UKC

After years of abuse climbing, running, falling off and falling over i'm now reaping the rewards with significant reduction in flexibility in my left ankle due to bone spurs. I'm also suffering with arthritis in the big toe joint (Hallux??) on the same foot.

The hospital is offering me the option of having the associated bone spurs removed (debridemant?)in both ankle and toe areas, or just one of the areas, or I can do nothing now and wait..until it inevitably gets worse...

Has anyone any experience of such operations which they can relate ....i'm trying to get as much info as possible.

... I can still climb and surf,with manageable levels of discomfort/pain...if im not doing it for lengthy periods.. walking up and down mountains for sustained period is more difficult...

my current inclination is that if there is a risk of me coming out worse than i went in i'll live with my probs for a little longer. If by not having anything done i'm accelerating the problems i may have to re-think...

cheers

jim

In reply to jhardwick:

I had a spur taken off of my elbow. Before the op every little knock on my elbow made me cringe, afterwards and ever since absolutely no problem. Good luck!

In reply to jhardwick:
From his blog I think Dave Macleod had something very similar done in the last year or so, might be worth having a look there or dropping him an email?

http://davemacleod.blogspot.co.uk

In reply to jhardwick:

Had a big bone spur taken off my shin - no problem.

In reply to jhardwick: I've trained for running with two people who had heel bone spurs removed this way. No problem, both back training in two weeks

In reply to chris j:

Thanks for this. Will do.

In reply to wbo:

Ive seen a few people comment about heel spurs and its promising to see that recovery seems good. How long before you were active again? Mine are front and side of the ankle right in the joint , where the bones collide when the foot pronates. Not sure how recovery will differ...if at all.

In reply to Firestarter:

Cheers. How long waa your recovery.

In reply to Skyfall:

Sounds painful. How was the recovery.

In reply to jhardwick:

About two months mate - a little bit of guided physio and then some curls for a couple of weeks. Absolutely no pain now for two hours of free drug induced sleep. I call that a win-win!!

In reply to jhardwick:

I'm seeing a sports/trauma surgeon in Easter to talk about the pro/cons of having the bone spur/growth of my talus bone filed down in a arthroscopy operation (likely in the summer), as a result of a break of said talus 2 years ago. The spur/growth currently restricts dorsiflexion as the growth bumbs into the tibia, which causes chronic pain from ligament/tendon restriction/tightness. I'm able to climb/hike etc., but my orthopedic consultant said generally my dorsal movement could increase by up to 10 degrees which would be awesome

So it'll be interesting to know how you get on etc., if you go ahead with the operation... What ares you range of movements like in your ankle/s?

Anyone else had something similar done to their ankle?

In reply to jhardwick:

The two people I knew who had heel spurs removed were back in action very quickly, which was good as their job was running. The first was back after 2 weeks, the second no more than a month. For the first this was something he had had done a couple of times

Compared to a lot of the ongoing faff I see people experience with 'soft cures' for plantar fasciitis, it seemed a straightforward fix.

In reply to MikeStuart26:
Hi Mike
I fractured the talus on my right ankle just under two years ago. I had it pinned, spent two months in plaster, wore plastic boot etc etc. I don't have as much forward flex in the right ankle as the left and i don't experience any pain. I've put my limited dorsiflexion down to the injury.

As a fellow talus masher, I'm interested to know how much doriflexion do you have in your ankle? Also, how did you know that you had a bone spur/growth?

Thanks

Rob

PS Jim - apologies for hijacking your thread and good luck with the ankle!

In reply to jhardwick:

I had an arthroscopy to remove bone spurs from one of my ankles a couple of years ago, after a bad ankle injury about 2 years previously. Before the surgery I suffered limited dorsiflexion and found walking more than a couple of miles quite painful - after the surgery this improved considerably. Unfortunately a few years down the line my ankle has stiffened up and become painful again and I'm currently waiting for an appointment with an orthopaedic specialist to see what they suggest. It's no worse than it was though so I don't regret the surgery, just be aware that it's not a magic bullet and the bone spurs can grow back.

In terms of the actual procedure I had a quick recovery and was cycling within 3-4 weeks of the op, and climbing after 6 weeks.

In reply to jhardwick:
I noticed it sticking out eventually as a painful lump which didn't move. Had it removed under general; it was quite large. The consultant thought it was as a result of a knock playing sports when younger, the usual. I have a nice big scar and it did take a month or so to heal but that was because they had to cut through my a thick section of my calf muscle to get to it properly. The removal of bone itself wasn't a problem at all (simply the soft tissue recovery time post op). 15 years on and no problems at all.

Whilst this was indeed a bone spur, it sounds as though the issues with ankle bone spurs are quite different.

In reply to rob sykes:

Your injury sounds very similar to mine: my right ankle was dislocated and broken after a 15ft fall - I've now got two titanium screws in the talus(and one screw in my scaphoid in my wrist but that is fully healed now). I spent 6 weeks in plaster, then a further 6 weeks out of a cast but still non-weight bearing. Then I was allowed to put weight through my ankle and learn to walk again etc.

The doriflexion in my bad ankle I reckon is about half of that of my good foot... my physiotherapists recently did a test to work out the angle but I can't remember what it was sadly. So yeah its not brilliant, but i can still climb etc. - of which I'm climbing harder than before the accident so its not all bad - except for the chronic pain.

My consultant, in my regular (now yearly) appointments and X-rays (to check the talus bone is still alive and not dying/dead) noticed the growth over the entry of the screws - and hence it all made sense r.e. the pain and limited movements

Yeah sorry Jim for the hijacking - sharing is caring and all that :P