How Long Does Foot Surgery Recovery Take? Boots, Weight-Bearing Stages and First Steps

The night before her bunion operation, a retired schoolteacher laid out three things on the kitchen counter: a hospital pamphlet, a pair of crutches borrowed from a neighbor, and a wall calendar with a question mark scrawled across the following month. She had been told the operation would take about an hour. Nobody had quite told her how long the rest would take.

That gap is where most anxiety about foot surgery recovery time lives. People picture a single number, when the honest answer is a sequence of stages, each one gated by what the tissue underneath the bandage is actually doing. A tendon behaves differently from a cut bone. A toe behaves differently from a heel.

What follows is the sequence, stage by stage: the boot, the first supervised steps, the surprising persistence of swelling, and the signs that mean you should stop reading and pick up the phone.

Why foot surgery recovery time is a set of stages, not one number

Ask three people how long their foot surgery recovery took and you will get three answers, because each of them is measuring a different milestone. One means the day the boot came off. Another means the first full day at work. The third means the morning the foot finally fit into a regular shoe without a wince.

Surgeons think in stages, and it helps to borrow their framework. The first stage is wound healing, when the skin closes and the risk of infection is highest. The second is structural healing, which for cut bone means the weeks it takes for new bone to bridge the gap. The third is functional recovery, when strength, balance, and confident walking return. The final stage, often the longest, is the slow settling of swelling and stiffness.

These stages overlap, but they cannot be rushed out of order. Skin heals in roughly two weeks. Bone that has been cut and fixed with screws or plates generally needs about six weeks before it can safely bear full weight, according to patient guidance from MedlinePlus on bunion removal. Swelling from the same operation can persist for six months to a year in the same source’s description.

So when someone asks about foot surgery recovery time, the most accurate reply is a question back: recovery to what? Standing at the kitchen sink, driving, hiking, running? Each has its own typical window, and each depends on which structures the surgeon had to work on. Everything in this article hangs on that distinction between soft-tissue procedures and bone procedures, because it explains almost every difference in how long the road turns out to be.

What actually happens during and right after foot surgery

Most elective foot operations are day procedures. You arrive fasted, a nurse marks the correct foot, and an anesthesiologist discusses whether you will be fully asleep or awake with a regional block. A regional block is an injection of local anesthetic around the nerves supplying the leg, which numbs the foot for many hours. Mayo Clinic describes both approaches as standard for bunion surgery, chosen according to your health and the procedure planned.

The operation itself varies enormously in scale. A hammer toe repair, described by MedlinePlus, may involve releasing a tight tendon or removing a sliver of bone so a bent toe can straighten. A bunionectomy typically means cutting the long bone behind the big toe, shifting the pieces into better alignment, and holding them with a screw, a plate, or a wire. A fusion joins two bones permanently so an arthritic joint no longer moves. A tendon repair stitches torn fibers back together and protects them while they knit.

Afterwards, the foot is wrapped in a bulky dressing and placed in a rigid postoperative shoe, a removable boot, or a cast. You wake with the block still working, so the first hours are usually comfortable. That comfort is temporary. When the block wears off, often overnight, sensation returns and so does the ache of cut tissue. Teams warn patients about this handover precisely because it catches people off guard.

You are usually discharged the same day with written instructions covering elevation, dressing care, and how much weight the foot may take. That weight-bearing instruction is the single most important sentence on the page, and the rest of this guide explains why.

Foot surgery recovery time by procedure: a realistic comparison

Timelines below are typical ranges described in patient guidance from MedlinePlus, the NHS, and Mayo Clinic. They are starting points for a conversation, not predictions for any individual foot. Your team may set faster or slower stages depending on bone quality, fixation used, and how the wound is healing.

Procedure type	What is repaired	Protected weight-bearing phase	Return to ordinary shoes	Swelling settles
Soft-tissue only (neuroma removal, minor tendon release)	Nerve or tendon, no bone cut	Days, in a stiff-soled shoe	Around 2 to 4 weeks	Weeks to a few months
Hammer toe correction	Small toe joint, sometimes a pin	Immediate heel walking in surgical shoe	About 4 to 6 weeks, after pin removal	Several months
Bunion correction with bone cut	Long bone behind big toe, fixed with screw or plate	Typically about 6 weeks	Roughly 6 to 8 weeks	6 months to a year
Midfoot or ankle fusion	Joint surfaces removed, bones fixed together	Often 6 to 12 weeks, frequently non-weight-bearing at first	3 months or more	Up to a year

Two patterns stand out. First, whenever bone is cut or fused, the protected phase clusters around six weeks, the window MedlinePlus gives for bone to heal after bunion removal. Second, the swelling column runs far longer than the walking column in every row. People plan for the first and are blindsided by the second.

The NHS bunion guidance makes a related point: you may walk in a special shoe soon after surgery, yet full recovery can take months. Both statements are true at once, and holding them together is the key to a realistic plan.

Weight bearing after foot surgery: the four stages explained

Weight bearing is the amount of body weight your surgeon allows you to put through the operated foot. It is prescribed in stages, and the language can be confusing the first time you hear it in a recovery room.

Non-weight-bearing means the foot does not touch the floor at all. You move with crutches, a knee scooter, or a walker, holding the foot off the ground. This stage is common after fusions and larger reconstructions where fixation must not be stressed while bone begins to bridge.

Toe-touch or touch-down weight bearing allows the foot to rest on the floor for balance only, as if you were standing on an eggshell you must not crack. It provides stability without meaningful load.

Partial weight bearing permits a defined fraction of your weight, often built up week by week. Physical therapists sometimes have patients practice on a bathroom scale to feel what the target actually is.

Full weight bearing means you may stand and walk normally, usually still in a boot at first, then in supportive shoes.

Why so much precision? Cut bone heals by laying down a soft scaffold that gradually calcifies. Loading it too early can shift the fragments, loosen screws, or delay union, the medical word for bone knitting together. MedlinePlus notes that after bunion removal, bone needs roughly six weeks to heal before normal walking resumes. Loading too late has costs too: muscles waste, joints stiffen, and balance fades. The stages are a negotiated path between those two risks.

Your team will confirm progress with examination and often an X-ray before advancing you. If an instruction is unclear, ask for it in writing, including the specific device you should use at each stage.

Boots, casts, and surgical shoes: what each one does and for how long

Three devices cover most foot surgery recoveries, and each solves a different problem.

The postoperative shoe is a flat, rigid-soled sandal with wide straps. Its job is to stop the forefoot from bending. Toe and bunion procedures commonly begin here because a stiff sole lets you walk on the heel while the front of the foot stays still. MedlinePlus describes wearing such a shoe or a boot for several weeks after bunion removal until the bone has healed enough for ordinary footwear.

The removable walking boot, sometimes called a controlled ankle motion boot, is the tall padded device with straps and a rocker sole. It immobilizes the ankle and midfoot while allowing you to remove it for washing, checking the skin, and gentle exercises when your team permits. Boots are typical after fusions, tendon repairs, and midfoot procedures where the ankle needs protecting as well as the foot.

The cast cannot be removed and provides the most complete protection. Surgeons choose it when swelling has settled enough for a snug fit and when they want zero chance of the foot being unstrapped too soon.

How long each stays on tracks the healing stages already described: roughly the wound-healing window for many soft-tissue repairs, and around six weeks or more for bone work. One practical note on rocker-soled boots: they lift one leg higher than the other, which strains the back and hip. Many therapists suggest an even-up shoe leveler on the other foot, a simple strap-on platform that restores a level pelvis. Ask your team whether it suits your situation before buying anything.

Walking after foot surgery: when the first steps usually happen

The question people ask most often is the one their surgeon can answer with the least certainty on day one: when can I walk? The truthful reply is that it depends on what walking means and what was fixed.

Protected walking, meaning heel-weight steps in a rigid shoe across a room, often begins the same day for toe procedures and many bunion corrections. Mayo Clinic notes that after bunion surgery you may be able to walk on the foot immediately in a surgical shoe, while more complex procedures may require weeks of non-weight-bearing. Those are the two ends of the spectrum.

Walking without a device is a different milestone. It generally waits for structural healing, which for cut bone means the six-week neighborhood described in MedlinePlus guidance. Even then, the first device-free steps are short and stiff. The calf has shrunk, the ankle has forgotten how to roll through a stride, and the foot feels like it belongs to someone else. This is expected and improves with use.

Walking for exercise, covering a mile or more at a brisk pace, tends to sit further out, often around three months for bone procedures, because the foot must tolerate repetitive loading and the swelling it provokes.

A useful mental model: the first steps are about protection, the middle steps are about pattern, and the later steps are about endurance. Physical therapists earn their keep in the middle phase, retraining heel-to-toe rolling so you do not carry a limp into the years ahead. If you are offered therapy, the evidence-based reason to accept is not speed but quality of the walking pattern you end up with.

How painful is foot surgery recovery, honestly?

Pain after foot surgery follows a recognizable arc, and knowing its shape helps more than any single reassurance.

The first night is often the hardest. A regional anesthetic block wears off within hours, and the pain it masked arrives all at once, frequently in the small hours. Teams generally advise taking the first prescribed pain relief before the block fades rather than after, and keeping the foot elevated above heart level, because pooling blood in a dependent foot creates a throbbing pressure that no medicine fully cancels.

Days two through five are typically the peak, then a steady decline. By the two-week wound check, most people describe soreness rather than pain. Soft-tissue procedures usually sit on the gentler end of this curve; bone cuts and fusions on the sharper end.

Medicines used during this period fall into a few classes. Acetaminophen works centrally in the nervous system and forms the base of many plans. Anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the chemical signals that cause swelling and pain at the wound, though some surgeons limit them during bone healing and they are not suitable for everyone. Short courses of opioid analgesics, which act on receptors in the brain and spinal cord, may be prescribed for the first days; guidance from the NHS and MedlinePlus stresses using the smallest amount for the shortest time. Ice applied over the dressing, never directly on skin, adds a modest numbing effect.

Which of these you take, in what combination, and for how long is a decision for the prescribing clinician who knows your history. What you can control is timing, elevation, and honesty about how you are doing at follow-up, so the plan can be adjusted rather than endured.

Swelling after foot surgery: why it lasts longer than you expect

If pain is the story of the first two weeks, swelling is the story of the next six months. It is the symptom people are least prepared for, and the one most often mistaken for something going wrong.

The foot swells after surgery for three reasons. Injured tissue releases fluid as part of normal healing. Gravity pulls that fluid downward whenever you are upright, and the foot is the lowest point of the body. And the lymphatic system, the network of vessels that drains excess fluid, is itself disrupted by the incision and takes months to reroute. MedlinePlus, in its guidance on bunion removal, notes that swelling and some discomfort can persist for six months to a year even when everything has healed as intended.

The daily pattern is telling. Most people wake with a foot that looks nearly normal and end the day with one that barely fits the boot. That rhythm, worse in the evening and better after a night horizontal, is the signature of ordinary postoperative swelling.

Elevation is the most effective tool, and the detail that matters is height. Toes above the level of the heart, which means lying down with the foot on pillows, not sitting with it on a footstool. Compression stockings or wraps, if your team approves them, give the fluid somewhere to go. Gentle ankle pumps, when permitted, use the calf muscle as a pump.

What swelling should not do is arrive suddenly in one calf, come with warmth and redness spreading up the leg, or pair with chest pain or breathlessness. Those patterns point toward a blood clot or infection and belong in the red-flag section later in this article, not in the category of things to wait out.

What the first six weeks usually look like, week by week

Timelines vary by procedure, but a bone-cutting operation such as a bunion correction offers a useful template because it is among the most common foot surgeries and the NHS, MedlinePlus, and Mayo Clinic all describe its course.

Week one is about elevation and rest. The foot stays up for most of the day, with short trips for the bathroom and meals in the surgical shoe or boot. The dressing stays dry and untouched. Sleep is fragmented; this is normal and passes.

Week two brings the first clinic visit. The dressing comes off, the wound is inspected, and stitches may be removed if they are not the dissolving kind. Many people describe this appointment as the emotional turning point, because seeing the foot replaces imagination with information.

Weeks three and four are the quiet middle. Pain has faded to soreness, but weight-bearing rules remain in place because bone is only beginning to bridge. Boredom and impatience peak here. Gentle toe and ankle movements are often introduced under guidance.

Weeks five and six typically include an X-ray to confirm bone healing. If the picture is reassuring, the team may advance weight-bearing, trade the boot for a stiff supportive shoe, and refer for physical therapy focused on gait and calf strength.

Beyond six weeks, the milestones spread out: driving when you can brake hard without hesitation, desk work when swelling tolerates sitting, standing work later, impact sports later still. The NHS notes that while walking resumes within weeks, full recovery from bunion surgery can take months. Treat that as the honest frame rather than the pessimistic one.

Who foot surgery is usually for, and who is usually asked to wait

Elective foot surgery is rarely a first step. The NHS and Mayo Clinic both describe it as an option considered when non-surgical measures have been tried and symptoms still limit daily life. Those measures typically include wider footwear, padding, orthotic insoles, activity changes, and pain relief. For many people they are enough, and surgery is never needed.

The people for whom surgery is usually considered share a few features. Pain that persists despite months of conservative care. Deformity that is progressing or causing secondary problems, such as a bunion pushing the second toe out of place. Difficulty finding any shoe that does not hurt. Appearance alone is generally not considered a reason to operate, because the recovery is long and the outcome cannot be guaranteed.

Some people are asked to wait or to prepare first. Smoking impairs blood flow to healing bone and skin, and many surgeons ask patients to stop well before an operation. Poorly controlled diabetes raises the risk of wound complications and infection, so stabilizing blood sugar comes first. Active infection anywhere in the body, circulation problems in the legs, and certain medicines that thin the blood all need addressing in advance. A recent history of blood clots prompts a careful plan for prevention.

Life circumstances count too. Someone who lives alone up three flights of stairs, or who cannot take weeks away from a standing job, may be advised to delay until support is arranged. These are not refusals. They are the surgical team’s way of stacking the odds toward a smooth recovery, and the decision about timing rests with that team in discussion with you.

Is foot surgery a major surgery? Risks and alternatives in plain terms

People ask this question hoping for a yes or no, and the fair answer is that foot surgery spans the whole range. Removing a small nerve growth from between the toes is minor by any measure. Fusing several midfoot joints and reshaping the arch is a substantial reconstruction with a recovery measured in months. What makes foot surgery feel major, even when the operation is small, is the disproportionate effect on mobility. You cannot rest a foot the way you rest a hand.

The risks are those shared by most operations, plus a few specific to the foot. Infection is possible at any wound, and the foot’s position at the bottom of the body slows circulation and healing. Blood clots in the leg veins can form when a limb is immobilized; the NHS lists recent surgery and reduced mobility among the main risk factors for deep vein thrombosis. Nerves running close to the skin on the top of the foot can be bruised or cut, leaving patches of numbness that may or may not resolve. Bone can heal slowly or fail to unite, particularly in smokers. Deformity can recur over years. Stiffness in the operated joint is common and sometimes permanent, especially after fusion, where it is the intended result.

Alternatives deserve equal airtime. Mayo Clinic and the NHS describe non-surgical management for bunions and toe deformities that includes footwear changes, padding, splints, insoles, and pain relief. These do not correct the underlying shape, but they often control symptoms well enough that surgery is postponed indefinitely. Weighing that trade-off, symptom control now against structural correction with a long recovery, is exactly the conversation your treating team should have with you before any date is set.

What is the fastest way to recover from foot surgery? What evidence supports

There is no shortcut through bone healing. Anyone selling one is selling something. What the evidence does support is removing the obstacles that slow recovery, which in practice feels a lot like speeding it up.

Follow the weight-bearing prescription exactly. Every week a fixation is disturbed by early loading is a week added at the end. This is the single most modifiable factor and the one most often ignored on a good day when the foot feels fine.

Elevate more than feels necessary. Swelling is the main brake on regaining motion and fitting into shoes. The NHS advises keeping the foot raised as much as possible in the early weeks after bunion surgery. Hours horizontal in week one buy days later.

Do not smoke. Nicotine constricts small blood vessels and is consistently associated with slower bone and wound healing. If you have not stopped before surgery, the recovery period is a strong reason to start.

Eat as if you were healing a fracture, because you are. Adequate protein and overall nourishment support tissue repair; NIH Office of Dietary Supplements guidance notes that calcium and vitamin D are needed for normal bone, though supplements beyond correcting a deficiency have not been shown to accelerate healing and should be discussed with your clinician rather than started on your own.

Move everything that is allowed to move. Hip, knee, and the unoperated leg keep circulation going and reduce clot risk; toe and ankle exercises, once approved, prevent stiffness.

Attend every follow-up and do the therapy homework. Gait retraining is where the difference between walking again and walking well is made. None of this is fast. All of it is faster than the alternative.

What people often get wrong about foot surgery recovery

The myths around foot surgery are stubborn because each contains a grain of experience. Here are the ones that cause the most trouble, and what the evidence actually says.

“If it does not hurt, it must be healed.” Pain fades weeks before bone unites. The absence of pain at week three says nothing about whether screws can take full weight. Only examination and imaging answer that, which is why the six-week X-ray exists.

“Swelling means something is wrong.” Ordinary postoperative swelling, worse by evening and better by morning, is expected for months. MedlinePlus describes swelling persisting for six months to a year after bunion removal. Sudden, one-sided, hot, or spreading swelling is the version that needs a phone call.

“The boot is optional once the wound has closed.” The boot protects bone and fixation, not skin. A closed incision at two weeks is a milestone for wound care, not a green light for footwear.

“Both feet can be done at once to save time.” Some surgeons do operate on both feet in one session for selected patients, but Mayo Clinic notes many prefer to stage them because non-weight-bearing on both sides at once leaves you unable to walk at all. The total time is rarely halved.

“Once I can walk, I am done.” Walking is the middle of recovery, not the end. Strength, balance, and confident stairs come later, and the final shoe size settles last.

“Foot surgery fixes the foot forever.” Deformities can recur over years, particularly if the footwear that contributed continues. Correction is treatment, not permanence, and your team can explain what recurrence risk applies to your procedure.

Questions to ask your care team before and after foot surgery

The most useful appointment questions are specific to your operation rather than generic. Write yours down before the consultation; the recovery room is a poor place for clear thinking. These are the ones experienced patients wish they had asked earlier.

• Which structures will you cut or repair, and does that involve bone? This one answer predicts most of your timeline.
• What will my weight-bearing status be on day one, and when do you expect to change it?
• Which device will I go home in, and will I be able to remove it for washing?
• When is my first wound check, and what should the dressing look like before then?
• How will you decide I am ready to advance, and will that involve an X-ray?
• What is your plan for the night the anesthetic block wears off?
• Do you want me to avoid any medicine class during bone healing, and for how long?
• What is my personal clot risk, and what prevention are you recommending?
• When do you expect I can drive, sit at a desk, stand for a shift, and return to sport?
• What would make you want to see me sooner than the scheduled visit?

After the operation, the questions shift toward interpretation. Is this amount of swelling expected for this week? Is this numbness on the top of my foot likely to recover? Should I be worried that the toe still points slightly the wrong way while it is swollen? Asking these directly at follow-up is far better than searching them at midnight.

One last question worth asking plainly: if the recovery goes slower than typical, what are the common reasons, and how would we know? Teams who have answered that in advance find their patients call sooner when something is genuinely wrong, and worry less when it is not.

When to call your doctor: red-flag signs after foot surgery

Most foot surgery recoveries proceed without drama, and most late-night worries turn out to be ordinary swelling or a stitch pulling. A small set of signs, however, should never be watched and waited on. If any of the following appear, contact your surgical team the same day, or seek emergency care where indicated.

Call the same day if you notice fever or chills; increasing rather than decreasing pain after the first few days; redness spreading beyond the edges of the dressing; wound drainage that is cloudy, thick, or smells unpleasant; a dressing or cast that has become soaked through; numbness, tingling, or color change in the toes that does not improve within minutes of elevating and loosening straps; or a cast that feels far too tight or has cracked.

Seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, sudden breathlessness, coughing up blood, or a racing heartbeat, which can signal a clot that has traveled to the lungs. The same urgency applies to sudden swelling, warmth, tenderness, or redness in the calf of either leg, particularly if one leg is markedly larger than the other. The NHS describes these as the warning signs of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, both recognized risks after surgery with reduced mobility.

Also call if you fall on the operated foot, hear or feel something give way inside the boot, or find that a toe has changed position. Fixation can shift, and early assessment matters.

Finally, call if the plan simply is not working for you: pain relief that is inadequate, nausea preventing you from eating, or low mood that is not lifting. These are not trivial. Recovery is a medical process, and adjusting it is your team’s job. The decision about what to change, and when, rests with them, but the information that prompts the change has to come from you.

Frequently asked questions

How long can I walk after foot surgery?

Protected walking in a rigid surgical shoe often begins the same day for toe and many bunion procedures, while fusions and larger reconstructions may require weeks without weight on the foot. Walking without any device usually waits for bone healing, roughly six weeks after bone-cutting surgery according to MedlinePlus. Longer walks for exercise typically come later, around three months, once the foot tolerates repetitive loading. Your surgeon sets each step based on your healing.

How painful is foot surgery recovery?

Pain usually peaks in the first two to five days after the anesthetic block wears off, then declines steadily so that by the two-week check most people describe soreness rather than pain. Bone procedures tend to hurt more than soft-tissue ones. Elevation above heart level, ice over the dressing, and taking prescribed pain relief on schedule during the first days all help. Which medicines you use, and for how long, is decided by your prescribing clinician.

Is foot surgery a major surgery?

It ranges from minor to major depending on what is repaired. Removing a small nerve growth is a minor procedure, while fusing multiple joints is a substantial reconstruction with months of recovery. Even small operations feel significant because the foot bears your weight, so mobility is affected far more than after a hand or shoulder procedure. Risks include infection, blood clots, nerve injury, slow bone healing, and stiffness, and your team should discuss them alongside non-surgical alternatives.

What is the fastest way to recover from foot surgery?

There is no way to accelerate bone healing itself, but you can remove the obstacles that slow it. Follow the weight-bearing prescription exactly, elevate the foot above heart level for much of the first weeks, do not smoke, eat well with adequate protein, keep the unoperated joints moving to reduce clot risk, and attend physical therapy for gait retraining once permitted. Each of these prevents the setbacks that commonly add weeks to a recovery.

What does weight bearing after foot surgery mean in practice?

It is the amount of body weight your surgeon allows through the operated foot. Non-weight-bearing means the foot never touches the ground. Toe-touch allows resting the foot for balance only. Partial weight bearing permits a set fraction, often increased weekly. Full weight bearing means normal standing and walking, usually still in a boot at first. Each stage protects healing bone or fixation while limiting muscle loss and stiffness, and advancement is typically confirmed by examination or X-ray.

How long will I wear a boot after foot surgery?

The device and duration track what was repaired. Many soft-tissue procedures use a stiff-soled surgical shoe for a few weeks until the wound heals. Bone-cutting procedures such as bunion correction typically require a surgical shoe or walking boot for around six weeks, the window MedlinePlus gives for bone to heal. Fusions may need a boot or cast for longer, sometimes with weeks of non-weight-bearing first. Your team decides when protection can be reduced.

Why is there still swelling after foot surgery months later?

Healing tissue releases fluid, gravity pulls it to the lowest point of the body, and the lymphatic drainage system disrupted by the incision takes months to reroute. MedlinePlus notes that swelling after bunion removal can last six months to a year even with normal healing. Swelling that is worse in the evening and better after a night lying down is the expected pattern. Sudden, one-sided, hot, or spreading swelling is different and needs same-day medical attention.

When can I drive after foot surgery?

Driving usually waits until you can perform an emergency stop without hesitation or pain, are no longer wearing a rigid boot on the driving foot, and are not taking medicines that impair alertness. For right-foot surgery in a car with a standard layout, this often means after protected weight-bearing ends, commonly around six weeks for bone procedures. Left-foot surgery in an automatic may allow earlier return. Confirm timing with your surgeon and check your insurer’s requirements.

When can I go back to work after foot surgery?

Desk-based work is often possible within one to two weeks if you can keep the foot elevated and manage transport, though swelling from prolonged sitting may limit hours at first. Jobs that require standing, walking, or lifting usually wait until protected weight-bearing ends and the foot tolerates a full shift, often six to twelve weeks for bone procedures. Your team can provide a realistic estimate based on your specific operation and job demands.

Can both feet be operated on at the same time?

Some surgeons do operate on both feet in one session for selected patients and procedures, but Mayo Clinic notes many prefer to stage them because being non-weight-bearing on both sides leaves a person unable to walk at all during recovery. Doing both at once rarely halves the total time and makes daily tasks far harder. Whether it is appropriate depends on the procedure, your home support, and your overall health, and is a decision for your surgical team.

References

• MedlinePlus: Bunion removal
• NHS: Bunions
• NHS: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• MedlinePlus: Hammer toe repair

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.