Mia Rose’s first full week without hardware in her foot was a good one. She she only needed tylenol briefly and no pain meds at all after that and each day she felt a little better, was off the crutches after just a couple of days. She saw her PT on Monday and everything looked good. She’s graduated to more advanced exercises focused on building more sports-specific strength and balance. As a gymnast she needs to develop a lot of muscular strength to support her feet from within since she trains and competes barefoot.
Between PT, gymnastics practice and the ARP Wave work she’s doing at home every day, the atrophy in her left leg is disappearing quickly. Yesterday,exactly 1 week post screw removal and 13 weeks post ORIF, her left calf and quad measured only 1/4 inch smaller than her right. She still has a way to go, but considering that the calf looked like skin and bone when she got out of the boot and the quad was much smaller than the right one, that’s impressive. She is already able to get up on tiptoe on her recovering foot, not always easy after this injury, but critical for women’s artistic gymnastics. She’s also starting to do some additional skills in the gym. She says that her foot is feeling better with the increased movement and light impact activities. She has no pain at all in the lisfranc area…just some muscle soreness in her foot and ankle as she is now using the muscles far more than she has in months. Riding in the car makes it a little stiff but that quickly resolves once she gets out and moves.
The best thing today was that when I walked into the gym to pick her up, both of her coaches stopped me to tell me about skills that she did today for the first time since her injury and commented on how quickly she is coming back now that the hardware is out. The also commented on what a great job she has done at keeping herself strong through this long recovery. They were clearly proud of her and it was really nice to have them share that with me. Such a nice way to end what was a challenging week for me in other areas.
A Gymnast's Lisfranc Recovery Journey 