UKC

Anybody here had an ankle fusion operation?
If so, how successful was it? What was the range of movement afterward?
Did it affect your ability to walk or climb?
Many thanks in advance folks

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Which joint is potentially going to be fused? If ity is a complete fusion of the ankle there will be no movement at all. There are other joints in the region that can be fused, why might a fusion be done?

This will inevitably affect the ability to walk and climb

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Beware the man with a hammer. They always want to knock in a nail!

Seriously. Are you talking a triple arthrodeses which would permanently fix your foot at 90' to the leg so normal function would not resume?

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

I narrowly escaped having my ankle fused about five years after a bad break. Thankfully five minutes with a good physio sorted things out nicely.

In reply to Removed Userysingo:
If you could post some more info on which joint you may have fused and why, what your symptoms are etc I'd be happy to post more info about how my experience may be relevant but to summarise:

I broke my ankle badly in a climbing fall aged 27, I had a permanent loss of mobility and pain to some degree thereafter. By about 40 I was in permanent pain with the arthritis which inevitably folows such a break and had become quite limited in how far I could walk though fortunately climbing was still possible. By the time I had it fused I was struggling even with short walk ins to crags like Stanage and needed trekking poles just to get there and my mate would have to carry all the gear. I even took to sport climbing because I could lower off instead of walking down!
I had the ankle fused at 42, its a long recovery period, depending on your job you may not be able to work for a long period of time and I was only able to drive again after about 4 months.
Unfortunately my fusion was not successful and I had to have follow up treatment so it was nearly 2 years after the operation that I could begin to get back to normal, its usually about 6 months to get to this stage if the operation works as intended.
At this stage you can lead a "normal" life but the joint will go on improving for a few more years in terms of doing "abnormal" things like hill walking and winter climbing.

I now have very little pain from normal activities, I climb as well as ever, ski (with a modified boot) and can walk up to about 10-12 miles in the hills but only if I take a few ibuprofen beforehand. I have also done some winter climbing and alpinism but not really big days.

I have limited up and down movement of the joint but no more than before the op, as the arthritis had already signifcantly reduced this. The motion I do have comes from the non fused joints.
Overall my quality of life is much improved, not being in permanent pain is great and I can do everything I could do pre fusion. I can't run but I couldn't before anyway.
Fusion can have knock on effects on the foot, I have developed a Morton's Neuroma which is sometimes a mild nuisance except when skiing when it can be excrutiating but further boot modifications seem to have sorted that out and if or when it gets worse another simple operation can get rid of that.
Fusion is a major operation and not to be undertaken lightly but could be the only chance of regaining a good quality of life, it depends on your circumstances.

In reply to pec:
Thanks for this. My question was on behalf of a colleague who is keen to find information from folk who have experience of the procedure as he is having difficulty getting anything first hand from the Internet. I understand it is the tibia and talus that is to be fused and will leave him with possibly 40% movement in the joint. He is a Liverpool pilot (maritime) and will need to continue to board ships by rope ladder post op.
At the moment he is coping with an ankle splint but inevitably surgery will be essential

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

I broke my medial malleolus 20 months ago.

The main problem I have now is lack of flex in my ankle.

Walking uphill ( on say a tarmac road ) as the angle increases I soon have to walk on my toe on the "bad " leg.

Not such a problem on paths as you can usually plant the foot on a more level step. ( the only advantage I have noticed is that the strain of front pointing is less of a problem on the bad leg!)

I am very aware that the lack of ankle flex means that that leg is very vulnerable in bouldering/climbing falls.

Perhaps have a trial run with a splint that limits the flexibility to that probable after the operation and see how it affects climbing/walking/work but without hopefully, the pain.

For me, it would be a last resort, as flexibility helps in so many ways.

HTH

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Mine was also a tibiotalur fusion. I've got to go out again now and haven't got much time but I'll try and post some more tomorrow evening (Monday) so check again then, cheers.

In reply to pec:
Many thanks. I'll pass your experience on

In reply to Removed Userysingo:

Here's some more info regarding my ankle fusion.


The tibiotalar joint gives you most of the up/down movement in your foot, fusion removes all of the movement in this joint, however the subtalur joint which gives you the side to side movement (such as when contouring across a slope) also has a bit of up/down movement so I still have about 20% of the up/down motion in my fused ankle.
For normal activities this is actually enough so I walk with no noticeable limp most of the time, only if I've walked several miles do I start to limp a bit. Running is a different matter, I can still run a short distance to save my life (!) but I can't sensibly do any sport that involves running. Driving is also fine but I do sit a little nearer to the wheel than I used to and have to lift my thigh a bit when using the accelerator like you do when braking.

The operation has a long recovery period. You will be about 2 months total non weight bearing in a cast which makes life quite awkward, especially if you live on your own. Using public transport is effectively impossible so you are entirely dependant on lifts to get anywhere. Cooking and carrying things is very difficult, I got a knee high stool to rest my bad leg on so I could make food without leaning on my crutches and had to eat it in the kitchen as it's impossible to carry it.
You will have a lot of time to kill so try and plan useful things to do. A lot of people said they thought they could have got quite depressed spending so long housebound. It didn't really bother me at the time but once I was able to drive again (after about 4 months) and get out and about a bit I felt an incredible sense of freedom.

During the non weight bearing period blood circulation is affected in the lower leg. Normally muscles are constantly squeezing the blood vessels but they don't do this so well when non weight bearing so when you stand up blood "pools up" in your foot and it becomes quite painful so you need to spend most of the time sitting down with your leg elevated.
After 2 months you can begin partial weight bearing, still with 2 crutches but gradually increasing the load you can bear and reducing your dependance on crutches so that after 3 months you can probably get around the house with only 1 crutch and walk short distances, say across the room, with none.
After 3 months I had my cast removed and initially took a step backover in my mobility until the leg strengthened more, after 4 months I was able to drive, could walk around the house without crutches and walk short distances outside, say a few hundred yards, with only one crutch.
The next 2 months are just a gradual reduction in the need for crutches and an increase in leg strength until after 6 months you should be about back to normal.

When I began weight bearing a physio I was referred to told me to take painkillers if necessary so I did take ibuprofen for a while. What the idiot didn't tell me was that non steroidal anti inflammatories such as ibuprofen, are known to inhibit bone growth. I only found this out when they discovered after 6 months that the joint hadn't fused properly.
Don't make this mistake. Failed fusions (I only had about 30% fusion) normally only occur in the "usual suspects", smokers, people with poor circulation for other medical reasons, the elderly etc.

I've said about my current activity abilities in my previous post. Fusion has removed most of my pain and greatly increased my mobility. It has made no noticeable difference to my climbing ability and I regularly climb ladders for work so getting on and off ships shouldn't be a problem in the long run.
If he could be sidelined to an entirely desk based job, sit with his leg elevated, and can get a lift from door to door, he could probably return to work after a few weeks. If he needs to drive and walk around a bit it could be 4 months and it will probably be 6 months before he can climb on and off ships.
Depending on your employer's sick pay rules this could raise financial issues which he may need to consider. I'm self employed and have no sick pay so had to massively reign in my spending and dip deeply into my pension savings, especially as I couldn't work for a year because of the failed fusion. Luckily I did have the savings to fall back on.

The timings I've given are what I experienced and were in line with what I was told pre-op. I have read online that recovery can be a bit quicker but I suppose it must vary depending on the individual's condition or the surgical technique used perhaps? Either way, its not quick.

Best of luck to your mate and hope the info is of use.