ankle help- physio and post surgery tips

[flicker]

About a week ago I had an athroscope on my left ankle - apparently I had a floating piece of bone and flapping cartilage which has been removed. The surgeon also drilled three holes ( to stimulate cartilage regrowth?) and cut out quite a lot of inflamed tissue.
This procedure has followed a few years of ankle pain that dates back to a childhood injury.
Previously I have been treated by a fairly crummy physio so am hoping that a physio in Melbourne that understands long term ankle problems might be able to help ( once bacK on my feet)
so:
1. Does anyone have any good physio recommendations
2. And any advice about weight bearing/non weight bearing ( I had very little advice from the hospy about this issue - and so don't know if I will damage my ankle if I walk on it so soon after the op.
3. When will I be walking normally? ( or near normally??)

[Unregistered]

About a week ago I had an athroscope on my left ankle - apparently I had a floating piece of bone and flapping cartilage which has been removed. The surgeon also drilled three holes ( to stimulate cartilage regrowth?) and cut out quite a lot of inflamed tissue.
This procedure has followed a few years of ankle pain that dates back to a childhood injury.
Previously I have been treated by a fairly crummy physio so am hoping that a physio in Melbourne that understands long term ankle problems might be able to help ( once bacK on my feet)
so:
1. Does anyone have any good physio recommendations
2. And any advice about weight bearing/non weight bearing ( I had very little advice from the hospy about this issue - and so don't know if I will damage my ankle if I walk on it so soon after the op.
3. When will I be walking normally? ( or near normally??)

Sounds like you had an osteochondral defect of the talus. This is a surgery I recently underwent. It's painful and should take minimum of three or four months to normal walking. But it will heal! Good luck!

[amandah]

I had fairly simular surgery in September and they said I could weight bear after about 48 hours but use one crutch for as long as you need to help you to walk. I think I did this for about 4 weeks. I was told it takes about 3-4 months for recovery but up to 12 months for full recovery. Every ankle surgery/ problem is different and recovery different for every individual. See your GP if you are worried. Make sure you keep the ankle supple by doing flexing exercises and swimming also helps you get movement back and stop stiffness. Take your anti-inflams and paracetamol throughout the day if it gets sore. Hope that helps

[Unregistered]

Hi I was wondering amandah and flicker, how long was it before they decided you were to have this surgery and why did you have it done,what was the diagnosis,and how did they discover you have a floating bone in your foot? i have had a ankle injury for a while now and nothing seems to be happening....nothing in lastest x-ray or ultrasound,was this the same for you both? i just wanna know if this happens often when they dont know whats wrong or am i just seeing the wrong doctors.
melissa

[mikelott]

Hi, I had surgery that sounds similar to yours on July 11th and I am back playing football (soccer). If you go to the triple jump cartilage injury thread you sill see some posts I have left regarding the doctors advice (my doctor is one of the leaders in the field apparently) It has worked for me anyway.

[amandah]

Melissa, I had my ankle surgery 18 months after breaking my fibula. I had x-rays, MRI scans and it showed nothing remarkable - nothing wrong. I was in constant pain and the surgeon (and I) felt it was better to go ahead with the surgery (arthroscopy) to see what was going on. Although imaging (x-rays and scans) showed nothing remarkable, when they operated they found I had damaged ligaments, a broken talus bone and significant damage to my cartilage. Some of the waiting time was also due to NHS waiting lists. You just have to trust your pain and belive that something must be wrong and find a surgeon who trusts what you say. My surgeon also tried anaesthetic in the catilage joint - this emiminated the pain and showed where the injury/ site of injury was. I think it is very common that injuries don't always show on scans/ imaging. I was also seeing a specialist ankle surgeon - but this was after GP, physio and podiatrist. Does that help???

[Unregistered]

hi amandah,
yes that is interesting to read,seems to me doctors try to take a guess as to what the problems are then jab you with needles to fix them...
As luck would have it i went it and had a follow up bone scan to see how my injury was progressing....boy was i shocked when they told me i had another micro-fracture but this was was recently obtained..its no-wonder my ankle aint healing...i dont even know how i did it,i did stub my ankle a few times though because i couldnt lift my foot correctly over a obsticle.She told me it wasnt the best place to get the injury and that it was in my talar dome and the suface was mostly affected and that most likely arthritis will eventually settle in,in the later years so not the kind of day out i expected.
Anyway well head off to the doc and see what he has to say again..
Thanks for the reply,hope your doing well...
melissa xoxox

[Alwyn]

Hi amandah,
i was wondering what kind of pain u were experiencing and to what extend it bothered you. I've experiencing some ankle cartilage problem myself and i could do with some advice on whether i should take up surgery similar to flicker's. The pain comes occasionally and i still am able to play sports like soccer etc. Could someone who has undergone this surgery tell me how long it takes to recover and start playing sports again?