Eric’s Peroneal Nerve Damage
SO I am convinced that the severe pain in my shin that runs down to my toes is nerve damage from the peroneal nerve during surgery. Like most cases I can find about it online, my dr seems to be in denial (but at least he didn’t claim it was just from the brace being on too tight like one patient). Luckily, this nerve damage seems like it should be temporary. Unluckily, it could take TWO YEARS! The rate of recovery I found (albeit not from a dr or science journal) was an inch a month recovery. Great.
I had ACL and both meniscii surgery in March 08, hamstring tendon used, also a sufferer of peroneal nerve damage, confirmed by a neurologist who did nerve testing. Also told should heal 1mm a day, so I am optimistic I will heal, zlso told 18 mos. to 2 years. Dr. said he has done 1000 !!! ACL reconstruction I was the 1st patient to have this outcome. Neurologist said he see it all the time. how did you get rid of the pain???
Hi Mark, You have one up on me if you have talked to a neurologist. I’ve been reading a scientific review of nerve damage (I’m a biologist myself so have access to all that stuff) and it says 1mm per day for axon damage (less for myelin sheath damage which it seems like neither of us have). However, you should mention to your dr when you see him again that the window for surgery intervention (nerve grafts etc) is also about 18 months, after which surgery doesn’t work. Even before that time, peroneal nerve injury (as opposed to other nerves) has a poor success rate, about 39%. Has your nerve damage been getting any better? Its been 9 months for you.
As for pain, the only thing that works for alleviating pain my pain is elevating my leg for long periods of time. Of course, it hurts a lot when I get down. I haven’t tried anything stronger than tylenol since stopping the oxycodon.
Wow Eric, i don’t envy you!
hey guys. i came browsing ACL blogs looking for this exact topic. I had ACL reconstruction surgery last tuesday (i’m on day 9). used my semi-tendenosis. drugged up and doing well until day 5, then redness and heat spread across lower leg, especially along tibia. intense pain - almost unbearable when standing; pain meds don’t touch it; only relief is elevating leg. i was sure i had some type of cellulitis of something (infection) so went and saw my surgeon but he was pretty sure its from blood in the leg.
heres the thing: i took a day off of Dilotid (hydromorphone) on day 3 and used ibuprofene quite aggressively (2400mg/24hrs) to help deal with swelling. i tell my surgeon this and he explains to me that the reason he didn’t prescribe ibuprofene for me is that it can lead to continual bleeding of internal wounds (especially post surgery).. also it tends to slow down healing. [i wish the doctor or the pharmacist i had on the phone when i was asking about using ibu knew this!] So i only used the ibu for the one day.. its now day four since the leg pain came on but it began lessening yesterday.
To other who’ve experience this ‘nerve pain’.. were you also using ibuprofene quite liberally? How long has the pain remained post surgery? Eric - i didn’t find you talking about this again after your ‘nerve pain post’..
thanks for keeping this blog alive.. (ps i’m 28; a competative athlete.. i’ve always used and really appreciated ibuprophene).
-daniel
howdy folks -
the intense pain i wrote about in the previous response lasted one week. I am now on day 19 and my recovery is steaming right along. i believe the pain was the result of post surgical trauma inside the leg - especially blood and fluids - BUT it could also be due to nerve trauma that may have occurred during surgery. Anyways.. this morning i got on my road bike (setup with a trainer indoors) and that felt great. i’ll be on it alot from now on. -d.
Wats good yo. I feel you and know what your going through. You just got to suck it up and keep living your life. I blew out my knee playing football senior year in HS. Most likey a career ending injury. Tore my ACL,LCL and PCL. IT band all the muscles on the outer part of my leg. Stretched my peroneal nerve. Its been a year and a half. I recently have been able to move my foot up a little. The tib ant muscle is coming back I can feel it. If it comes back that’ll be great but if it doesn’t oh well. It does suck though. My opinion on surgeries is fuck em. Im a let my body heal itself even if it takes 2 years.
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hi fellow acl survivors,
i had surgery for reconstructive knee that was hurt on the job , after retuning to work when workers comp said i was healed the pain started . please dont let yourself fall into th same boat. the pain still is there and my boss dont care. well i now have nerve damage that is irreversible even with surgurey. your knee will tell you when it ready not the insurance company. dont let big brother tell you whats right for you
ACL CADAVIER,
Does anyone know how soon I may be able to plan a motorcycle trip across the US on my Road King? I want to do a trip in July and havnt had the surgery yet.
Nice, thanks for share! lower leg pain
causes
Does anyone know how long it takes to heal from ACL replacement with Cadavier? with conciment meniscus repair?
you’re lookin at about 3 months until you’d want to do a major motorcycle trip, i guess. just my guess though. i’m 28 years old; two months post op now and there’s not much i can’t do.. but no jogging yet or anything. they don’t recommend jogging till 3-4 months.
Thanks for the input. I had this trip planned for 2 years now Im just having trouble getting onto the OR schedule. Im so scared that the weight of the cycle will ruin the graft after only 3 months but really want to do the trip.
Hey just so you know I had my R knee done (ACL/meniscus) in 03 with my hamstirng tendons and I was running and wt training at 4 months.
Sure glad I came across this blog…I had bunion surgery..foot is great, but 2 weeks post op I started having these sharp pains shooting from ankle up to the knee plus a 5″ mass at the base of the knee cap. Nothing relieves the pain and I am taking ibuprofen plus Tylenol 3. Dr says it will go away with time??
i had an acl reconstruction this april, about 3 months ago now. immediate post op went fine, not to bad, regaining muscle and stuff now. about a month ago, i started getting intense pain down the lower part of my leg, and just above the knee. its pretty bad, i usually get it at night. i can get it like every hour all day, or not al all for a few days. i talked to my physio, an he said that it might be the nerves inside my bones, and because bones grow most in the night, thats when it hurts most. i saw the doctor, and he said it could be anything, a nerve been cut through, but there wasnt much they could do, because he didnt know how long it would last. so ran the risk of getting addicted to long term pain meds, and because its only some days it would be hard.
it sucks, i know, but hang in there, it will get better, it cant worse right?
I just went through my 2nd ACL surgery 12 days ago (left knee). Ive been experiencing severe pain on the top of my foot and my toes. the pain is not as great in my shin area, but it has come to the point where my foot hurts more than my knee does where the surgery was done. Sleep is not happening for me right now. waking up to sharp pains in my foot in the middle of the night.
During my post acl recovery on my right knee (1st surgery) i acquired a nasty infection from improper closing of the inscision. i was bed-ridden for 3 months but experienced no nerve pain whatsoever. so this nerve pain is relatively new to me.
My mother went through a series of nerve operations over a 2 year period. She gave me a tube of capsaicin cream. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in chili peppers. It’s what gives chili peppers their kick. It works great to temporarily releive the pain if it is used consistently 3-4 times throughout the day. if you use it right, it works great. its about 20$ a tube, but 1 tube will last a while as you only use a small amount. if you only use it here and there, it can have a burning sensation to begin with, but its really not bad. (weaker than a tiger balm sting, but more effective for nerve pain relief). Give it a shot if nerve pain is a problem for you post-surgery.
Thanks for having this blog, i was worried when the pain begun, but it seems to be a relatively common side effect of acl repair.
I had mine one 6/10 (ACL and meniscus) using my hamstring, and it seemed to be going fine until about 2 1/2 weeks ago when I started getting pain (like what LEMS is getting) right below my knee (Where it seems like the screw holding the tendon in would be). And it’s a sharp pain during the day, but a mixed sharp/throbbing pain at night. Sometimes yawning/coughing (what I think is a quick rise in blood pressure) makes it have a quick sharp pain.
I am also having a slight tingling/pain sensation on the outside edge of my foot and smallest 2 - 3 toes. I hoping it’s not nerve damage. About 5 days after my surgery my foot began to swell and turn purple and hurt so bad I would have amputated it with a plastic picnic spoon at one point. It turms out it was a bloodclot in my ankle.
I started swimmig again at about 4 weeks, and found that I hit the leg extension machines at the gym a little early ( @ 5 weeks). Though my DR said after 2 months I should be back to my normal activites I have discovered that I guess I am *very* active. I am not used to doing nothing all day, and have found this to be making me depressed.
I see my ortho in another 3 days for my 2 month post ops and am very curious as to his definition of *normal* should be.
Thank Vivian for letting me know that it’s really 3 - 4 months before you start getting back to normal activities (not 2) and that the pain is normal I guess. I just hope I don’t have perm nerve damage in my foot.
JY
Sorry read the format wrong, should be thanks to Jim in Logan and DSTAP!!
I had ACL recon done at the end of jan 2009. 7months down the track i have a numb front of my lower leg and get continual shocks going up and down my shin and sometimes (if im really lucky) it feels like there are insects inside of my leg climbing up and down my leg meat! my surgeon is convinced i have a saphenous nerve injury caused by the surgery and he has had me on gabapentin (an epilepsy drug) since march, this is supposed to stop the shocks (which it only reduces) and help me actually get some sleep but so far all its doing is making me pile on weight (even though i go to the gym most days and go swimming). i also got refered to the pain clinic who suggested i try some topical cream which made my foot burn and it wasnt applied to my foot! so a month ago he thought i may have had a cyst in behind my knee but after another MRI every thing came back clear. so im at 7month post-op and my leg is more knackered than it was before the surgery. i was very interested with i found this page cos he has never once suggested that i may have peroneal nerve damage so when i see him next (in 2months so at 9months post op) i will be suggesting i have my nerve tested, which i would have thought he would arrange as soon as he thought i had a nerve injury
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I actually felt a severe pain in my shin that runs down to my toes, 2 weeks ago and it felt like it’s going to break. So it means i have damaged my acl(anterior cruciate ligament) and probably have damaged one of the ligaments in my knee from a low thai kick. It was a good thing I rested for the next few weeks, now i’m feeling better like nothing happened.
Thanks for this great piece of information.
nerve damage… Vitamin B compound.
Hi everyone,
I had ACL surgery, with the hamstring option, in June. Five days after the surgery, I began having intense pain in my foot. I went on Lyrica, and it took a couple of months for the pain to go away. More than five months later, the pain completely gone, but the numbness is still there. I probably retore my meniscus also. But Lyrica reallllly did the trick for me.
I had ACL surger in 1998
I have had a dull ache/pain in the bottom of my foot ever since. I have very little feeling in the top half of my lower leg (below the knee). The only thing that seems to help is reflexology and reflexology gadgets. Golf balls work great too…goodluck!
I had my second surgery for my ACL. Zfirst, a repair then a reconstruction. I am so glad I found this! I have been thinking I was going crazy. Its been nine months since my last surgery and I have the pain in the knew down shin and into the toes, top of foot even the bottom of foot like i got a nail stuck in it.And some ti,es after a while of being on my feet the back of my knee gets itchy too from the swelling. not to mention the way it feels to have anything touch my knee leg or foot, so strange and and makes me jump. My doctor has made me feel that he has never heard of such a things happening after surgery. I am so glad to know that I am not the only one and that there is hope it may eventually get better. I am very sad that all of use must deal with these problems. Goodluck to all!!
Welll own tinow Ive had both cadavier on left and own tissur on right., they both retair but I wont have the surgery agian. I depend on supplements and chinese medicind. im a practioner and anyone wanting into. contact me at viviansnyder@hotmail.com. Ive been a nurse since i was 19, wilderneaa NS N SAR ABD /ER NURSE. the trrick is to keep the muscles sttong, let them reheal on theri own and do PT.
Hi my name is DeAndre, i apparently tore my peroneal nerve riding motocross about 8 months ago and recently had a nerve graft in may. i was just wondering if anybody knows the chances of that working.