Legs in massive pain after OR day

[itimebomb2]

I had an OR shadowing experienced that destroyed me today! Standing for 5 or 6 hours (I know... not that long) just destroyed my legs. I had to concentrate with all my might just to stay standing at the end of the day. I have very flat feet - my calves, hamstrings and quads are utterly exhausted. Overall, I'd say I'm a very fit individual. I go to the gym 5 times a week and ran a marathon 2 years ago.

 

Question -- will having this problem likely exclude me from a career in surgery?

[HBP]

Get orthotics and better shoes!

[sgt.pepper]

Get orthotics and better shoes!

 

And before you drop 300$. try superfeet. they are 30-40$ and helped me. If they dont work you can return them no questions asked before 30days.

[sgt.pepper]

I had an OR shadowing experienced that destroyed me today! Standing for 5 or 6 hours (I know... not that long) just destroyed my legs. I had to concentrate with all my might just to stay standing at the end of the day. I have very flat feet - my calves, hamstrings and quads are utterly exhausted. Overall, I'd say I'm a very fit individual. I go to the gym 5 times a week and ran a marathon 2 years ago.

 

Question -- will having this problem likely exclude me from a career in surgery?

 

Are you in first year med?

[koft]

Get some compression socks like jobst. They work great especially for 12+ hour OR. Wear comfortable shoe.

[Renin]

Standing on a rubber mat may also help; some hospitals have thick comfy ones available.

[orange123]

This is why I love this forum. You guys are so helpful!

 

I had the same experience as itimebomb. My legs were gone; but now in hindsight, I can attribute that to my flat feet at that time I had ruled out surgery as a career choice. I was like, " how the heck do the residents remain standing from 6am to 6pm?!)

 

And now I know that there are compression stockings and superfeet!

 

must give those a shot when clerkship rolls around.

[Guest copacetic]

get shoes with built in arch support. if you wanna save money, just get some of those insert arches and put them into whatever shoes you want. They take the weight off of your ankles and put them on your knees allowing you to stand for longer periods of time

[astrogirl]

I'm not a med student, but I do have very flat feet and I teach physics labs for sometimes 6-8 hours at a time (standing up), and I can also attest to the wonders of compression socks and arch inserts. Another thing I like are those "toning" shoes which I don't think do much in the toning area, but I got them on the advice of another flat footed person, and they are really comfortable for long periods of standing up. I don't have super expensive ones - they were like $50. If you decide to try them, get used to them at home before wearing them out for the day, because they're a little weird to walk in at first and it takes a bit of practice.

[sgt.pepper]

ya just google superfeet. they are basically a plastic arch suport with a bit of foam on top. you can by it at National sports and sportchek. (I feel like an Adbot)

[apache]

i agree, orthotics completely changed my life, visit a foot doctor and ask him to take a look !

 

Get orthotics and better shoes!

[A-Stark]

I had an OR shadowing experienced that destroyed me today! Standing for 5 or 6 hours (I know... not that long) just destroyed my legs. I had to concentrate with all my might just to stay standing at the end of the day. I have very flat feet - my calves, hamstrings and quads are utterly exhausted. Overall, I'd say I'm a very fit individual. I go to the gym 5 times a week and ran a marathon 2 years ago.

 

Doesn't really have anything to do with fitness. Were you scrubbed in? If there's a seat available now and then, take it! The real key to enduring this is just getting used to it. A lot of cases are much shorter too, and it never hurts to move your legs around. I tend to flex my knees and shift position a fair bit.

 

Question -- will having this problem likely exclude me from a career in surgery?

 

This is a pretty unimportant reason for choosing a speciality. You do a lot of standing around in just about anything outside of radiology.

[itimebomb2]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone~!

[koft]

This is a pretty unimportant reason for choosing a speciality. You do a lot of standing around in just about anything outside of radiology.

 

Nah, there are more area in Medicine that you get to sit down quite a bit.

 

Pathology. Medical microbio.. Anaesthesia!

[A-Stark]

True, but people working in a lab need to stand up sometimes. And anesthetists need to walk the patient to recovery and need to get up to switch off for a coffee break.

[peter.jhony]

How much is your own religion present in your daily life

[koft]

True, but people working in a lab need to stand up sometimes. And anesthetists need to walk the patient to recovery and need to get up to switch off for a coffee break.

 

LOL. But you don't need to stand for a long period of time. As for radiologist, like anesthesia needs to line up at Tim's / SB for a coffee. As well they need to go to the washroom sometimes. And don't tell me about self cathetherization or rectal bag.

[degoo_]

Some ORs will physically tire you, there's no way around it. But little things, like shifting steps, or flexing your calves then quads then taking a nice diaphragmatic breath work well. Also if you're retracting, try to use your shoulders/body to retract, rather than your hands/forearms- it makes a world of difference.

Also take any chance to walk around a little and get the blood flowing again. And make sure you drink well.

 

No, that one experience won't exclude you from a surgical career. It sounds like this may have been one of your first times in the OR, keep doing it and it should improve. Orthotics may help for the flat feet, but if you run marathons without them I'm not so sure.

[notmeadoc]

Try some 15mmhg compression stockings....maybe even going up to 30. I know a few surgeons that wear those.

 

The hardest most painful job is being a retractor or an observer in the OR. Once you're a staff surgeon(if you go that route) - you don't feel the pain because you're concentrating on dissecting...bit by bit by bit by bit and time flies by and then you get out of the OR and realize that you've been standing for 6-8 hours, haven't had anything to eat or drink and haven't gone pee.

 

Surgeon pee after an OR day is very concentrated and yucky.

[Renin]

Nah, there are more area in Medicine that you get to sit down quite a bit.

 

Pathology. Medical microbio.. Anaesthesia!

 

Psychiatry!

[osteon]

I'm not a med student, but I do have very flat feet and I teach physics labs for sometimes 6-8 hours at a time (standing up), and I can also attest to the wonders of compression socks and arch inserts. Another thing I like are those "toning" shoes which I don't think do much in the toning area, but I got them on the advice of another flat footed person, and they are really comfortable for long periods of standing up. I don't have super expensive ones - they were like $50. If you decide to try them, get used to them at home before wearing them out for the day, because they're a little weird to walk in at first and it takes a bit of practice.

 

You are right about the toning; there has not been any evidence for this yet. However, since these shoes have an unstable base, i.e. Sketchers Shape-ups or MBT shoes, they increase muscle activity in your lower leg, and so help train the smaller postural muscles. Over time, this has been shown to decrease knee and lower back joint pain and improve standing posture. So if you use them, you're likely to be hurting at first, but with time standing will be a breeze. Plus, they're really soft and comfy on the bottom, as astrogirl mentioned.