What was long-term recovery like for superficial peroneal nerve release?

July 20, 2014 7:03 PM

About three and a half weeks ago I had surgery on my lower right leg to release my superficial peroneal nerve from the clutches of entrapment in a herniated muscle and hopefully restore my foot to fully operational status. My surgeon was very optimistic, but I'm less so.

There are tons of accounts of people having releases done on the peroneal nerve at the fibular head, but not so much for the superficial branch. So, I'm wondering if any of you folks out there on the big green have had this uncommon issue and surgery, and what recovery was like for you.

I think there has been some improvement, but it hasn't been night and day like surgeon mentioned. I believe I also had a small fasciotomy to prevent continued entrapment.

I understand that people heal at different paces, and this issue has been plaguing me for over a year, so I think some nerve damage probably occurred that needs to heal as well? I've had one follow-up and go back in a little over a week, but I'm more interested in what recovery was like for you (or someone you know).

posted by cellphone to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

I'm not sure that my experiences are completely analogous, but I noticed in doing research that there is very little discussion I've seen of people who suffer from damage to this nerve. Unfortunately, my situation may be too different from yours to draw many conclusions. In my case, the nerve was damaged either in the process of fracturing my ankle/leg, by the surgery to repair the broken fibula or perhaps by pressure brought on by the swelling associated with one or both of those. I don't have much foot drop, but have significantly reduced sensation on the top of my foot and lots of unpleasant sensations when I have any at all (burning or tingling, usually).

FWIW, my doctor (an orthopedic surgeon, not a neurologist) predicted that I would see very gradual improvement in my symptoms as the nerve heals slowly indeed. I believe his prediction was that I would get normal sensation back at a rate of about an inch per month. Its one month post-surgery for me and I do think I have improved sensation in a very small band (maybe a half-inch?) but I do wonder if I've just talked myself into that because that is what he told me to expect.
posted by Lame_username at 7:34 PM on July 20, 2014

Not the same surgery but I had nerve damage in my thigh after surgery and it took a full year to resolve, as I'd been warned it might.
posted by fshgrl at 8:30 PM on July 20, 2014