Sleeping After Bunion Surgery: Tips and What to Expect? (2024)

FAQs

Sleeping After Bunion Surgery: Tips and What to Expect? ›

Prop up your foot and leg on a pillow when you ice it or anytime you sit or lie down during the next 3 days. Try to keep it above the level of your heart. This will help reduce swelling.

Keep Your Foot Elevated While Sleeping

This helps reduce swelling and pain and speeds up the healing process. The best way to elevate your foot is to prop it up on a pillow. You can also use a special bunion surgery recovery sock, which helps to keep your foot in the correct position.

Some patients experience swelling and inflammation after surgery, which can make it hard to drift off to sleep. By elevating your foot with a propped-up pillow or a bed that can do so for you, you'll notice reduced swelling and discomfort while you sleep.

You may sleep without your boot once you are 4 weeks from surgery. after surgery you will be allowed to bear weight on your foot as tolerated in your boot. This may change based on skin healing or other added procedures. Use your crutches, walker, or knee scooter for a total of 4 weeks after surgery.

Day of Surgery

You will be monitored for a short time after and released home the same day. You will experience some minor pain and swelling. You will have to wear bandages or a protective cast/boot for several weeks. Your podiatrist will give you instructions for pain management and care over the next few weeks.

For the first two weeks, you should keep your foot elevated for 55 minutes in each hour, and you should only walk a few metres at a time, wearing your surgical shoe when weight bearing.

Sleeping On Your Side

Nevertheless, if your doctor determines it is safe for you to sleep on your side, you may do so as long as you have a support mechanism tucked between your knees or ankles. A support “mechanism” can be as simple as one or two plush pillows or a specially designed foam block.

silicone foot pads inside your shoes may relieve pressure on the bunion (available over the counter) splint worn at night that straightens the toe. custom orthotics or foot insoles to help with shoe fit. medications like ibuprofen to reduce swelling.

Six weeks after the operation, the majority of people felt no pain. The most severe pain was felt three days after the operation, and the least severe pain was felt six weeks after the operation.

Many people report that their postsurgical pain is worse at night. This is likely caused by a combination of factors, including stress, the impact of some medications on sleep, other sleep disruptions, and the body's natural cycles of activity and rest.

Can you feel the screws after bunion surgery? ›

Screws used in minimally invasive bunions surgery are not placed near the joint, they just hold the bunion correction. Patients will not be able to feel the screws as they are placed within the bone. Screws are titanium alloy which are inert to the human body in the vast majority of cases.

Following your doctor's advice on pain medication, elevation, and icing is necessary to relieve pain, alleviate discomfort, and speed up recovery. Elevating your foot above heart level can help minimize swelling after bunion surgery.

When your surgeon allows you to begin putting weight on your foot, your physical therapist will help you regain a normal walking pattern, or gait. It is not uncommon to limp after a bunion surgery or to develop a tendency to roll your foot outward in an effort to avoid rolling off the affected big toe.

Putting any weight on an operated foot or ankle can damage the repair that's been done. Bones need time to heal. Plates or screws that may have been added during surgery need the bones to heal around them. Adding weight too soon can interrupt this important internal healing process.

How much time you need to take off depends on the type of work you do and the extent of your surgery. You may need to avoid heavy lifting for 3 to 8 weeks or longer, depending on the type of surgery you had. You may need to do regular rehabilitation (rehab) exercises to strengthen your foot and improve movement.

Possible causes for excessive fatigue in the weeks following surgery include pain medications, infection, anemia, and depression.

Ice and elevation

Put a thin cloth between the ice and your skin. Prop up your foot and leg on a pillow when you ice it or anytime you sit or lie down during the next 3 days. Try to keep it above the level of your heart. This will help reduce swelling.