The Whole Busted Up Ankle Story

I told you how it happened a while ago. Now, I’ll tell you what I did. I just found this great explanation of what an accessory navicular is. I’ve got one of those, and my little stumble in India moved mine around where it’s not supposed to be. I’ve got illustrations for you too:

A Normal Accessory Navicular:

My Accessory Navicular:

If you’re not sure what you’re looking at. The toes are right above the picture. The left side is the instep. What this all means is that I’m in a good deal of pain because this little “extra” bone is now screwing up the whole rest of my foot by moving the large tendon that controls the arch. That’s causing the arch to collapse, which is making other bones go where they don’t belong.\
We’ve been trying the “rest” bit of the treatment plan for a while now (three months and counting), and I’m just about done (finished, finito, finis, kaput) with it. This cast sucks. And, if I have surgery (wait, not if, when…), I’ll be in a cast for six more weeks. Merry fother-mucking Christmas.

I’ve done this before with my right knee (twice) and my left ankle (left). I’m not sure why this time is worse. It just is. It’s probably worse because it was such a stupid nothing injury. It’s worse because I didn’t think it was anything when I did it, and it’s turned out to be something.

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Categorized as ankle

By Kevin Lawver

Web developer, Software Engineer @ Gusto, Co-founder @ TechSAV, husband, father, aspiring social capitalist and troublemaker.

6 comments

  1. Hi:
    I saw your post after looking up accessory navicular. I have one in my right foot. I had a similar injury that kept me from going to a wedding in India. My neighbors dog ran into me at night full speed causing me to role my foot inward. Before I knew I had a defect in my right foot but after that injury the bone was much more pronounced. I was suppose to go to Bangalore too.
    Did you have surgery on it?
    How is it now?
    Thanks,

  2. I can’t believe other people like George and Merry have the similar story like mine. I went to a party in July and my right foot rotated inward (Kindda like twisted). I didn’t think it was a big deal. The pain got worse and I went to see an Ortho doc. I also found out that I have an accessory navicular in my right foot. We did the boot treatment for 6 weeks, then now I have cast on for about 5 to 6 weeks, and then I daon’t know what? Surgery if the pain continues. I just don’t want to damage my posterior tibial tendon. We will see. I don’t know if physical therapy is going to do it. But I went to three different doc’s and they suggest the nonsurgical route. I will have to try my best and deal with it. But this thing is taking way too long and life shucks just like Merry said. I have had my right elbow surgery before, and the recovery was really long requiring 2 surgeries, that I was aware of. This thing is just way too scary, and I don’t really know, why it is so different this time. But it was nice to know, that there are other people who have similar problems like me.

  3. June 1st I went over on my ankle..as if all of a sudden it just gave out on me. I went to the local emergency room where they x-rayed it and told me I had fractured my Navicular bone in my ankle. They put me in a half slab cast to let the swelling go down. Two days later I seen the Orthopaedic Surgeon and she told me that I did not break this bone but that I had an extra (accessory) navicular bone. Until this injury this accessory navicular bone was never prominent and my shoes never irritated me. I spent 8 weeks in a cast and a boot. It is now September 4th and I still cannot even touch this bone without pain nor can I wear a running shoe without it becoming irritated or tender and red from rubbing. I am frustrated because Fall is coming and I cannot wear flip flops or sandals all through Fall and Winter lol. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I don’t think this pain should still be here?

  4. Believe it or not, I have the same freaking problem :S and I am not pleased at all!
    My feet are exactly the same as this photo and unfortunately I have seen a very huge increase to the “lump” inside both my feet. It might be because I play a lot of soccer. The other day I twisted my foot and that extra bone is the only thing that hurts. It is a pain in my neck. It happened one more time to me and healed after at least two months, but this time it doesn’t seem to be the same as it was two years ago.
    I really want to know what you guys did with your feet! Did you do surgery or it is dangerous to do it? (not in a scary way but bad consequences) And the very other main question is that how much it cots!!!? I really want to know.
    I personally live in USA and I don’t know how much it would cost in India or some other place IF I do the surgery!
    They don’t hurt when I don’t play soccer, but if I increase playing they’ll start kind of hurting and TWISTING!
    SUGGESTIONS PLEASE
    THANKS Y’ALL

  5. I’m only 11. and I have that. but I thought it was normal ad everyone had it. but no I figured out i’m not suppose to have it. soooo I told my mom, we did some research and found this. I’ve had heel pain while I run and sometimes when I walk to loose balance. I’m so scared if I have to get surgery…

    1. @022d90b4a3d757cfb4587127df77e943:disqus Well, you’re really young still so you might not actually need it. I was already an adult when I dislocated mine. A lot of people who have it never need surgery and can get by just fine by wearing shoes with good arch supports. I’d get an orthopedist to look at it soon so they can give you a real medical opinion, but that’s basically what my doctor told me. I only started having problems with it because I sprained it and dislocated the bone. My left ankle has the accessory navicular and I’ve had no problems with it. Good luck!

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