[Guest]

Besides taking my lateral sesamoid bone out, can I do to get rid of/reduce pain I have? , can I expect in future if I do or do not take bone out? Any new treatments available? I am a 48 year old woman, very athletic (running, xc ski skating, rollerblading, hiking, soccer, swimming, mtn biking), have been in increasing pain 1 1/2 years. I have a high arched, rigid type foot. Went to my podiatrist in December. Had an xray nuclear bone scan. Bone looks hollow larger than medial bone on xray. Bone scan suggests aseptic neucrosis. in an air cast 6 weeks; did exercycle while in cast. Absolutely no change in xray after 6 weeks! Out of cast now am walking fine; swimming a little exercise. Will probably go in to get orthodics to see if we can work around bone. Podiatrist predicts I'll want to take bone out at some point. I want to know happened. He says only way to find out is to examine bone following surgery. Everything I've read about surgery says it is counterindicated in athletic people. I'm not ready to have surgery, I also don't want to give up running or weight bearing activities. Opinions?

[Guest]

In people with a long term injury as yours, surgery is really the only option. At this point, the bone will not heal because it has been fractured for too long. Surgery can be scary, but it usually relives most of the pain if not all of it. Therefore, if you want to remain active, you may want to consider the surgery to remove the bone.