Talus injury after 2 1/2 years

[Kody'smom]

My 17 year old son while motorbiking shattered both talus bones, fractured calcaneous in both, and numerous other bones in his feet. It has been 8 months, and he still has a lot of pain and swelling in one foot. He takes glucosamine regularly and attended physio as well. Does anyone know if hardware removal improves ROM and pain? He has a plate and 9 pins in the left one, the one giving him all the trouble.

[sherryann]

Hi, (44 yr old male) Racing Motorcross, Cased a Triple, stuck the bike on the face of a 65' Step-up, flipped over the handle bars and layed on the top of the triple w/Two Broken legs and ankles. Rushed to the ER, Left leg has 2 screws in the Tibia near the ankle joint and 5 screws in the Talus. Shattered Right leg, Tibia & Fibula down by the ankle joint, surgeon counted about 8 breaks, resulting in 3 Plates and 18 Screws. Accident occured on May 11th. 3 surgery's with in 2 wks. Hospital bed at home for 1 month. started to crawl after a month w/minimal pain, been crawling ever since to this date Sept 17. Still not able to weight bare on either leg. Went to Dr's 3 wks ago and signs of AVN are showing. Return to the Dr's tomorrow for a MRI to confirm whether or not the Talus bone is dying. Hopefully get good news and be able to start weight baring. Not sure what the options are if the Talus bone is showing signs of dying. Has anyone out there have any insight on something similar.

I can not afford insurance, and I believe it is to late for me to ever walk again. I have been in the wheelchair for 9 month's now. I can not bear NO WEIGHT at all. Should I have the plates removed from my leg?

[kjwilkin]

I don't believe it's too late to walk again if you receive the right treatment. Can't believe you've had no physio.

About 10 years ago I was on crutches for a year and learnt to walk again after my knee surgery to fix the problem.

Whereabouts are you based ?

[cookie2crumbs]

Hey Greyizhip....
Update! Had surgery finally! 2 years 1 month 3 weeks after the injury! So currently I am in a sorta cast, non weight baring (not liking that) and stuck at home. I will see the surgeon next week so I will have a better Idea as to where from here. ( ended up having to fix not only tendons but also ligaments)

veggie runner!! so very true! I agree with your whole post! I decided that if I had to wait for the surgery I might as well do what I could at home. I lost a lot of weight and am staying as active as possible. I can't wait until I can get back in the pool! I found water therapy the best !! Also acupuncture and massage! Very good for pain management!

take the power back!

[cicconeyouth]

Well, I thought I would post some hope for those who have sustained this terrible injury. 2 years ago I drunkenly fell off a balcony and broke my talus, which was luckily discovered by a specialist who just happened to be in the clinic the day I went in. (the staff thought it was a sprain).
I had surgery straight away which was a pin put in it and I kept off it for about 3 months doing some gentle exercise and some physio.
It does get very stiff and my achilles often feels like it will snap when I exercise (requiring a lot more stretching than I previously did).
One year later I was back to running 4 kilometres a day (hill running is out) and I am right now at a kickboxing camp in Thailand! I have to take it easy on the right foot, but you CAN recover from this injury. I suggest trying to keep it moving by stretching and doing simple exercises.

Good luck to you all who have suffered this debilitating injury. Try to keep positive!

[BrknTalus24]

October 19th I broke my talus making a tackle in football. I play for my college. As a senior I knew I would never play full contact again, but I love football and want more than anything to be able to play flag football and other sports as I get older. At 22 I can now barely walk a mile without stopping. I know it has only been about 7 months, but will I ever be able to run again. My doc. and therapist keep telling me they dont know... but anyone out the who knows what I am going through... is there hope? or am i never going to be able to run and stuff like that again?

[PRE]

I just wanted to say I?m glad to see people sharing about this injury. Its been very hard to find people stories and prognosis?s. Well I?m 26, I was playing basketball and running to fast and jumping to high I was cut off in mid air and shattered 20% of my talus bone. There?s other ligament injuries around that but the lateral process fracture is the main concern.

I was misdiagnosed as a ankle sprain when I first went and was encouraged to stand on it as soon as possible (x-rays didn?t catch it). So after a week my ankle was looking worse went back and it a CT scan confirmed a fracture. I?m in a cast up to below my knee. Its been a month and I have a few more weeks before I take it off. Docs are in conflict on whether I should get the fragments removed or not due to risk of arthritis. The long term prognosis has been kind of bothering but I?m trying to stay positive. I?m weight bearing. My question/concern now is I?m work in a cubicle swelling as gone down but is it ok for my foot to be in a dependent position (foot on the ground sitting) or should I elevate it. Basically I want to do whatever I can for the best outcome, even if that means taking off from work.

Anyway Good luck to all.

[Tiredofcrutches]

I was tumbling in Cheerleading one day and I landed wrong and rolled my ankle about 3 months ago. I went to the doctor a day after and they xrayed it and said nothing was broken. Just severely sprained. I was told to use crutches for a couple days and was given an air cast. I went to physical therapy 2-3 times a week, but after 5 weeks, I still couldn't walk normally. I could limp around okay but I didn't have the heel toe motion. I went to my regular doctor and she referred me to an orthopedic specialist. He ordered an MRI and discovered that I broke my talus. I cracked it in two places, and slightly shattered it. I have my ankle in a vast and I'm scheduled to go in for an CT scan in about two weeks. I just have three questions: do you think I'll need surgery? Will I be able to cheer again? And will I walk normally again? Thanks (: oh I'm 15 if that makes a difference.

[Keren14]

Hi everyone. I only recently found this thread and thought I would add my experience with a talus break. I broke mine cleanly in two about 5 years ago in a head on collision. I had it operated on about three days after the accident (the consultant was very angry about this, and I had a load of trainee surgeons watching the surgery, all very exciting haha). I have three screws in my ankle, inserted at the Achilles end. Afterwards I listened to them and didn't put any weight on it for 8 weeks, then after began physio etc. I didn't get on with the physio at all, so I stopped going and did it in my own time, which is my only regret. I think if I had pushed for private therapy instead of group physio it would have been much better and quicker in terms of rehabilitation. I took up swimming which helped a lot, and about a year after the surgery I did start horse riding again, albeit gentle hacking on a horse I have rarely had problems with in terms of falling off!

Five years on, and I would say it is heaps better. I still walk with a slight limp, I have to watch where I'm going as even a small stumble hurts like hell and wearing heels is definately out! I find the first 15-20mins once I get up is when it's most stiff, and standing on it for longer than about 15mins without moving will cause my ankle to stiffen. It is still much more swollen compared with my other ankle, I rarely wear shorts or skirts anymore. I haven't yet tried rollerblading/ice skating. I can cycle, I can kind of run! It is more of a cross between a skip and a shuffle but over the last year it is improving. I recently started Zumba (about 10 weeks ago) and I find that the more I do, the easier it gets, I can now do some of the jumping/kicking and standing on my bad ankle is becoming easier for me. I still can't hop with my bad ankle being the one I land on, and I still can't do big jumps or anything. I had a go at the Xbox fitness game and that helps too.

All I can say about this type of injury is that people don't seem to understand how long it actually takes to heal.
My friends still see my limping and can't believe it's from the same injury and seem to think that it's my laziness thats the reason why I haven't healed as quick as other friends with broken bones! I have come to accept that it will ache everyday, there are some days where I still can't put much weight on it! But compared with what I was like 3 years ago, I am much improved, and I think it will improve more in the next few years.

I hope this has helped anyone that's feeling a bit down about it. I won't lie, I think its one of those injuries that will always be there, but it really DOES get better. On the good days people don't even notice my limp. Ooh by the way, I'm 24.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, this may sound awful but it is nice to find people who understand and know how you feel! I only wish I'd found this when I had the accident, as I didn't know anyone that had had the same break as me!

[Winterson]

There is a way to be more mobile & active even if you had ankle injury. Have you tried using a Knee Scooter?
There is now an alternative instead of using those uncomfortable cumbersome crutches to keep you mobile! Visit this website (www.rehabhire.com.au) if you are based here in Australia. I hope it will be of help.