After surgery, there is bone healing involved, such as a midfoot fusion or resetting of the bone – and osteotomy. The big question is when has that bone healed enough that you can put full weight on it without a regular cast or even a cast boot. We always check this with x-rays. X-rays are helpful but seem to lag behind what’s actually going on deep inside. This lag can be several weeks or longer.

So I often use ultrasound to look inside. The ultrasound image will go to the soft tissue and stop at the bone. But if there’s a small gap at the plant fusion site it will show this. If there’s some areas of bridging it will also show that. I will look around the fusion site or osteotomy site circumferentially and if I see areas of definitive bridging that is a very good sign that often is weeks ahead of the x-ray image.