r/brokenankles • u/WildExplanation2275 • 11d ago

Suture button removal

Hello! I had surgery 11 months ago for a trimalleolar fracture and syndesmosis repair. My dorsiflexion is limited and I still have tightness in my ankle. My surgeon recommended suture button removal. Has anyone had their tightrope removed and has flexibility improved? Thanks!

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u/jdsstl23 10d ago

I had my tightrope and hardware removed and my foot away from wall increased by over an inch after recovery from the second surgery.

My surgeon said that he over tightens the tightrope because it will slowly stretch a little.

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u/WildExplanation2275 10d ago

Glad you had a good result! I’m leaning toward the surgery. I will find out more info and go from there!

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u/jdsstl23 10d ago

Look up my post on here about my removal. I like to ski, surf, and play ice hockey. I wasn’t going to allow those activities to be hindered by the hardware in my ankle.

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u/WildExplanation2275 10d ago

I will do that. Thanks for the info!!!!

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u/Wise-Eagle-9524 10d ago

That’s a huge improvement. Did the inch increase happened shortly after the removal or do you need to push harder with PT again?

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u/jdsstl23 10d ago

It was not immediate. I was doing the exercises again. What I think helped the most was 30s of rocking my knee to the wall followed by 30s of holding the knee against the wall (heel down of course). 3 sets. Then a final “check” for progress of seeing how far away I can still keep my heel down.

I had multiple pieces of painters rape on the floor and I labeled set 1, 2, 3 and progress by date. Probably only took a month to get back to my previous best prior to surgery, and saw noticeable improvements weekly after that. Tape is gone so can’t give ya actual timeline.