Shattered Talus Report / Analysis

Dr. Warren Gardner did my surgery. He practices as an orthopedic trauma surgeon at Erhlanger in Chattanooga. I liked him because his practice involved the type of orthopedic surgery needed to address catastrophic accidents like falls and car accidents where feet get jammed through the ground and floor boards. But he may not be the best for your situation though.

Dr. Keith Donatto did my surgery in San Francisco. My uncle is an orthopaedic surgeon in the Bay Area and recommended Dr. Donatto.

Small update: Last weekend I lead the biggest trad climb I've ever done including multiple hours of approach and walk-off descent. Then I ran down the concourse to catch my flight home the same day. Bit of ibuprofen and ice and my ankle was pretty decent the next day. I still feel it, but the pain is easy to ignore and just go on doing what I was doing. It's been 6 months since my surgery and 10 months since the initial break.

Caitlin,

I had my talus surgery done at Kerlan Jobe in Los Angeles. My Dr was Kenneth Jung. kerlanjobe.com/Physicians/k…

I highly recommend him and Kerlan Jobe. They are a well known medical group in Southern California and work with all of the professional sports teams in the area.

He did a great job with my talus and I had a full recovery. He was very particular about the little details and kept me well appraised of all of his concerns and decisions.

Good luck with your surgery.

Jason

Hi everyone, my name is Sarah. I broke and dislocated my talus bone in march of 2014. I had surgery in april 2014 to repair it. I did weeks of PT. The whole time my physical therapists lead me to believe that I would get back to myself before my accident.
It is now more than a year since my accident. My bone is completely healed. However, I still walk with a limp, have severe tightness (especially in the morning) and I find it extremely difficult to walk if I am not wearing my sneakers. Is anyone else having these problems?
My surgeon/doctor did say that I may need additional surgery on my Achilles heal. Was anyone else told this??
I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks

sarah115 wrote:My surgeon/doctor did say that I may need additional surgery on my Achilles heal. Was anyone else told this?? I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks

I had follow up surgery on my ankle to remove excess scar tissue a year after the fracture surgery. While I was under the surgeon loosened the sheath surrounding the fascia of fibers that make up my achilles. I will still walk with a limp 2 days after a run in my right foot and still deal with plantar fasciitis in my left Achilles but I'm able to push through half marathons with these limitations.

Greetings, on July 23rd 2015 I took a 15' ground fall landing in the arms of my spotter but not before the majority of my weight landed on a rocks edge. The force of the hyperdorsiflexion caused a bilateral fracture of the talar neck as well as some fractures of the medial and lateral subtalar joints. The surgeon opted for a conservative approach for the left (only slight displacement) but decided for ORIF of the right (Hawkins 2 fracture.) I received four small screw to reduce the talus and the surgeon removed the fragmented bone and damaged cartilage from the subtalar joint, since there was nothing large enough to screw into. I know that this injury has many complications as well as a long recovery time. I was just looking for some feedback from people on what to expect in the future, 6, 12, 36 months down the road? My orthopedist was clear in stating that the majority of my problems with mobility in the future would originate from the damage to subtalar joint, since it is crucial for negotiating uneven surfaces, much like side hilling etc. Not only would the inability to hike effect my recreational pursuits but also my professional, since I work as a Wildland Firefighter. I'm curious if anyone else here has dealt with this specific injury? If so, could anyone give me some foresight into what may be in store? Much appreciated. I know I wont be back running and jumping right out of the cast but remain hopeful that by summer/fall 2016 I'll be doing most of the things I did prior to my injury. Also, what kind of soft tissue injuries were associated with your Talar fracture? I have not had an MRI and the surgeon has not communicated to me anything, nor was he too concerned with soft tissue injuries. Thank you for any feedback and I hope that you are healing well!

Hi all, on 5/31/2015 I had a fall on my ankle and immediately rushed to the ER. About 1 hour later, I was in the worst pain of my life. The ER took awhile to take me back for x-rays and a CT scan and could not give me meds until that had been done to determine my injury. Luckily the dilaudud kicked in about 30 mins and I felt much better. Once the orthopedist arrived, he informed me that surgery would be required and that there were risks involved with surgery. I opted for the surgery. The preoperative diagnosis was a right Hawkins type 3 talar neck fracture with dislocation of the body, commented malleolus fracture, and subluxation of the calcaneocuboid joint. My ankle now has 2 plates, 6 screws and a couple pins. Today as I write this is the start of the 10th week post surgery and still non-weight bearing. I have been in 3 splints, 2 casts and now a airboot. I have been told to continue to be non-weight bearing for another 2 weeks. My ankle is stiff with about 20% of movement compared to my other ankle. I have yet to start PT but hoping some more mobility will return. The first couple of weeks were the worse just getting use to my injury and laying on the couch about 23 hours a day. I was off all pain meds within 2 weeks but was very painful when my take was below my heart. My ankle would instantly swell up and all the blood would rush to my foot feeling like it would explode at any point. AVN certainly scares me as well as walking with a limp or not being able to do the activities I was before. I am 27 so this could most certainly be a life changing event for me. I wish all of you the best in your recoveries and found this thread really helpful. Ill include a few pictures of mine!

Caitlin Mac wrote:ALSO, this is for everyone on this thread, who did your surgery, and do you recommend them? Especially the more complex or delayed surgery... Im looking to travel for surgery as my town isn't that well known for ankle specialist.

My operation was performed by Dr. Glen Jerrett in Missoula Montana. He came highly recommended and actually performed a similar procedure on a friend who also injured her ankle in a climbing accident. The woman I'm talking about had a second procedure done by a doctor in Seattle who is one of the best apparently, Dr. B?! If you were really interested I could find out more. Good luck with any future surgeries and subsequent healing!

Hello, my name is Derick. Read many of these stories of broken talus. I fell asleep while driving and hit a cement truck head on with the cruise set at 75 Needless,to say. .the fact that this was the major injury I know I'm lucky but still having tons of strange feelings. ..aside from carpal tunnel surgery in both hands this is my worst injury ever. ..both this year lol. I'm 37 going to second follow up tomorrow,going on six weeks of no weight. ..this is killing me I have a knee scooter,and have made an out door one with a smaller bike using wheel barrel tires,two in back one in front... spend lots of time hopping or crawling around in my shop. ..never been so limited before. I'm a workaholic on what seems to be the worst vacation ever. ..I have one plate two screws and five pins holding ankle back together,I truly hate to not be self sufficient but can only do so mutch...I'm grumpy and feel worthless at times. ..wife says I need to see a Dr bout psyche meds. So I guess what I'm asking is this normal, or am I just being a baby.

Some people are better than others at mentally dealing with injuries. I sucked at it, and it really got me down. With respect to mobility, look at the iWalk. This thing saved me bigtime. I live on the 4th floor with no elevator, so a scooter is not an option:

amazon.com/iWalk-HFC20001BK…

A year and a half later, my ankle continues to heal. For a while I thought I wouldn't be able to do multi-day backpacking trips, but that looks to be a possibility now. I hiked 20 miles in 2 days recently and had zero pain or stiffness. I might have to revisit the assumption that I'll never be able to run distances again too. I suspect a half-marathon would be doable.

Ouch! A lot of broken feet in this thread. Can't add much on the healing / rehab side of things, but did want to revisit this comment by the OP:

Brice Harris wrote: 2) I lost both visual and audible contact with my belayer during the climb and without that you can't properly belay.

You can actually belay an out-of-sight-and-hearing leader just fine, but it does involve significant learning over a fair amount of time and yardage. If you keep just an ever-so-slight tension on the leader such that you can 'feel' what they're doing through the rope, and you do that all the time and pay attention to what's 'on-the-wire', you can learn a lot about a given leader's patterns of behavior on lead. Climb with a person long enough while paying attention to that and you can essentially belay 'blind' and still have a good feel for what they are up to at any given moment even when out of sight and hearing.

After years of climbing with a main partner I could tell not only what he was doing based on his movements, but could also get a good read on his angst level or lack thereof.

Healyje wrote:Ouch! A lot of broken feet in this thread. Can't add much on the healing / rehab side of things, but did want to revisit this comment ...

Mr. HealyJE,
Please to do not steal threads. If you desire to start another discussion, you are welcome to open a new thread, or, perhaps, find an older one that discusses similar issues and revive it.

The OP opened the thread with this statement:

Brice Harris wrote:I also have had time to analyze. I think the accident happened for a few reasons...

And then went on to list those reasons and I responded to the second reason he listed. Nothing about that response is a hijack. It's always a bummer to end up hurt, and the OP is trying learn from his mistakes but his conclusion in the reason I responded to was incorrect and folks shouldn't think that you can't give a good belay to leaders who are out of sight and hearing.

I think it's a normal reaction. It helps to view the injury as a new challenge. It may take awhile, but the day will come when you wake up and the first thing you notice is your ankle doesn't hurt and you don't have to limp out of bed. But it helps to mentally measure the time in years. Otherwise you may set yourself up for a long period of being bummed.

Was rummaging about the internet and found this presentation about talus fractures, maybe it's of interest.

media.wix.com/ugd/441095_44…

This thread is so helpful.

So on the two year anniversary of finishing the PCT, I took a fall bouldering and was told I had a very bad sprained ankle. I followed the recovery path and was on crutches for a couple days then transitioned into a walking boot for what should have been 6-8 weeks. Started PT and things were getting a lot better. I made the move back into a shoe with a figure 8 brace about 7 weeks in, spent 3 days still limited, but relatively pain free in it, went to sleep and woke up as if I was back at square one. Foot was in a lot of pain, all the swelling was back and my ankle mobility had disappeared, especially inversion and eversion. I went back to the podiatrist who was treating me, he ordered an MRI, and a few days later I was informed I had a fractured Talus neck. This was just last week. I found an orthopedist who specialized in ankle injuries/surgery and she's now treating me. But all of this is super new and frustrating.

She thinks the talus had been damaged the entire time, but nobody saw it. I had been walking on it in a boot for almost two months (7 week prior to reinsuring and almost 2 weeks while waiting for the MRI appointment), and she was pretty astounded that there was little to no displacement. Because of that she wants to see how I heal with no weight bearing for the next 3 weeks, then we will decide on surgery or not.

Doing nothing is definitely the hardest part of all of this. I spent 4.5 months walking 20-30 miles a day and sitting on the couch all day is way harder. Just went on disability as I can't work, and all of my social, emotional, and out of the house activities involve using my ankle. I'm really hoping that babying the ankle the next few weeks along with upping my dosage of bone and ligament healing supplements will yield some positive results. At the dry least I hope to have a clear diagnosis and prognosis at the check up. If i need surgery, so be it. I just want to get on with it.

Anyways, had to vent. Reading the thread has really helped.

Hello, Ive fractured my talus 9 weeks ago. They misdiagnosed is as a sprain (X-ray didn't show the fracture), but told me not to bear weight till I see doctor again. 10 days after, another x ray showed nondisplaced talar neck fracture. Cast 6 weeks, but now it's off, still non weigh bearing. Reading about this fracture made me request CT scan 2 weeks ago to make sure fracture is truly nondisplaced. Still waiting for the result. Although probably late for the surgery..? I've been reading all off your posts many times, and agree how depressing/isolating this injury is. I am 41, and apart from hiking, walking, I worry how am I going to be able to work in the future. Please, could you update on how are you all getting on now. I do feel isolated/lonely as this is uncommon injury. Was anyone on antidepressants at any point/did it help?

Wow, I can't believe I just found this thread. I haven't had a chance to read through it yet, but this is amazing information.

I was bouldering in LRC Nov 27, 2016 and fell from the top of Latin for Daggers. Landed flat on my right foot which gave out. I immediately went to the ER, got an xray, and was told I had a severe sprain but no break or dislocation. Crutched around in a stirrup brace for a week until the swelling was really bad and not getting any better. Saw the orthopedist a week later and discovered I had a complex talar body fracture, the front half had moved forward out of the joint and the back half was still situated beneath the tibia. I don't know how the ER missed this because even I could see it on the medial xray.

I had surgery a week later, ORIF (open reduction internal fixation -- fancy name for pushed it back together and put screws in). Had an external fixator for four weeks. There was some concern due to the talus not being correctly located (not under the tibia). Moved my ankle a ton, but no weight, for two weeks. The dislocation has gone, but it's still slightly shifted forward in the joint. Started PT a few days later. Just about a week of PT and I'm seeing a lot of improvement in the joint. They think the cartilage is damaged.

Dr. Alan League in Chicago (UIC Hospital) performed my surgery. He did an excellent job. I'm not an expert on orthopedic surgeons, but I couldn't be happier with the repair job. I'll update when I get a disk with the xrays on it. I do have a picture of the ex fix I had.

For reference, I decked a couple years ago and had a burst fracture of my T12 vertebra. Dr. Sergey Neckrysh (UIC Hospital) in Chicago fused my L1 - T12 - T11. So far, recovering from that was easier.

Millie Brown wrote:Hello, Ive fractured my talus 9 weeks ago. They misdiagnosed is as a sprain (X-ray didn't show the fracture), but told me not to bear weight till I see doctor again. 10 days after, another x ray showed nondisplaced talar neck fracture. Cast 6 weeks, but now it's off, still non weigh bearing. Reading about this fracture made me request CT scan 2 weeks ago to make sure fracture is truly nondisplaced. Still waiting for the result. Although probably late for the surgery..? I've been reading all off your posts many times, and agree how depressing/isolating this injury is. I am 41, and apart from hiking, walking, I worry how am I going to be able to work in the future. Please, could you update on how are you all getting on now. I do feel isolated/lonely as this is uncommon injury. Was anyone on antidepressants at any point/did it help?

Hey, you might consider sending a personal message to some of these folks. That might give you the support you need.

Best wishes, Helen