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The response to the question below was authored by Marc Mitnick DPM

Pain and unable to walk in the morning 5 months after hardware removal of left ankle

by Anthony
(Meriden CT.)

I had a plate and 6 screws removed in early may. It is now just about October when I wake up in the morning I am unable to walk on it causing me to limp And have to hold on to anything in site. I also am having significant muscle pain throughout my work daycausing my nights to be uncomfortable and again limping. After I sit down for say 20 minutes and then stand back up I cannot immediately walk causing a limp. Is any of this normal for the recovery time or could possibly have something going on? Thanks Anthony C.

RESPONSE
Hi Anthony,

It certainly does not sound normal although some residual pain may be expected in certain cases. I do not know how bad an ankle fracture you sustained (I assume that is what occurred) but sometimes there can be residual problems.
Depending on how bad the initial trauma was it sometimes can be difficult to put everything back together as well as the surgeon would like. Two areas of concern is the actual alignment of the ankle joint and secondly the fractured pieces of bone. If there were multiple fractures in the one spot then it becomes inherently more difficult to put everything back together properly.
Both of these scenarios could lead to residual pain.
You do not mention why you had the hardware removed as usually it is a permanent fixture. I will assume the hardware itself was bothering you as that is the most common reason hardware is removed.
My best piece of advice to you would be to go back to your surgeon and let he or she know about the amount of pain you are having and then decide on a proper course of treatment.
Sometimes physical therapy can be very helpful, other times some kind of support around the ankle may prove to be beneficial in reducing your discomfort.
The person best suited to decide for you would be the person who operated on you and is familiar with your particular situation.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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Mayo Clinic

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American Academy of Pediatrics

Penn State Medical Center

National Institutes of Health

Columbia University Department of Rehabilitation

ScienceDirect

Stanford Health Care

Illinois Bone and Joint Institute

Mount Sinai Hospital

Institute for Chronic Pain

University of Florida Health

American Family Physician

Cedars-Sinai

University of Maryland Medical Center

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Wonderful advice

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location unknown

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Thank you for your response. It sounds like a good plan to me. He did not cut the wart out first ...

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Bellevue, WA

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Jodi

location unknown

Pain and unable to walk in the morning 5 months after hardware removal of left ankle

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