severe ankle dislocation

[johny26]

hello, just browsing the web for ankle injury forums and found this site. get ready for a long read lol

i am 26 years old

at age 17 i suffered a severe ankle dislocation playing basketball. this tore all of the outer ligaments, nerves, tendons, muscles, and skin. most of it became trapped inside the joint, so they had to open it up to get it all out, and clean out the joint. the injury was from a stupid game of basketball. i came down for a rebound and rolled the ankle. the foot was at a 90 degree angle (right foot) and i fell to my left, trapping the foot underneath the leg, making the arch of my foot touch my leg. so thats a good mental picture for you lol

it did compress a nerve tunnel on the inner part of ankle. not the tarsal tunnel, but one in front of it, i forget which one. my surgery doctor said it was a very bad injury, and i'd have problems for the rest of my life, and it may get worse. the best i ever got back was about 80 percent. i am now down to about 30.

i did not see a doctor about it again untill 9 years later (october last year) it just got to a point where i cant even drive a car anymore.

i have been on numerous drugs, codien, vicodin, ultram, kadian,lyrica for pain, and elavil, trazodone for sleep problems. i also had a lumbar nerve block that only made the foot feel warm, i felt no difference in pain

i am sick of pain and pain meds. im sick of being so inactive. i weighed 170 when the injury happened, and im up to 236 now. i have a constant stab pain on the inside of ankle. tenderness where the tear occured (10 years later.) i get deep piercing pain in the joint sometimes when i walk. my achilles feels like its strained. and if i try to pivot on that foot, it feels like the top part of my foot is ripping open.

my mri last year showed posterior medial malleolus spurring (is that the inside of the ankle? there is a good sized knot there now)

small fluid build up within the tendon sheath of the tibialis posterior tendon at the level of malleolus, compatibal with tenosynovitis. there is also fluid within the tendon sheath of the flexor hallucis longus tendon, however this is more likely secondary to the ankle effusion (um what does that mean? lol)

addendum to the report

there is thickening of the posterior calcaneofibular ligament with intermediate signal, consistent with chronic injury. there are also post surgical changes along the lateral malleolar region

i am scheduled for ankle fusion evaluation on december third with a guy named doctor kelikian in chicago. this doctor actually consults with the chicago bears football team. so my guess is, if any body can help me, its him. i am very scared of the thought of ankle fusion, but im sick of pain. all these docs so far have said its a 50/50 shot if it makes it better or worse. they say at this point in my life, what do i have to lose?

i would just like feedback/suggestions/opinions on this situation please. if it were you, would you go ahead with the fusion? have you heard of a basketball injury so severe? lol sometimes i think this is the worst ankle injury in the history of basketball, and im probably right. all doctors i've seen say "wow, u did this playing basketball? dang, tough break kid, you would've been better off breaking the thing, or having it cut off"

ty in advance for any replies

[johny26]

well i got pretty good news from kelikian

gonna have a surgery in febuary to replace some of the outer stuff

i will always have nerve pain, but the deep piercing pain is due to instability. he did a fluoroscope live xray thing, and pulled the foot part from the leg on the bad ankle and compared it to the good ankle. theres a bigger gap in the bad ankle, and its most likely causing the deep pain in the joint

the stab on the inner ankle he will check out too. he will scope it and if it turns out to be a small tissue tear, it can be fixed. if its another damaged nerve, dont know what he can do. he's a fast paced, very nice, very funny guy.

i will be asking for a more detailed explanation of what exactly he's gonna re-arrange inside of me. im just curious. also a bit freaked out about the operation and the sciatic nerve block, so maybe i shouldnt learn much more lol. wonder how bad this will compare to the lumbar nerve block i had.

all i hear is good things about kelikian. him and his father i think wrote the books on these things. if anyone can fix me up i think its him. im at 30 percent function now with the ankle, i'm hoping to get 70 percent.

playing basketball again would be great ROFL jk. my wife slapped me when i said that part lol.

[Ruth]

Hi,

Glad to hear about the progress on your ankle injury - it sounds like a bit of a nasty one :(

It sounds like you're in very capable hands, we would love to hear how you get on.

Make sure you do as much strength work on your good leg and your upper body as you can pre-op, as you'll be relying on this leg a lot more when the other one is recovering. If you can do any work on your knee/hip on the bad side this would also be helpful as there will be some degree of muscle wastage when you are in plaster following the operation (assuming you'll be immobilised for a fair while after to let it all heal).

Good luck, and I hope you make a speedy recovery!

[johny26]

my nickname in highschool was tree-trunks

i have BOULDERS for calf muscles. even still after 10 years of inactivity, theres barely any fat on my calfs,legs, thighs, buttocks. in fact my wife complains that i have no butt lol.

i could leg press 500 pounds at 15 years old. i rode bikes everywhere on trails, played basketball all day long with friends.

i am simply amazed i still have some good muscle tone on the legs

the gut is where my problem is.

i used to bench press every day as well, and had a decent upper body. but after the injury i just quit everything. i shoulda still kept benching and crunches. none of that affects the ankle and its my own stupid fault for letting myself go. i used to do 300-500 crunches during my work outs. not exagerating either. pushups i could only do about 5 sets of 10, but then i'd take a brake and do 5 sets of 10 inclined, and declined. doing a push up right now would hurt the ankle too bad.

this total gym generic ripoff will help. i want to lose 30 pounds before i go into surgery in febuary. its gonna be very hard to get around on crutches, and not leg wise, my legs are little fire cannons still. it'll be the upper body and lack of stamina that will do me in every 20 steps probably. unless i can get a roll-a-bout. but i've been thinking i could use the crutches to help get me in better shape as well.

i can do this. i wish i had some of the coaches i had in school to yell and scream and push me further lol.

its just crazy to think how fit i was, and how unfit i am now. its depressing. its partially my fault, i should've kept my upper body in strength. running and stuf involving use of the foot and ankle arent the only excercises on the planet.

i would love to get an excercise bike, but that would be total murder for the ankle. how can such a small part of your body be responsible for so much pain. i am just lucky that it hasnt messed up my hips/knees/back any that i can tell. usually (i've read this anyway) people with chronic ankle pains and such tend to get knee back and hip problems. im young so thats probably why it hasnt gone that far yet

and hopefully with this surgery it will never go that far. the 17 year old inside of me (the guy prior to the injury) wants to come out lolz.

ruth do you post at any other foot and ankle forums, heelspurs?

ty for the good luck. i have probably 100 people praying for me and have huge support base right now. i'll need it lol

[johny26]

i got a packet in the mail the other day. the surgery details are:
brostrom
arthroscopy
possible allograft

im not sure yet what will be the area for possible allograft. im sure it will either be the tendons, or the ligaments, or both.

i have read from another person on the internet, that did almost the same thing as i did, to the same foot, basically same game (she's from the u.k. and it was netball) my tear was a little more severe, and 10 years have past, only 2 for her. she had her second surgery, a brostrom with tendon replacement, and her down time is 2 weeks, then partial weight bearing. i think 4-6 weeks full weight bearing.

just wonder my recovery is 4 weeks hard cast, 6-8 crutches. dont know when i'll be partial weight bearing. it sounds like a longer, rougher recovery time than hers. albeit my ankle was torn a little worse, and is having a little more work done on it is probably the reason for the longer recovery. man, this is going to be worse than the initial surgery. i was 17 then, and could put it out of my head not being able to walk for 2 months. that was a LONG recovery, but youth provided a minor distraction.

lol, im talking like im 50. i feel like it somedays though.

i will make a 10 questions list for the pre-op visit. the one that is most troubling to me is, why did the number 2 surgeon in my area say that any type of surgery, electrostimulation, etc.. would most likely make it worse. he said "your best bet is pain management, and training your brain to ignore it" that kinda made me sick lol. but still, from what i hear is number 2 behind the doctor who will go in and try to fix it up. this doctor is supposed to be top of the line in my area. most websites i visit they say they've heard of his books, and i cant get any better than him. trust him over number 2.

it just adds uneeded stress to the situation. why the conflicting views? if i can manage to pay off a bill to the initial surgeon from 10 years ago, i'd like his opinion on the matter, but either way im still going to go through with the surgery. dont have any choice.

lol i feel like by the time the surgery gets here, i'll be crawling on my hands and knees. just going about daily things is getting to be too much, even playing with my son. the entire joint has such a straining type pain, including the stab, including the deep piercing pain, including the spasms in the arch and not sleeping right at all. 3 hours a day, from like 7-10am. not sleeping and anxiety are increasing the pain, the spasms, which cause more sleep issues, and BOOM anneurism lol. i am getting more frequent spasms throughout my body, centering in the arch of foot, going into my calf, thigh. rarely going to the other leg. im going to get a cheapy vid cam and start recording it, it is FREAKY lol. the anxiety of this all is making it worse, but its been out of my control for years now.

this surgery BETTER get me at least above 60 percent. am at 30 percent, with somedays 20. this is while taking one kadian in the morning, 2 norco's mid-day, another kadian evening, and motrin in between. startin to wear on my stomach a bit. get acid reflux and upset stomach.

sorry for the long ramble. it sucks being tired but not the kind of tired to go to sleep.

hope everyone here had a merry christmas, and has a good new year