? on ankles now

Knees have been a hot topic recently. How about ankles? I'm scheduled to get bone spurs removed and ligaments reattached in my good ankle. The bad one has "end stage arthritis" from not getting it repaired soon enough and the docs don't want to touch it other than fuse it. Any one have experience with similar procedures and have recommendations or stories to share? And if any one has used Cornerstone Orthopedics at Avista please comment.
Thanks!

I have been fighting a fusion for 15 years. I am a firefighter who cant run but can do the job. I recently met a women with the US ski team who got an ankle replacement from a cadaver. I can find out more. Don't get a fusion. M. Daley told me it only gave him more pain. As many know he had his leg cut off below the knee. I met him at lincoln falls and was amazed to see him still climbing. Mr. Daley if I got the story wrong please correct me. I am the one one who spoke to you concerning my girlfriends sister who was going to have an amputation due to cancer. sad to say she died and left 2 children.

I can't speak for bones- only missing ligaments.

Even after a dislocation that required a year to rehab,I got 2 opinions ofter ripping ligamnets out- they said that I should be best off not trying to "fix" the problem.
The only 'metric' given was something like "once you are spending 6 months/year on crutches from repeated sprains anyway, that's when you break down and try the surgery.

The docs told me it was not high confidence surgery and was a terrible pain with terrible reccovery. In short- as long as the ankle can survive- let it. When it can't, then fix it. So I never had it. I'm missing some parts, so my ankles turn easily- which means wearing high-tops in rough trail races, no bouldering out there, etc.

A guy I work with had "spare parts" (someone else's) put in his ankle and limps daily- he is never able to do much more than a short walk even on his best days.

I have surgery on my ankle 6 times. The last one they drilled my talus to make the bone on bone smoother. That was 6 years ago and I still climb and ski all the time. So I would say anything but a fusion. Once its fused you can never go back

Peter Janes at Summit did my surgery. He is good with ankles. when I shattered my tib fib in the joint I first saw Chipman and he sent in Dr. Janes

Thanks for the responses guys. I've been refusing to get my right ankle fused for 10 years now. I did have bones spurs in it removed almost 30 years ago. Now my left one has a 7mm spur and the MRI showed "missing" ligaments where they should be attached. Doc says that one likely reason for my right ankle being so messed up is that the docs didn't stabilize it when they removed the bone spurs years ago.
One of the reasons for starting this post was to encourage Tony B and others to get their joints taken care of sooner rather than later as I might have 2 good ankles if I hadn't neglected getting one of them repaired years ago. My thought right now is that I'd rather have one good ankle than none so I'm getting the left one scoped and will have 3 to 4 months of recovery instead of the potential for a lifetime of pain in both ankles.

Contracting Paralytic Polio at nine months wasted my right leg and foot and didn't do my left leg and foot a great favor either. Post Polio Syndrome for the past 36 years and other very serious injuries hasn't helped matters. My right ankle was fused when I was 13 and I broke the fusion loose by degree several times over the years making it looser and looser. I don't think I would have had it done now that I know what I do. For the left, as a preventive measure to keep it from inverting and spraining it again and again, I wear a product called the Active Ankle anytime I am out of the house. It works very effectively.

I broke my talus in 2 places about 6 months ago...I still feel pain, can't run, and can't jump. Scrambling has turned into quite a job and climbing is very painful...My Doc told me it's all arthritis. I've been using liquimins MSM-Chondroident (spelling?)and stretching my ankle as much as possible. I've seen some improvement but and say I'm about 50% healed. I talk with the physio guys here at work frequently and all they ever suggest is stretching for arthritis. The doctor prescribed me all sorts of pills (Naproxen, Celebrex, etc) needless to say the pills don't work...I'm happier stretching and taking vitamins as I've seen more improvement.

My surgery is scheduled for the 30th. Bone spur removal and ligament adjustment. For you guys with ankle arthritis, I have end stage arthritis in my right ankle, which they don't want to or can't fix so I've relied heavily on glucosamine. The best I've found is the Move Free brand with glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM mixture. I swear by the stuff as it really seems to keep me moving with less pain. I can always tell when I've missed taking it or have taken less over a few days.

I crushed my talus and surrounding metatarsals in 2002 - The original prognosis was that it would not heal correctly and I would develope arthritis and have my ankle fused. I have had two surgeries to repair/clean up my talus joint. I healed perfectly, but lost 30% range of motion. The best advice I could give is:

A) constant motion for the joint

B) Glucosamine and Condroitin as well as Copper(soft tissue regeneration)

C) Do whatever is required by your PT x 1000

Hope this helps - Have a full and speedy recovery.

doug s wrote:The best advice I could give is: C) Do whatever is required by your PT x 1000

No! In the case of rehabilitation, more is not better! The prescribed "dose" by your PT is for a reason--follow it and do not be messing with your therapy program on your own.

Make sure you pick/find a good PT, one who treats athletes and understands at what level you wish to get back to.

What I meant to say was to continue the prescribed range of motion exercises on your own - Even after 4 years I still regularly use my balance board and exercise bands...sorry for the confusion

d

I broke my right talus couple years back. "...commuted fracture of the posterior process..." or something like that. according to the doc it was relatively minor compared to what can happen..sounds like what has happened to some others posting. I was back in action - climbing, running, pretty much everything - by three months (in cast for six weeks). I do, however, still have some minor arthritic pain during said activites - mainly running. I didn't do any PT, meds (other than pain), vitamins, chondroitin (sp), etc...

For arthritis I have found nothing to be more effective than Turmeric. I take a single capsule a day, sometimes two after sending a big project.