Responses
It was his heel bone that was damage in the accident. In this case, his heel bone had been damaged so severely that it had prolonged his recovery. So, from what he had said is still probable since a severe injury to a heel bone can take up 1-2 years to fully heal.
The last few pages were a bit confusing. I thought his foot was recently injured and he wore it that way to ease the pain but a year is quite some time. I also expected him to confess and say something like "I kept wearing it this way so you'd keep coming to see me!" Well, that didn't happen...