Freiberg's disease?

[Toffee1878]

I started with pain in my right foot last December, associated with stiffness and itching about halfway up the foot, all causing me to limp. It feels for all the world as if there's a group of bones all bunched together which I feel like hitting with a hammer to get them back in place- I said this to a couple of the rheumy team and was told 'please don't do that' 🤣 As if I would!

Nobody in the rheumy team was interested so I ended up at my GP who was great - referred me for an X-ray (rheumy nurse said they didn't think it was necessary - what is it with rheumatologists and wanting nothing to do with feet?!?!).

The report suggested I had signs of Freiberg's disease - on patient.info it says 'This is a rare disease characterised by osteonecrosis of the second metatarsal head, most commonly seen in teenage girls' Haha! I'm not exactly a teenage girl!

I've been waiting since April for an appointment with the orthopaedic team.

Just wondered if anyone has any experience of this? 🤷‍♀️

Thanks!

[Gnarli]

I've never heard of it, to be honest. Feet are the bane of my life, so you have my deepest sympathy, having something so rare and so painful. I hope the doctors get to the bottom of the condition and find an effective treatment pdq.

[KittyJ]

sorry but I’ve not heard of it either. You could try putting that into the search box and then any past posts about it will come up. I hope you get some relief soon.

[cyberbarn]

Rather than orthopedics I would have thought the first stop would have been podiatry. They start with non-surgical treatments that might help. Also they are the experts at everything below the knee and would be able to give you a better idea of what else is going on in your feet. There are a lot of differential diagnosis to Freiberg's disease.

In some areas you can self refer to podiatry already. It is one of the allied health care services that eventually everyone will be able to self refer to like physio and OT.

And rheumatology departments should be referring to podiatry too. They are supposed to be doing personalised care, making sure that everyone gets the right care they need, and podiatry is one of those things that anyone with foot pain under rheumatology should immediately be referred to.

[Toffee1878 in reply to cyberbarn]

That's a very good point. But both my consultant and specialist nurse just freeze when I mention anything about my feet! It was my GP who referred me and funnily enough an appointment has arrived today for an appointment inn September so I will go armed with all this and bombard them! Thank you 😊