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

plantar puncture wound

I had a plantar puncture wound from a rake a couple of months ago. I received emergency room treatment, an x-ray was taken, and I was told there was no infection and given home-care instructions. The wound is "healed," but after all this time, there is still quite a bit of pain (though not as much as when the accident occurred). Is this normal? Is there something else I should be doing?

RESPONSE
Hi,
Whether or not there was an infection would be partly determined by when you went to the emergency room. Infections generally take 36-72 hours to develop after a wound. So you if you immediately went to the emergency room right after the accident, there would be no way for them to know if the wound was infected or not. You also do not mention whether or not you received a tetanus shot.
In any event you obviously did not develop a full blown infection but there is always the possibility that you developed a granuloma which is a growth that contain infected material that may form in the closed wound. It would give you the sensation of something still being in the foot or some degree of discomfort.
A more likely scenario would be that the rake did some soft tissue damage where it entered your foot. The rake may have partially torn part of the plantarfascia or any other part of the bottom of the foot. You do not mention exactly where the rake entered your foot so I am only guessing here.
It is also impossible for me to determine the amount of possible damage but obviously the greater the damage the longer it will take to heal. This becomes compounded by the simple fact that every time you walk you are aggravating the area.
I know nothing about you including your age, weight, occupation , overall health, etc. so I cannot comment if in two months you should still be having pain.
If you really want to know if you have an actual problem or not, why not make an appointment with a foot specialist in your area and have your foot examined.
Because, based on your story, I do not think you have any bone issues, you may require an MRI or perhaps even an ultrasound to determine the extent of soft tissue damage to your foot.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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plantar puncture wound

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