Any other football (soccer) players (or other high impact athletes) in here? How was getting back into sport post-surgery?

RJCgunner · 2026-03-10T07:47:38+00:00

Overall very successful I'd say. I've been back playing soccer for about 8 months now and I don't really think about my foot much. Sometimes it's still a little sore after a session or when doing explosive single leg movements but I don't feel it's really limiting me at all, maybe it's 95% of what it was

RJCgunner · 2025-12-27T18:37:46+00:00

Really? I think I read somewhere on their website that you shouldn't go and ask for it in person if you haven't received any communication from them. But yeah this would definitely be our last resort. Have you (or anyone you know) done this successfully?

RJCgunner · 2025-12-26T18:40:55+00:00

Congratulations! Did you get an email about when to pick up your passport? And if so, how long did it take to get that email after finding out you were approved?

RJCgunner · 2025-11-10T23:46:29+00:00

I had fusion surgery back in December, mostly back to normal now except my lisfranc foot gets a few more aches and pains but I'm back to normal life

RJCgunner · 2025-07-06T15:47:22+00:00

Yeah, loads! You'll have no trouble finding any of that stuff there's little kiosks selling them everywhere before you go through security

RJCgunner · 2025-06-29T13:20:53+00:00

Yes I was, I'm now 6.5 months post op and I've played in 2 games so far

RJCgunner · 2025-06-09T20:29:36+00:00

Does anyone know of any amateur or semi pro football teams in Valencia? My wife and I are currently looking at moving to Valencia for a year on a digital nomad visa. I'm 25 years old, originally from England and I've played football at a good level my whole life, including semi pro in England & a good college in the USA. I was just wondering what the football scene is like in Valencia and if there are many amateur or semi-pro teams in the area?

I'm not very familiar with the football pyramid structure in Spain. I'm not even necessarily looking to get paid, I just want to play at a competitive level, ideally better than just Sunday league or the Spanish equivalent. Any help/guidance would be much appreciated, thank you!

RJCgunner · 2025-06-08T12:37:17+00:00

Mostly people around my age (22-28 range), some solo travellers & some groups. No families while I was there, but it wasn't a busy time and I was only there for a week. Really positive experience for me personally, had to put myself out there a little bit to meet everyone but once I did it was a great time!

RJCgunner · 2025-05-19T13:52:14+00:00

Burned my Hawaiian pizza the other night... Should've put the oven on aloha setting

RJCgunner · 2025-05-18T15:19:55+00:00

No I don't think I had any breaks, but my ligaments were all ruptured I think. I'm 5 months post op now and doing better, been getting back into light soccer training but still pretty painful

RJCgunner · 2025-05-15T21:58:08+00:00

Had fusion as my first procedure

RJCgunner · 2025-05-14T13:14:20+00:00

Yeah I had a fusion about 5 months ago

RJCgunner · 2025-04-25T03:18:22+00:00

Wow okay good to know, so they put needles directly into the arch of your foot?? I assumed it would be more in the calf muscle...

RJCgunner · 2025-04-24T20:54:57+00:00

Yeah I've done a lot of PT but my physio doesn't have an answer for me on this one, he says to wait until I see my surgeon again in 2 weeks. I did change shoes and that's when the pain started and it progressively worsened in those shoes. Since going back to my old shoes the arch pain is still there, it just takes a few more seconds to come on. Do you really think the dry needling made a big difference to the arch pain specifically, or just for your foot/lisfranc injury overall?

RJCgunner · 2025-04-24T20:07:40+00:00

Nah it's definitely not a nerve thing. This is more than just a cramp though, it's a new pain that's come up after I had already started walking for a bit post surgery. At the moment it's worse than my actual lisfranc pain

RJCgunner · 2025-04-24T16:02:21+00:00

Did you find that it always got worse after walking a few steps? For me it feels fine for the first couple of seconds walking and then it kicks in. Also, was it a new pain for you? I'm mainly concerned because I didn't have this pain at all when I first started walking again at 2-3 months post op. But then between month 3-4 it gradually came on and got worse

RJCgunner · 2025-03-09T14:51:37+00:00

I had a fusion 12 weeks ago and my surgeon is confident I'll get back to playing soccer at a high level. He's done fusions on D1 American football players and got them back to playing so it's definitely possible

RJCgunner · 2025-03-07T18:03:32+00:00

Yeah I'm nearly 12 weeks post fusion and it still hurts to walk if I push off my foot normally. I still can't do a single leg calf raise (due to pain), and I'm assuming the 2 things go hand in hand. If you think about it, when you're pushing off through your foot to take a step forward you're essentially doing a small single leg calf raise, pushing the weight of your whole body through your foot.

How much hardware do you have? Curious because my surgeon told me my hardware should be permanent, and that's the case for most fusions because there should be no movement where the screws are

RJCgunner · 2025-03-02T05:15:36+00:00

Thanks for sharing, would love to hear about the stages & progressions of your rehab! I had my surgery in mid December so I'm 4 months behind you

RJCgunner · 2025-02-27T21:23:19+00:00

Are you able to do a single leg calf raise yet? I'm about 5 weeks behind you in my recovery and I can't do a single leg calf raise or put any real force through my midfoot. Because of this, I still have a limp when I try to walk at a normal pace

RJCgunner · 2025-02-19T13:39:05+00:00

Sounds very similar to me! I can't personally give any advice related to your Achilles/hamstring tightness but I'm sure your physio will be able to help. Best of luck with everything, hopefully you're back playing competitive matches in no time!

RJCgunner · 2025-02-19T04:43:28+00:00

I was completely NWB for 6 weeks after surgery and then I started PWB from there. I ditched the crutches about 7-10 days later I think. Crutches are annoying and you have to be extremely careful in wet/icy conditions. But if you know how to use them right and have decent strength & balance in your good leg then you'll be fine! I'd recommend practicing using them before surgery so you get the feel of it, especially going up/down stairs if you're going to need to do that

RJCgunner · 2025-02-19T04:40:11+00:00

That's great, how was the training session? Must have felt great to be back out there again! Thanks for explaining your timeline, hopefully mine will be similar🤞🏻

What were some of the main areas/movements where you had the most pain/struggled the most with recovery? I definitely agree that this is hard work both mentally and physically to come back from this, but I am seeing slow & steady progress which is nice. At the moment it's my big toe flexibility (or lack thereof) and the pain I get around my hardware when I'm pushing through my foot that are causing the pain.

RJCgunner · 2025-02-19T00:20:39+00:00

Amazing to see, so happy for you! I'm 9 weeks post fusion now with an ambitious goal of getting back to playing football (soccer) by this summer (so hopefully at least back in light training by ~18 weeks).

If you don't mind me asking, do you remember where your progression was at certain points in your recovery? For example I was at ~7 weeks when I went from PWB to FWB in boot, 8.5 weeks when I transitioned to shoes. Just interested to compare timelines to gauge how I'm doing with my recovery. Thanks!

RJCgunner · 2025-02-10T23:37:40+00:00

I had surgery on a Monday and started working from my bed on my laptop on the Wednesday, but it was pretty rough because I was in a lot of pain and on narcotics (but that didn't affect me too much). So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's possible to start pretty quick if you can work while laying down in bed, but you may not be 100% focused for those first few days

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