Hi Lisa,
Your story is very interesting to me. For 10 months my daughter has been in constant pain. x ray and MRI show nothing conclusuive. She has been to 2 ortho surgeans 3 PT's 2 pediatric orthos and 1 pedatric rehapd doc. She had a previous sprain in 10/06 which she continued to reinjure and irritate until June of 07. it resolved over the summer and all seemed well. In Jan of 08 she was playing in gym landed a little hard on her left foot (not too hard just a little hard) and from that moment on she has been in constant pain. The pain seems to be in the ligaments around her outer ankle bone and in the area of her achilles tendon. It is not burning but it feels like constant pressure and it sometimes sharp. when she points her foot it hurts more and when she flexes it it hurts much much more. she walks slighlty on her toe on that foot and it hurts to bear weight. She gets around on crutches. Lately she occassionally gets pain in the inner ankle which is sudden and radiates forward 4 inches. This type on pain, in the inner ankle, she can sometimes, anticipate and "nip it in the bud" by stopping her movement and rubbing the area. This happens when she is trying to put on sock or moving covers with her feet...

At first we treated it as a sprained ankle with isolation and therapy. Then U of M rehab doc thought is was RSD. But when she didn't respond to one sympotheic nerve block and 400 mg 3 times a day thought it may be something structural and wants to consult with the ped ortho doc again. We are scheduled for cortisone injections and an emg.

I took her to Cleveland Clinic to another pediatric ortho doc who spent 10 minutes with her and told us she had RSD because her injuries are too global to be structural or soft tissue entrapment. We did not discuss nerve entrapment. He said that the cortisone shots may make the rsd worse. I forgot to ask if the emg could hurt.

My daughter's emg would be on the peroneal and sural nerves. I noticed in your entry that the emg you had did not test the right nerves, you knew which ones they were, and your detective type doctor was planning to do a nerve block on thoses specific nerves. Can you tell me which nerves you suspected were trapped? I want to make sure if she has a painful and espensive procedure it gives us good info.

We are considering going to Cleveland Clinic for 3 week pain program to treat her for rsd. And we are going to a soft tissue doc next week for an exam and possible nerve flossing. We meet with the U of M pediatric rehap and ortho docs next week as well.

We are so confussed and do not know which way to turn. If it is rsd we have wasted too much time already since chance of remission depends on early treatment and I would hate to put her through the intensive pt at the clinic it her problem is really nerve entrapment that pt won't help ( and could hurt?) until the nerves or soft tissues are released.

For sometime I have suspected nerve entrapment because it was fine one moment and constant pain the next. But, wouldn't that have responded to neurontin and the sympathetic nerve blocks?

I'm hoping Any insight into your experiences may provide clues into hers. I think we also need a "detective Doctor." We are learning that the best info may come from other atients that have gne through similar experiences. Thanks for sharing.

One very worried MOM