Toed in?

[Kelly]

I just am three days out of surgery for a bilateral with Dr Su.  Can't say enough good things about him or his staff.  On my early pt jaunts (just got to crutches today)my rot foot toes in some.  Anyone experience any issues with this?  If so, what happened over time with it?  Correctable?
Thanks
An additional comment.  The Hospital for Special Surgeries is absolutely amazing.

[hernanu]

Hi Kelly, I had the same on one foot. Right now your body is out of whack and will come back into line.

It is very early in the game for you. Just work on the proper gait and you should be fine.

[kimberly52]

Hi Kelly,

I had a similar problem and when reclining and sleeping used a bolster pillow between my feet to prevent that toeing in from happening.  Possibly you could try something similar.

At 11 days out, I am no longer toeing in. Not sure if that pillow helped or whether it just naturally progressed to normal.  Regardless, the pillow did help and made me feel more secure.

Happy healing!

Kim

[John C]

I had the same experience, and you get an "A" in body awareness for noticing. It is pretty common, and totally correctable over time. My own theory is that it relates to the fact that the external rotators (the ones that turn your foot out) are some of the most traumatized muscles during the surgery. They are often cut or detached, before being repaired at the end of the surgery, so they are not very anxious to get back to work during the initial healing process.
The two things that I worked on were to be conscious of making my foot track straight ahead when I walked, and to work on strengthening the external rotators when the time came. When you are walking, try to be aware of the muscles that you need to activate to keep your foot tracking straight. The fact that you are aware of it, means you are already well on your way to getting past it.

[kimberly52]

Funny you should mention being aware of it. While on the treadmill today that was my primary focus that both of my feet were landing straight and none of that toeing in stuff. Funny how things like walking we took for granted, we now pay much closer attention to doing it correctly.  :)

Kim

[hernanu]

One thing that helped me when I started run/walking on the treadmill at about ten or eleven months was to have one of the personal trainers at my gym just take a look from behind at how I moved when walking and when running.

She found some things I could do better, so I work on those and then I ask her about every three months to look at things. It is probably not necessary for those of us who are runners and know how they should feel, but my running is done on a basketball court or a soccer field, so I am not as knowledgeable.

I figure every little bit helps.