi flex" i think its a bunch of bull and wondering if neone knows any other way you can dorsi flex without the tib ant muscle activating. and to j smioo1 keep your head up ...a of mine i played football with stretched his peroneal nerve as well..took him a 2years to recovery (mainly because of severe ligament damage as well)but he is back playing..i think he still has trouble moving his big toe but other than that he is fully functional. just work hard and always remember you are progressing everyday. when i got down i would think of how far i have gotten since i first got injured and just keep going. still not giving up and it will be one year in september since the injury. nerves take time ...now is time to test your patience stamina and drive.

good luck all hope to hear from you soon.

[j_smi001]

Thanks for the very much needed encouragement.  I am now able to invert and evert my foot.  I have a twitch in my tibulas (?)  physio speak but looks like the tendon to the big toe.  I am now fully weight bearing and will shortly be going onto two walking sticks instead of the the crutches.  As you rightly say - note all the progresses made and look back two weeks not two days.  Hope you are continue to progress.  I am currently on two weeks intensive physio and making the most of it.

[amdre]

"Thanks for the very much needed encouragement.  I am now able to invert and evert my foot.  I have a twitch in my tibulas (?)  physio speak but looks like the tendon to the big toe.  I am now fully weight bearing and will shortly be going onto two walking sticks instead of the the crutches.  As you rightly say - note all the progresses made and look back two weeks not two days.  Hope you are continue to progress.  I am currently on two weeks intensive physio and making the most of it."

hey man keep up the good work and keep me posted on your recovery...not only does it keep me motivated but im sure othesr may benefit from the good news as well. at the begining stages all i heard was non sense from people that are supposed to be highly educated. defy the odds and recover from this set back..its just another obstacle that we can overcome. and like always i will keep yall informed of my progress...i may be alittle delayed but i will continue to reply.

take care everyone.

[amdre]

Hello again everyone

I am updating readers on my progress. Football season has started and unfortunately i have to sit out this year but i was given a glimps of hope from my docs that once doubted any nerve regeneraion. i saw my OS and Nerve specialist on sat the 2nd of september/06 to see if the movement in my foot (dorsiflexion and eversion) are a result of compensation or infact nerve and muscle activity and also to check the stability of the LCL and postiolateral compartment surgery. The way they approached my injury was too repair one thing at a time to allow for better recovery in the LCL due to the amount of damaged suffered. it has ben a year since the first surgery and the postiolateral compartment is rock solid. both the doctors have cleared me for ACL surgery and more extensive rehab to strengthen the weak Tibialas anterior muscle and strengthen the nerve response by sending signals back to the brain instead of from the brain to the nerve they have also coordinated alot of different ways of retrainning the nerve.Still cannot lift big toe and balance (eyes closed) iof injured legg is very unstable (still weak signals cannot tell how much weight i need on foot). dorsiflexion is now at 55 degrees compared to 80 degrees on my good foot. ankle motor skill is coming back the main concern now is strength. in regards to the clearance for the acl surgery.. the doctors felt it would be a useless surgery if i still had paralysis in my left leg. If everything goes well the Docs have given me hope to play again next year but i would have to wear a brace for the rest of my sporting life. holding on to hope and staying focused on a big recovery.

Good luck to everyone

[j_smi001]

Hey Amdre,

This is excellent news, especially when you look back to your earlier posts.  55 degrees dorsiflexion is very good.  Do you still have your AFO to walk?  What rehab exercises are you doing to strengthen the tibialas anterior muscle?  I can now move my toes upwards but the same as you my big toe does not join the party.  I continue to struggle with building up my quad and hamstring but also have numbness at the rear outside of my thigh.  Are you fully weight bearing and do you use any walking aids.  I am now on sticks and yesterday had my first driving lesson following my injury.  I have a driving assessment week next Tuesday to see if I will be able to retain my full manual driving licence.  I am so pleased to hear of your progress and keep going - you will get there.

[amdre]

Hey Amdre,

This is excellent news, especially when you look back to your earlier posts.  55 degrees dorsiflexion is very good.  Do you still have your AFO to walk?  What rehab exercises are you doing to strengthen the tibialas anterior muscle?  I can now move my toes upwards but the same as you my big toe does not join the party.  I continue to struggle with building up my quad and hamstring but also have numbness at the rear outside of my thigh.  Are you fully weight bearing and do you use any walking aids.  I am now on sticks and yesterday had my first driving lesson following my injury.  I have a driving assessment week next Tuesday to see if I will be able to retain my full manual driving licence.  I am so pleased to hear of your progress and keep going - you will get there.

Hey J_smi001,
Good to hear from you again and glad your healing is coming along.that dang big toe ha..haha its pretty stubborn.but in response to your question about "tib ant" strengthening. first we do full a full leg warmup and then workout to strengthen the leg as a unit and to keep the activity and blood flowing. once that is done i am put on this half moon shaped board with my injured foot in a seperate foot strap. on the half moon (i forget what it is called i will find out 2morrow when i go in) there are attachments for resistance these attachments go all the way around the board(180degrees) your foot which is in the strap is placed in the middle of the board and a resistence band is attached to your foot so you can pull(eversion and inversion) then on that same board there is an 6inch 1cm thick pole in the middle of the half moon just behind where you originally placed your foot for the other exercises. lift your foot and place your heal on it(the shoe strap has a place for the pole to keep your foot from sliding off) your foot is now off the ground and angle toes facing the ground.the resistance band is put on the front of the shoe strap and now you start lifting up against the band.once i get to as far as i can get to ...i am assited or "spotted" my therapist will fully dorsi flex my fott for me and then once she lets go i hold it in its dorsiflexed state for as long as i can....this is repeated until fatigue. proprioception balancing on one foot with eyes open and closed to help retrain the muscle in the foot for balance. muscle stimulation..we have been doing this since i lost the function just because we needed to keep the muscle alive even though it was not functional. always keep it alive was what i was told so ive jjust been constantly trying to pull it up. almost to the point of making it an obsession..lol. there is not too much you can do for the muscle until you start getting nerve response so the main focus is to make the nerve muscle response as great as it can be. so try tricking the nerve to work .when you pull your foot down past its resting point it automatically springs back to its resting point. try pulling down and use that natural momentum to dorsiflex.another way is to ly on your stomach bend your leg at a 90 degree angle and use gravity as your aid and pulldown instead of up. use a mirror an practice walking heal to toe and the push off.try not to compensate with hip hiking. just some ideas that my therapist have done with me and we have been making good progess and i really trust what they have been doing. yes i still wear my afo when i go out of the house otherwise no. i can weight bear and walk fine normal without it ..but the shoe is heavy and i fatigue fast and then my foot will strat to hang again. sorry for the novel..just trying to explain everything the best i can...so you can understand if you are willing to inquire more about the different methods. hey tand thats wicked news about your driving test hope all goes well. its a great sign that you can move your toes up its gonna come back. i started noticing the ability to evert and then my toes and slowly starting noticing dorsiflexion.We can do this We are only getting better.

[j_smi001]

OK I had physio today and took a copy of your last message with me.  Now perhaps that was not such a good idea as today i felt as though I was being trained for the next olympics.  The pull down and srping back one is great and I now do this is the hydro pool as well and with the water boyancy you can really trick yourself (never mind the foot) that it is starting to wwork normally.  I PASSED my driving, just restricted to driving whilst wearing an AFO.  I drive better than I walk!  The exercises are coming on great and I have 10 degrees dorsiflexion and can abduct my toes, no less!  I have been told to expect a nettle sting type pain as the nerve regrows - did you experience this?  Let me know how you are progressing - you are a real help to my rehab and thank you for that.

[amberjade]

Hi just picked up on these posts and if anyone still looks in can they help please. I fell off my horse at start of summer and broke 3 ribs and damaged sple :'(en and pancreas, when I was discharged from hospital I spent sumer weeks on Morphine recovering, 4 weeks ago I went to get out of bed and fell, my leg was and is dead knee down and I have complete foot drop. My Dr sent me to emergency... I had a large, hot hard swelling just below knee where I guess nerve damage site is? I have a caliper and manage ok but no improvement in 4 weeks. I go for a series of tests on 23 Oct and see os following week. Biggest change of life for me is that no way can I drive. Not helped that my middle child fell off her horse between my original accident and foot drop!!!! Any hope or advice or things I should be asking, thanks Amber

[j_smi001]

Amberjade,

Welcome to this thread and really hope you join Amdre and myself discussing the little improvements towards the goal of full recovery.  Please let us know how your appoitment goes on the 23rd.  Will be keeping everything crossed for you (except big toe on right foot!) Lets hope you regain some sensation as the swelling goes down.  I don't know about Amdre but my whole leg is not numb from the knee down, only numbness follows the track of the peroneal nerve.  sending you good vibes and much luck Jak

[Hamish9]

Please let me join you on this thread.

Six weeks ago I was rugby training when I suffered a knee injury. Not quite sure how it happened as I was only running and nobody touched me. But basically the head broke off my fibula and I dislocated my knee, tearing my ACL completely and also damaged my Posterolateral Corner and Peroneal nerve. I am now 5 weeks post op from PLC reconstruction and repair to fibula. I have no dorsiflexion or eversion and the muscles down my shin and on the top of my foot are numb. The surgion says that the nerve was stretched quite considerably but was still intact. I do get pins and needles in my foot and in my toes, quite bad sometimes. Is this good?

once I get the required flexion in my knee of 110 degrees the OS will be looking at doing the ACL reconstruction.

Hamish

[j_smi001]

Hamish,
First, welcome.  Second, oh dear poor you that sounds painful.  My nerve was stretched 6 months ago and I did start to get a bit anxious as I had no dorsiflexion, eversion or inversion, mine was described as complete drop foot.  It can be a worrying sight but nerves do take a long time and I keep getting told by very knowledgeable physio's that 12 months is the real time. I had very odd sensations in my foot but I was told that it was not necessarily nerve re-generating.  There are no two ways about it though as it comes back it is painful (in my experience).  I have 10mg of amiltriptyline to calm the nerves down at night to give me some sleep.  A stretched nerve should come back but this is not going to be quick.  The other good news is that you become better able to adapt to it and then it does not seem quite so bad.  With my splint there is little I can't do.  Now I have a little more foot movement I am to progress to a toe off splint that allows me to use what dorsiflexion I have.  Hope this is helpful and hang in there.  Another tip I was given, and  have no idea whether it helped or not, but talk to your foot and ask it to move and also stroke down the route of the peroneal nerve to try and encourage it.  Jak

[Hamish9]

Thanks Jake,

I have started talking to my foot and stroking my leg already, I'm getting some strange looks. Thanks for the advise, reading through the posts it is becoming apparent this will take some time and I will just have to keep at it. Probably need to stop worrying and concentrate on my knee in the short term.

Cheers
Hamish