documented setbacks · last reviewed 2026-08-09

Lisfranc surgery recovery: the documented setbacks

Clinical procedure: Lisfranc injury surgery (fixation or fusion).

Typical, evidence-anchored estimate only. It is not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.

A recovery that dips is not automatically a recovery going wrong. The cards below are documented cohort patterns — moments in lisfranc surgery recovery where symptoms rose before they settled — shown at the weeks the studies place them, each with its source.

These are cohort patterns, not a promise that new pain is benign. New severe or rapidly worsening pain, fever or chills, a hot swollen calf, chest pain or breathlessness, wound redness or discharge, or new numbness or weakness are reasons to contact your surgical team promptly — not to wait it out.

what the studies document

Good to know

Hardware removal often comes months after surgery

Among people who had a Lisfranc ORIF and later needed the hardware taken out, removal happened an average of 4.4 months after the original surgery. Physical-function scores recorded afterward were measurably higher than in people whose hardware stayed in place, consistent with hardware irritation surfacing as a mid-recovery setback rather than a lasting one.

† Retrospective cohort, 482 patients and 489 feet, fixation subgroup with versus without hardware removal

sources

What this page is built from

  1. Pain and midfoot function after joint-sparing suture-tape augmented Lisfranc fixation (n=58, mean 16.9-month follow-up) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
  2. Primary arthrodesis versus open reduction internal fixation for acute Lisfranc injuries: systematic review and meta-analysis (18 studies) meta-analysis · reliability 9/10
  3. Primary arthrodesis versus ORIF for Lisfranc injuries: meta-analysis of 5 randomized trials (241 patients) meta-analysis · reliability 9/10
  4. Return to play after low-energy Lisfranc injury: systematic review and meta-analysis (441 athletes and active-duty personnel) meta-analysis · reliability 8/10
  5. Flexible fixation versus ORIF versus primary arthrodesis for ligamentous Lisfranc injuries: meta-analysis (25 studies) meta-analysis · reliability 8/10
  6. Do Lisfranc ORIFs fail? Long-term conversion to arthrodesis in 8,101 patients at 5 and 10 years retrospective cohort · reliability 8/10
  7. Hardware removal after Lisfranc ORIF: timing and patient-reported outcomes (482 patients, 489 feet) retrospective cohort · reliability 8/10
  8. Primary arthrodesis versus ORIF for Lisfranc injuries: comparative cohort with rehabilitation protocol (73 patients) retrospective cohort · reliability 7/10
  9. Ligamentous Lisfranc injuries: hardware removal timing and rate (39 feet, stage II) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
  10. Outcomes of Lisfranc injuries in active-duty service members (n=70, mean 3.5-year follow-up) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
  11. Ly and Coetzee: treatment of primarily ligamentous Lisfranc joint injuries, primary arthrodesis versus ORIF (randomized, n=41) randomized trial · reliability 8/10
  12. Henning et al.: open reduction internal fixation versus primary arthrodesis for Lisfranc fracture-dislocations (randomized, n=40) randomized trial · reliability 8/10
  13. Early outcomes of Lisfranc injuries treated with a suture-button internal brace (case series, n=15) case series · reliability 6/10
  14. High- and low-energy Lisfranc injuries: prospective functional outcomes and return to work at 6 months (n=32) prospective case series · reliability 6/10
  15. Lisfranc sports injuries: review of return-to-training and return-to-competition windows narrative review · reliability 6/10
  16. Postoperative complications of percutaneous versus open treatment of Lisfranc injuries (matched, 1,100 per cohort) retrospective cohort · reliability 8/10
  17. Functional outcomes of open reduction and internal fixation for Lisfranc injuries (n=87, mean 4.9-yr follow-up) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
  18. Mid- and long-term consequences after surgically treated Lisfranc injuries (14 followed, mean 8.3 yr) case series · reliability 6/10
  19. Week-by-week postoperative protocol after Lisfranc fixation in athletes (case series, 10 followed) case series · reliability 6/10

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This page reflects published cohort data on lisfranc surgery recovery — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.

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