Talus fracture and partial displacement, healing advice and support

Hi Eva, sorry to hear your ankle is giving you pain. I’m also a distance runner and fractured my talus climbing mid-2017. This past fall I ran a 50k and my first 50miler. Running is definitely different, but it’s been possible. Lack of range of motion has been the biggest difficulty for me, especially on trails, but it’s slowly improving. I also know someone who shattered his talus years ago and now runs ultras. Recovery took him longer. Not sure all cases are the same, but it can be done. Sending lots of encouragement your way!

eva.henrie wrote: I found this thread looking for some inspiration/success stories on healing from a talur fracture. I fractured and displaced my left talur bone rock climbing in September 2014. It required surgery and 4 screws, and the doctor told me I may not be able to run again. I took this pretty hard since long distance running is my passion. I decided to give it a try recently since my ankle is mostly normal these days, although I don’t think it will ever be truly normal again. I’ve only been on three runs so far and I’ve been in pretty serious pain for a week since. Am I going to be able to run again? Has anyone else been able to do distance running after an injury like this? Everyone keeps telling me to just buy a bike but it’s just not the same. 

Eva, it's been ~7 months since I had my talus surgery (4 screws as well) and I'm back to some light running on the treadmill. My PT knew how important running was to me, so my rehab was focused on that. My progression to running was: single legged deadlifts -> single legged squats (not full pistol) -> single legged hops -> treadmill (over the course of 3 months). I've also been working on plyometrics for the last couple of weeks and those help with the explosive power that you need for running. 

Each day tends to be slightly different, but if I were to compare the state of the ankle on a monthly basis, there's a steady if not drastic improvement. I think the key is to take it easy and listen to your ankle. I'm confident that a return to distance running is possible if there are no complications related to your surgery.

May I join the club?  I'm not sure how many pieces the bone was in but six screws and two plates seems about right for the term the surgeon used "shattered".  I'm about three weeks post accident and have good and bad days.  Still not sure what my outcome will be but man this totally sucks.  At first I couldn't even think about climbing but after watching the bouldering nationals I might be sucked back in.

Just did this number a few days ago. My first ankle fracture, so, no wisdom for ya! But, I've had many injuries in the past that involves fractures in other places. I've never really had such a bad recovery that I haven't been able to move as well as I wanted, or get as strong as what I worked for. The human body can accomplish so much! Tenacity is key!

Paul Hutton wrote:

Just did this number a few days ago. My first ankle fracture, so, no wisdom for ya! But, I've had many injuries in the past that involves fractures in other places. I've never really had such a bad recovery that I haven't been able to move as well as I wanted, or get as strong as what I worked for. The human body can accomplish so much! Tenacity is key!

Damn, Paul - that's scary. Care to share how it happened?

FrankPS wrote:

Damn, Paul - that's scary. Care to share how it happened?

I'm sure I'll get a bunch of keyboard warriors' much needed, valuable input ;) 

I tied my lead rope to my belay loop with an overhand knot, temporarily, so I could keep the end of the rope on the ground while I stick clipped. I forgot to switch the end of the rope to a figure 8 through the tie in points while I made sure everything else was ready for the lead. I clipped the 3rd draw, went to hang on the rope to suss beta, and down to the ground I went!

Figured I might as well share my story, because I've gotten so much out of reading other peoples.
9 months ago I broke my talus climbing and severely dislocated my ankle (foot was completely sideways, sadly I have no picture). I was diagnosed with a Hawkins type 3 fracture and had two screws put in. Spent 4 months non weight bearing.
I started walking in September and started climbing again pretty much right away. Since then I've gone back to doing everything I did before except running (on the advice of my surgeon). I've even been able to do some alpine climbing (climbed in Huntington ravine last weekend). My ankle hurts a lot, especially when after a long day of climbing, but I don't plan on letting that stop me. No signs of avn at all, so I would consider myself incredibly lucky.
I still have very limited range of motion and might need to get the screws taken out, but other than that everything has been as good as it could have been. It's a hard injury but not everything always ends up badly with it. Its definitely possible to recover and keep doing everything you love.
Thanks so much to everyone who posted before me. You guys really helped get me through the rough times 

Hi Sarah, I know a bit about this and believe, like others, you will climb again.  Good ideas would include PT, message, and a positive attitude while recovering.  Your head will not be where you want it when you get back to climbing, so be patient.  Bad news is that when you are 15+ years older, and a cold wet storm rolls your way, your old injury well tell you.  Best wishes!  Roy 

Paul, OUCH!  Thanks for sharing.  I would post pics but nothing special just metal parts in an ankle.

I've never stumbled upon this thread in my 8 years of trolling the site. Funny how this was bumped up near the top in Injuries/Accidents, so it was easy for me to find, just a few days after my accident. I was about to call this a stupid accident, but, I was fortunate to have been close to the ground. Had this been any higher, or I tried a dyno, I might have hit harder, or flipped around in the air, orienting my body to land on its head. I'm super lucky, and got a rather mild lesson in awareness, communication and vigilance to take with me to bigger climbs! It's good to see others out there enduring similar epics, and sharing for avid climbers like me to indulge in the continuum of raw wisdom!

CO Climber wrote: Just shows no matter how much experience you have, complacency........

No judgment at all, just wishing you a speedy recovery, and thanks for sharing. Good god that looks horrible. 

Last pitch of the day, I was definitely rushing. I know that if I was in a multipitch setting, or on day 1 of lead climbing, I would've been much more cautious. Being comfortable on flat ground, I guess

Hi everyone, just a quick update for you all.
I posted on here previously and I'm about 6 months post injury now, and 3 months since I had my cast off. I had a bad Hawkins type 2 fracture, and have 7 screws and a plate in my talus.

Range of motion - I'd say it's about 75% what it used to be and is slowly improving, however I feel as if the metal work is hindering my progressing much further but I'm unsure. It tends to get less whilst I have swelling. I do get pain on inversion, but other ranges of motion don't cause me to much pain.

Strength in my leg - Not what it used to be, YET. I've been doing squats (bodyweight and weighted, only about 80kg) single leg squats, and finally got a pistol squat back again a few weeks ago! I've also been doing plyometric jumps etc. So it's getting there, however I think i'll need another 2 or 3 months before I'm back to where I used to be. Whenever I do jumps I am still using my good leg a lot more then my bad leg. I'm doing single leg jumps and using the BOSU ball for balancing as well as calf raises etc. 

Swelling - My foot still swells if I've been on it all day and can cause pain but not enough to take any pain killers etc my range of motion tends to reduce slightly depending on swelling. 

Working - I've just started work again and my job requires me to be on my feet for the entire day and walk 3+ miles and I seem to be doing ok so far with minimal pain. It's a bit hard at the end of the day but it will be fine when I'm used to it again.

Limitations - No real limitations other than running / sprinting, however a lot of that is due to muscle loss. When i'm running I do get pain under my foot and in my heel, but I haven't really ran much to try and help that, however when I land on my toes there's no pain. I'm sure if I continued to run and physio my leg for it, that I would probably be fine in another few months.
I have been able to do front flips, back flips and other flips again and all the sports I enjoy, namely gymnastics, calisthenics.

Overall six months post injury my recovery has been very positive, although it was a long tough road and has taken a lot of work. I made a lot of dietary changes and made sure I ate a lot of whole foods, fruits and vegetables (I eat a whole broccoli everyday haha), as well as other things like turmeric with black pepper to aid in blood flow and reduce inflammation. I also trained or went to the gym at least 4 times a week to keep fit to promote bloody supply etc. I obviously had to do upper body pretty much most of the time. I highly recommend a good solid diet and exercise during your recovery. I did a lot of stretching to prevent my tendons from ceasing up, as well as hamstring curls and quad raises on my bad leg.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Sean

Sean, thanks for the update and that gives me hope.

Paul, I was thinking the same thing about your accident in that what if you made it to the anchors and fell from there.  YIKES!  

I wake up ever night around 3 am and argue with myself about how many ways I could have avoided this accident.  I also replay the sound of my ankle breaking over and over again.  Mine was a stupid gym bouldering thing and I keep thinking how the hell did I get so hurt in a gym?  On a shitty V2 slab route that I should have been able to do in my sleep.  WTF.  I'm not sure which hold I hit on the way down and really wish the gym wouldn't overlap routes like they do but none of it matters now.  It's broken and I can do nothing but heal and move on.

Blakevan wrote: Sean, thanks for the update and that gives me hope.

Paul, I was thinking the same thing about your accident in that what if you made it to the anchors and fell from there.  YIKES!  

I wake up ever night around 3 am and argue with myself about how many ways I could have avoided this accident.  I also replay the sound of my ankle breaking over and over again.  Mine was a stupid gym bouldering thing and I keep thinking how the hell did I get so hurt in a gym?  On a shitty V2 slab route that I should have been able to do in my sleep.  WTF.  I'm not sure which hold I hit on the way down and really wish the gym wouldn't overlap routes like they do but none of it matters now.  It's broken and I can do nothing but heal and move on.

Yea dude! There's definitely a higher power that's having an effect on my life and setting me up for future success. Things happen to us, and we all cross paths for reasons that we don't yet know about. But breaking things and just living to see how loose ends find each other can make SCARY sense at some point, is all too interesting to just sit around on a couch and hide from OUR unique opportunity.

Didn't plan on chiming in since my injury isn't nearly as severe as just about any here but I've been reading this a lot so I figure I can share. I broke ankle about 4 weeks ago, about 6' off the ground on the first pitch of ice climbing of the day. I climbed around 5-6000' of ice since December and felt that I was climbing smart. Anyway, 6' off the ground, I match on a tool to get positioned for a screw stance a move or two above, and my tool popped. The talus was fractured but not displaced, so no surgery required. No other injuries. I'm in an air boot and the doctor has me just rolling my ankle for the sake of the tendons and I guess the blood supply and such, just two or three times a day, but no weight bearing. But I get to see him this Thursday for a 4 week check-in so fingers crossed that it's healing well. I'm anxious for this coming rock season and hopeful I can get my mobility back once I can start using my leg again!

The doctors reiterate to me that displacing the talus bone disrupts blood flow, which can result in losing the talus bone, part of the foot and, potentially, the whole foot. The skin on the medial foot was badly traumatized, enough to lose that skin, which, if my body can't heal that on its own, would require a skin graft from somewhere else on my body. Inflammation in the foot is bad for the skin, too, which serves as an additional factor in ending up with necrotizing skin. Keeping the foot elevated 24/7 is absolutely critical for my skin recovery.  I'm glad I'm living during this point in time, where new body parts can be grown from tiny cells of local tissue. I'm younger and in good shape, and have good eating habits, so, I make a good subject for healing fully. Prayers are real and work miracles. I'm reborn.

I'll add in another data point.

Last year I suffered a displaced fracture of the lateral process of the talus after a sudden encounter with a small ledge during a lead fall.

The ER did x-rays and diagnosed it as a sprain and I was given an ace bandage and offered some tylenol. More x-rays after following up with an ortho several days later revealed a minor calcaneal fracture and a separate avulsion fracture. A CT scan a few days later revealed the talar fracture and surgery was scheduled. Surgeon installed two headless/permanent screws in the talus.

I'm currently at +100 days post-accident, and +87 days post-surgery.

I'm walking well enough without crutches to do basic tasks like shopping. It's a bit slow to get moving after waking up or after a period of dormancy. It gets fairly swollen and painful after a quarter mile or so of walking. I've been climbing once a week at the gym one-legged with a boot for protection for 4 weeks. That first week felt like it may have been just a bit too soon.

I've also been seeing a PT twice a week for about 3 weeks which seems incredibly valuable.

I don't have anything amazingly unique or insightful to add to the conversation, except that this rolling cart from ikea was pretty helpful throughout the process.

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. I'll try to check back in a little later for an update.

I fell down a cliff and got an open dislocation and broken Talus. Seriously looked like the foot would fall off! 

Got 3 internal pins for the Talus and an external fixator was on for 6 weeks, also got a bad infection and there was a defiinate consideration that I might lose the foot. 

10 months after the injury and I can walk quite well but can't run yet- mostly because the dorsiflexion range isn't good, but it's gradually improving.

I'd repeat what others have said -  it gets better, but expect recovery to take a long time and don't rush into things (I'd started trying to run months ago, much too soon and it delayed recovery).

Specifically I'd recommend: Tennis racket grip tape on crutches, supportive shoes with raised heels (nike lunarglide), cold packs, balance board. 

@paul, how's your recovery going?  Hope everyone else is doing well and healing everyday.

Blakevan wrote: @paul, how's your recovery going?  Hope everyone else is doing well and healing everyday.

Everything's improving, including pain. I only take pills with dinner to help me sleep, and when I go to visit some friends. I was in serious pain without taking meds for hours every day before the pain improved!  Just trying to look out for my liver, and building that pain tolerance. It might help me send 5.13+ some day! I still need to climb El cap! The pins sticking out of my foot that were holding my talus in place got pulled a week ago, which I got to keep. I've been going to see the doctor every Monday since I was discharged from inpatient care March 5th. I went yesterday, and they don't wanna see me for 3 weeks, so, they're not worried about anything. I googled beer and fractures. I learned that beer has Silicon in it, which promotes bone growth, so, I've had 2 beers now in the last month. I figure 1 or two beers every two weeks should be harmless. My wrist was also sprained, and I just tried doing push ups a couple days ago on a door frame pull up thing, which allows me to keep my wrists straight, which works. I just did pull ups for the first time today. I did a 1-arm assisted pull up with my bad wrist. Baby steps, mang! Still no weight-bearing on my broken foot for two more months, and I'm still living in a splint, which isn't comfortable. They change my splint every Monday, which feels so good to see my foot again and feel the air around it. I'm in a prison-type phase, where I have plenty of time to think about what I did wrong LOL! I get military disability, thankfully, so I can afford to chill and focus on recovering! Thanks for asking! I'll accept any good energy! I'm itching to get off the ground again! Just seeing people walk while I'm on crutches or in a wheel chair fuckin sucks lol!