Leg may not have healed properly from injury

By Dr. Lou Pack

“I had an injury to my leg and I’ve never been the same since. Do you have any suggestions?”

There are of many reasons why you may still be having problems depending on the type and severity of your injury. If it was a fracture, it may not have healed completely and you may have a “non-union.” This occurs when scar tissue forms between the two ends of the bones instead of the bone healing end to end as it should. Or the fracture may have healed in an improper position.

Sometimes with injuries there is permanent damage to the surrounding structures. Tendons, blood vessels and nerves may be permanently damaged. Or the injury may have caused you to walk abnormally resulting in additional stress on the weight bearing joints of your feet, ankles, knees, hips and back.

So as you can see, there can be many reasons for lingering symptoms. And although you may have been told that nothing else could be done, seeing a specialist may prove otherwise. In addition, modern technological advances may allow today’s physician to do things that were impossible just a few years ago.

There is another factor that’s also important to consider but often missed, and that’s the inherent structural abnormalities we all have. For example, if you had a fractured leg, the injury may have healed with some shortening. You may also have been born with a slightly shorter leg on that side and the combination of the injury and your inherited problem has made your ability to function much worse.

An old injury to your knee may have weakened it. But if your foot pronates (flattens and rolls inward) that would cause additional stress on that joint. Here again, the combination of factors would make your injury much worse.

No one is born structurally perfect, and any degree of abnormality can increase the stress and strain on an injury, making optimal recovery and function more difficult. So even if you think you have “covered all the bases” in treating your injury, having a structural evaluation can be very beneficial. For example, something as simple as putting a lift in your shoe on the side that an injury has shortened can be quite dramatic.

A former reconstructive foot and ankle surgeon and past clinical instructor of Medicine at Emory, Dr. Pack practices at MCG in Greensboro. He works with patients who have arthritis and wish to decrease joint symptoms and remain active without medication or surgery. Dr. Pack also treats athletes at all levels. In the 2004 Olympics he had a silver and gold medalist, and helped the UGA Golf Team (2005 NCAA national champions). For further information please see www.drloupack.com, drloupack.blogspot.com or contact him directly at (706) 454-0040.