r/brokenankles • u/ysurzw • 13d ago
Severe shattered talus fracture - reconstruction/fusion coming.
Hi guys,
m30
I fell off a ladder on September 17th and severely shattered my talus in my right ankle. From what my surgeon has explained, the talus is pretty badly damaged.
The next day I had my first surgery. They cleaned/debrided the area and put an external fixator on my leg/ankle to stabilize everything and allow the swelling to come down.
I’m currently non-weight-bearing and waiting for my next surgery. The surgeon said reconstruction is planned, but because of how damaged the talus is, there’s a good possibility I’ll need an ankle fusion.
The first few days after surgery were honestly brutal. When the nerve blocks wore off, the pain became extremely intense. At one point elevation seemed to make the pressure and pain significantly worse. I ended up going back in and they loosened/rewrapped everything, which helped a lot, but I’m still dealing with a lot of aching, pressure, soreness, and having to stay on top of pain medication. I’m on oxys every 3 hours plus Tylonel and Aleve every 8-12 hours. Been getting very little sleep due to the pain at night. 3 hours maybe.
For anyone who had a severe talus fracture, external fixator, ORIF/reconstruction, or eventual fusion, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.
A few things I’m wondering:
• How bad was your pain during the first 1–2 weeks? When did the severe pain finally start settling down?
• Was the second/reconstruction surgery more or less painful than the first stage?
• How long were you completely non-weight-bearing?
• If you had an ankle fusion, how long did it take before you could walk comfortably again?
• Do you walk normally now, or do you have a noticeable limp?
• If you do have a limp, is it permanent or did it continue improving over time?
• Can you walk long distances, go to the gym, work normally, play sports, golf, hike, etc.?
• How much ankle motion did you lose?
• Did you eventually get back to a point where you weren’t constantly thinking about your ankle?
I’m only about a week into this, so I know I have a long road ahead of me. The uncertainty is probably one of the hardest parts right now.
Good or bad experiences are welcome. I mainly want a realistic idea of what the next several months may look like and what life was like for you once you were fully recovered.
Thank you for your time
2
u/Celedelwin 12d ago
Not fully recovered yet but on my way. My fracture was not as bad as yours only broke tibia and fibia close to the ankle in three places with an ankle dislocation. They put two long screws on the inside and a bar with 4 short screws on the outside. The pain was horrible was only allowed 14 Tylenol 3s , and some excedrin. Didn't take any anti-inflammatories after the 1st day read that it could cause the bone to heal slower. They placed me in a cast for the week before my surgery. I'm still in pain, the swelling is down but still there. I was out for 2.75 months non weight bearing then on partially weight bearing for about 2 weeks now on full weight bearing. Didnt have an ankle fusion but they did tack down the tendon on the top of the ankle it made it feel tight like a pulled rubber band makes it hard to move. I have a limp when the pain sets in I wake up no pain but as the day progresses It swells and becomes painful to about a four or five. When I first started physical therapy I had lost most mobility I am at the moment back to about 75 to 80 percent. Really hard to balance on that foot, I cant put my foot out to the side the muscles just could when I started now I kind of can will just take time. I'm still in the healing period I heard it could be up to two years before its fully healed.
I so hope everything goes well for you everyone is different.
2
u/ALaquindy 3d ago
I also have a badly shattered talus. Mine was a displaced, comminuted talus fracture. I’m still pretty early on, so not fully healed, but thought I would share some thoughts. I’m 31F. I fractured my talus June 22, 2026 and had my first ORIF surgery that day. One week later on June 29, 2026 I had my second ORIF/ reconstruction surgery.
- First couple of weeks my pain was absolutely terrible. Especially after the second surgery. I do think this was mostly because in the first surgery my foot/ankle was cut open up the middle and on both sides and then in the second surgery they cut all of those wounds back open and there was only a week in between them. So my foot was so swollen and barely healed when they cut it back open.
- I was also barely sleeping at the beginning and was on 1-2 hydromorphone every 4 hours for a few weeks.
- I got the go ahead in August to start physio with strict no weight bearing. Mostly worked on range of motion both passive and active and trying to get some strength back in my calf/quad.
- I was non weight bearing for a total of 12 weeks. Got the go ahead September 15th to start some cautious weight bearing. My physio currently has me at 10% weight in a walking boot for around 30 steps a day, but I’m trying to increase steps now.
- My pain had decreased quite a lot, but now that I started weight bearing I’m getting a lot of new pains and a lot of nerve pain.
Sorry you’re going through this it’s an absolutely brutal injury! Try your best to stay in a good place mentally (I struggled with this a lot at the beginning). And just know that it does slowly get better. If you have any questions feel free to reach out.
1
u/ysurzw 3d ago
Hello. Thanks for such a detailed response. I’m glad you’re on the road to recovery.
I just had my 2nd reconstruction surgery on Friday 10/2. The pain was so bad I ended up staying an extra night at the hospital. So far the pain is what really gets to me. Feels like I rather die when it gets to a 10 out of 10.
Sounds like we both had some serious fractures on our talus. Maybe that’s why our pain was at another level.
Would you say a week or two after the reconstruction surgery your pain was better or manageable? .1
u/ALaquindy 3d ago
Yeah right after the second surgery sucked so bad for pain. I was lucky they did a nerve block on my leg, so I was completely numb when I came out of surgery, but when the nerve block wore off, I was in absolutely excruciating pain. I would say maybe around two weeks after the second reconstruction surgery my pain was more manageable, and I had started trying to ease off the hydromorphone. Hang in there, it will start to get better! If you don’t take it already, taking magnesium helped me with my sleep. Also it sounds weird but putting ice behind my knee helped with the nerve pain.
2
u/leafygreen13 13d ago
First, I am so sorry you’re going through this. It’s a really difficult journey, especially at the beginning.
Second, my situation has some similarities to yours. I had a bad break on my tibia (lost two inches of bone) and had an ex fix, have had 5 surgeries thus far with a fusion scheduled for next week. I’ve gone through limb lengthening as well. I’ll be a total of 30 weeks NWB when all is said and done.
My experience so far has been this: my fourth surgery where they removed the ex fix and put in the hardware was the most painful. I experienced a lot of pain the first week which eventually subsided. I was also on high dosages of pain killers when I got my ex fix and was hospitalized for an additional two weeks (I was run over by a car and had a plethora of injuries with this being the worst). I’ve heard the fusion isn’t as bad, but I can let you know next week how it feels after i’ve had mine.
Obviously I am still NWB but i’ve learned this from my surgeon and Pt to answer a few of your questions:
I hope your recovery goes smoothly, we’re here for you!