From the research I have being doing, the 5th metatarsal is one of five of the slowest healing bones in the body due to weight bearing stresses, poor circulation, edema and swelling due to gravity and  that it is a long bone.  All said, I am so glad I went ahead and got this Diapulse machine, bone stimulator and magnets.  Every little bit helps.  Thanks everybody for helping get over this "annoying broken foot" as quickly as possible.  I want to give special thanks and appreciation to my wife and two boys for putting up with me these past 6 weeks. Even with your upcoming test, you have been there for me no matter what. I know I have been a grump at the house and you guys have done such an amazing job keeping me focused on healing, staying positive and doing everything around the house for me.  Thank you Jack and Cathy for your continued support, ideas and equipment helping me get this foot healed as quickly and efficiently as possible.    Thank you Sasha and Stephanie for keeping my office running smoothly and effectively while I have been injured. Just as if I were there every day.  You girls are a real blessing. Thank you Nurse Linda for keeping my spirits uplifting and being part of the walking wounded team. Thank you Dr. Bothwell, Dr. Kirk and Angelica for your help and patience with my foot and my healing.  Thank you Tony Ulrich And your Diapulse machine.  Thank you to all of my patients (well, almost all) for being understanding a patient will my progress as I get well.  Last but not least by any measure, thank you Mom and Dad for being there for me always giving advice and support whenever I need it and giving me very needed assistance in the office so I stay off of my foot.

Jason Roberts

FROM AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPEDIC SPORTS MEDICINE:

Fractures of the Distal Shaft of the Fifth Metatarsal (this is my fracture) also termed (Martha's Vineyard Fracture)

"Dancer's Fracture"

Martin J. O'Malley, MD

The Hospital for Special Surgery

William G. Hamilton, MD

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, The Roosevelt Hospital, New York, New York

John Munyak, MD

The Roosevelt Hospital, New York, New York

Abstract

We retrospectively reviewed the office records of the senior author—which include two national ballet companies—and identified 35 dancers who sustained distal shaft fractures of the fifth metatarsal. The usual fracture pattern is a spiral, oblique fracture starting distal-lateral and running proximal-medial. Treatment consisted of open reduction and internal fixation for 2 patients, closed reduction and percutaneus fixation for 2 patients, short leg weight bearing cast for 7 patients, and an elastic wrap and treatment of symptoms for 24 patients. 

Patients with marked displacement of the fracture underwent internal fixation early in the study period; but more recent treatment emphasized non-operative means, even for displaced fractures. The average time to pain free walking was 6.1 weeks (range, 0 to 16)--(0-16 weeks until they could walk pain free...YIKES!!!!);return to basic exercises, 11.6 weeks (range, 4 to 48); and return to performance, 19 weeks (range, 6 to 52)--(6-52 weeks before I can run and lift weights--DOUBLE YIKES!!!)  HOPEFULLY IM AM ON THE FAST SIDE OF THE BELL CURVE WHEN IT COMES TO HEALING.  

There was one delayed union (7 months) and one refracture (2 months) that subsequently healed. All patients returned to professional performance without limitation and no patient reported pain with performance at follow-up. Spiral fractures of the distal shaft of the fifth metatarsal are common injuries and can usually be treated non-operatively for these high performance athletes without long-term functional sequelae.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds great! I know as I have gotten older, it has become harder and harder to keep the weight off and the muscles looking like toned muscles. Every day we are bombarded with advertisements and commercials for food and snacks of every type imaginable. Nuts, chips and salty foods, chocolate, sweets and sugars or every variety of cuisine, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, American or fast foods, we are constantly told to eat. Which is why, America is getting fatter and more out of shape. Our activity levels are decreasing, while our eating is increasing. The simple convenience of eating makes gaining weight almost inevitable. Eating is social. Eating is acceptable. Food is always at our fingertips, requiring little more than a brief walk to the kitchen, a call for delivery or a quick drive out. I am guilty of this, as are many of you reading this article. We all want to be “in shape” and looking good for the rapidly arriving summer, but are we willing to do what it takes to get there? Over the next few weeks, I am going to help you lose the weight you have been wanting to lose. 10 pounds, 25 pounds, 50 pounds? How much you want to lose is up to you and your own personal wants and desires. The important thing is that the weight you lose is weight you keep off. Who wants to lose 30 pounds, just to gain it all back a few months after losing it? Not me. Certainly not you. We want to lose weight and keep the weight off. Keep the weight off, while being able to go back to a normal diet. Eating, not starving. Feeling good about ourselves and what we accomplished. Knowing that we can be that person we want to become. We can be that person we once were. We can control our hunger, our cravings and say no to food and yes to our goals. Are you ready? I know I am. Let’s do this. Let’s lose weight and keep it off for good! So how do we become a skinny, healthier version of ourselves? There are a few key steps that must be done in order to accomplish this feat. While simple and obvious, these key steps are overlooked and so often ignored. Instead we search for the “magic pill” or newest diet that can transform us into the body type and weight we have always envisioned ourselves. No real exercise, no hard work, minimal time and effort for extraordinary results and weight loss. Go to sleep fat, lazy, unhappy and alone and wake up skinny, full of energy, happy and with lots of good looking friends. Well, that is how the commercials make it seem. (Watch carefully if you haven’t before). While this isn’t reality, it does shadow what many people find as the result of working out and losing weight. As we lose weight, we find that we have more energy and are able to do more. We find that as we lose the fat and weight we begin to feel better about ourselves. Sleeping is much easier and more restful. We begin to go out more and do more. Consequently, we often meet new friends, or rekindle old friendships that had begun to dwindle. Losing weight helps us feel better. Sleep better. Feel more attractive. Be more attractive. Be healthier and live longer more productive, active lives. So what are the steps to losing weight and becoming the “me” that we want to be? How do we find the strength to resist sweets and breads and all the things that make us give in so quickly? (So often, before we have even begun). I am going to walk you through these simple steps and what it takes to make this happen. I am going to give you the secrets to reaching you goals. Losing the weight you have always wanted and learning how to keep it off for good. Together, we are going to get fit. Be sexy! Fill good about ourselves and what we have accomplished. We are going to make a change and transform into who we were or have wanted to be for so long. This is something I am confident about. This is something I know I can do. Something I know you can do. If you want to know how to reach your goals, lose your weight and become this skinnier, healthier, happier you, then send me your comments and next week I will walk you through the steps one by one. Together, we will accomplish our goals. I can do this alone, but I would rather have you with me. Making this journey together, as we tackle obstacles and difficulties that arise, we can help one another make it to the finish. Sometimes, all we need is someone there beside us as we go through life’s trials, in order to succeed. Other times, it is simply the knowledge that someone is going through the same trials and difficulties as we are, that help us overcome our own personal battles. I am offering my advice. My council and my expertise. My shoulder, my ear and camaraderie. If you are interested in this life changing adventure, then do not hesitate. Do it! Write me back so that I know my words are not wasted and that you want me to continue this next week. I want to do this, but if I only have one or two people interested in this, then they would be better off coming to the office and speaking to me personally. Ten people, twenty people, even more! If I can get at least ten people to respond to this blog, showing interest and desire to make a change. Then I am with you 100% percent! I will go over the steps to lose the weight you want to lose. The steps to keeping the weight off, the steps to becoming the new you. I look forward to the next few weeks and what lays ahead for us all.

I am so tired.  Sometimes, I don’t want to get out of bed.  I don’t want to answer the phone.  I don’t want to do anything.  Just let me lye here.  No distractions. No noise.  No screams or shouts.  I want a day with no responsibilities.  None.  No promises.  Nothing to do.  No one to answer to, except for ourselves.  Can you imagine, a day where you wake up and do whatever you please without regret or feelings of guilt?  Absolutely no responsibilities.  No worries about tomorrow.  Dreaming dreams upon dreams, lost in a world of imagination and desire.  Only, to finally wake to a day that is filled with calm.   Restfulness.  Peace.  Adventure.  Whatever we desire, the new dawn has given us this once again.  We awake to a world that greets us with open arms. A world full of wonder and desire, a world that is quite literally, “at our fingertips”. 

Sometimes I forget that this was my childhood.  As it was, most everyone else’s.  Now we are adults and we have jobs, responsibilities, bills, mortgages, rent, more bills, taxes, car payments and insurance.  New clothes, kids shoes, bedtimes, study times, crying babies, breakfast, lunch and dinner to fix, snacks, parties, homework, being a good Mommy or Daddy, making it to work on time, coming home on time, setting a good example, listening enough, sharing enough, laughing enough, staying in shape, being happy, being sad, trying to find the “me” that used to be the very essence of me.  Now that we are adults, we have so many pressures, responsibilities and daily tasks and chores; it is no wonder that we sometimes loose ourselves in the mix.  Collapsing at the end of the day, ready to sleep, exhausted.  We are no longer thinking of ourselves, our spouses, we are thinking about sleep.  Sleep and rest.  Then it begins again.

Does this sound depressing?  Sad or full of despair?  What if I had started this blog out with the following instead… Exhausted!  Can someone help me…We are moving to Hawaii and need someone to mow our yard until our house sales in August.  Winning the lottery.  Wow!  Doesn’t sound nearly as sad or depressing, does it.  Well, while we did not win the lottery.  I do feel, lucky in life.  So should you.  Look down at your feet.  Count your toes.  Count your feet and your legs.  Count your fingers and your hands.  Your arms.  Can you see?  Hear?  Are you able to read this?  Breathe on your own accord.  Are your children happy?  Healthy?  Alive?  Do you love someone?  Does someone love you?  I have had the great misfortune, or fortune to have endured numerous broken bones, torn ligament, delays in my career and life both by chance and choice and heartbroken more than once. With prayer, hard work, getting up and starting again each time I fell down (even if I had to ask for help or support) I was able to continue moving my life forward in the direction I had chosen.  My misfortunes have molded me into who I am, just as yours will you.  We all have so many different pathways, different desires or choices leading to different places in life, yet all of these places have one thing in common.  They are places that we have chosen.  No one arrives to points in life randomly.  Every day, we make decisions and choices that will affect the day before us.  Each decision leading us to a different fork in the road of life, where once again we must make a choice or decision about where our life and the lives of those around us will be directed. 

Too often we go through life, unhappy with the cards we have been given, when in actually it is our actions that have decided our own hand in life.  True, there are times when we do everything exactly correct and still we are given difficult lives, choices and responsibilities.  Burdens that seem to weigh us down.  I know you are tired and worn out.  Many of us are.  However, that exhaustion will not change until you change.  If you are a new Mommy, new at a job, divorced, newly married, injured, sick, whatever the case.  Your fatigue and exhaustion will not improve unless you change yourself and or your surroundings. Only you can decide that things will be different.  Say to yourself and act on your words: Today, I will make a difference.  Today, I will change things in my life.  Today, I will ask for help from a friend or family member. Today, I will help someone who needs help.  Today, I will smile all day.  Today, I will appreciate how gifted my spouse is and remember how amazing they are.   Today, I will look at my spouse and thank them for all they do and all the support they give me and our family.  Today, I will realize that I wouldn’t be me, if it wasn’t for my family and the support of the people that love me. Today, I will tell my spouse or child that I am sorry for everything I have done. (Don’t worry, even if you cannot think of anything to be sorry for, they will accept your apology and be thankful just the same). Today, I will start my career again.  Today, I will be a better parent, wife, husband or sibling.  Today I will begin walking, exercising, stop smoking, be kinder, and be patient. Today, I will realize that I have all the possibilities of the world before me and where I am today and who I am today will ultimately decide who I am tomorrow.  If you feel like you are lost or not where you want to be in life, do not forget, it is never too late to change who and what we are. Life is short.  Live each day to be the best of what you can.  Enjoy life.  Give to others and take pleasure in the small things in life. Remember, when you feel lost or overwhelmed, ask for help.  Overwhelmed, depressed, sad, lost?  Do not despair. Never give up.  Time will heal most all wounds, if we allow it.  Rest will ease pains and sadness.  Believe in a power greater than yourself.  Forget about the worries and burdens of tomorrow, even if for a minute and appreciate the person who loves you, the child that is yours, and the very air you breathe. Believe me; others have been here before you.  You are not alone. 

Life is an amazing journey.  Enjoy it and what you have. Do not dwell on the past or mistakes; rather focus on the future and the possibilities before you.  You are amazing. You are wonderful.  No matter what, you and you alone are responsible for your happiness.  Be happy.  Smile.  Make those around you happy and help them enjoy life.  Today is your day. Today is the day for you to find happiness and belief in the world around you.  Today will be a new day. Today will start a new you. Be thankful.  Be the person you envisioned yourself to be.  You are never alone.  You can do anything, just believe. Have a great week everyone!

Dr. Jason