Broken Talus??

mxj621
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7/28/2014 4:23pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2020 10:32am
Hey guys was wondering if anyone ever had this injury? I broke my Talus, and cross broke my Tib and Fib. The doctors are really concerned that I may have to have it fused because the way it broke and twisted. Just seeing if anyone has had an injury like this and if you can still ride? I will be off work for 9-14 months. Any feedback would be great.

Thanks!
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7/28/2014 4:41pm
Damn that is terrible....looked it up and that looks like an ugly surgery!!!
I have no heads up on this, but hopefully some one here can help....
and kinda on off topic...but on topic....
there is a guy here on vital, that claims, with any injury...he would be at work tomorrow....
kinda like superman..but knott
Joko
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7/28/2014 5:10pm
My son broke his left talus after landing foot first off a double. The bone broke in half, had a plate and screws to put it back in place while it's healing in a cast. Non- weight bearing for 8 weeks, followed by PT.
Was wearing fox instinct boots.
Crush
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7/28/2014 5:36pm
My RHS talus is fused, don't stress if it has to happen buddy. I can still do whatever, it hurts some days, especially if it's cold but I can ski, run, ride or whatever.

I did have Aussies best orthopaedic surgeon tho, he had done a few of our major cricket stars down here, Ricky Ponting and Glen McGrath who had similar issues...
mxj621
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7/28/2014 5:43pm
I appreciate all the feedback guys.. My break is weird the way I broke it I guess or maybe because it involves my tib/fib also. I hope it's only 8 weeks the PT like you said Joko.

Crush I'm happy to hear you can do everything they did say my movement would be almost gone? I don't know if you have that problem.

I'm just concerned about how long the recovery is seems pretty long. 9-14 months seems a little crazy to me

The Shop

jimmie
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7/28/2014 5:56pm Edited Date/Time 7/28/2014 5:57pm
Yeah busted my left talus back in 2004. (along with my left wrist)
Healed up pretty darn good though. Still have 2 screws holding it together. just never had them removed.
Good range of motion too.
My problem was I broke my lower tib/fib just above the talus 2 times in less than 2 years after the talus break.
Didn't fair too good with that though.
Sounds like your break is far worse then my talus in 2004.
See what happens when it heals, hope you do good.
Been talk of fusing my ankle, but haven't done that..........yet?
You'll be all good in time, it does suck I know, limited ROM is a bitch to live with......for me any ways.
Crush
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7/28/2014 6:02pm
Laterally yes, little to no movement, but look on the bright side, you can't roll your ankles! haha.

Up and down is pretty good, when I'm weightlifting I have to wear finger shoes as I can't close up the angle right at full compression... The flat shoes drop my heel, better for form anyways... Running is fine, I run on my toes anyways, but if you run "normal" you'll have to focus on form.

I would recommend in your recovery to involve physio to look at possible need for orthotics... My right knee has definitely worn a little because my ankle doesn't have that smooth flow through the planting and lifting of foot... the knee has some increasing lateral movement but better shoes and orthotics would help i'm sure.

Every injury is different but likely the downside to not getting it cleaned up and fused will be increasingly bad arthritis... Fuck that. Wasn't an option for me, i'm 230 pounds and almost 6'7, couldn't deal with a crumbling joint! It definitely took a long time to come back to normal, and once it did a few months later I had to have the screw out of my heel as it started backing out by itself. Fuckers wouldn't let me keep the titanium tho, they recycle that shit! Gross!
Crush
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7/28/2014 6:05pm


KTMShane699
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7/28/2014 7:06pm
mxj621 wrote:
Hey guys was wondering if anyone ever had this injury? I broke my Talus, and cross broke my Tib and Fib. The doctors are really concerned...
Hey guys was wondering if anyone ever had this injury? I broke my Talus, and cross broke my Tib and Fib. The doctors are really concerned that I may have to have it fused because the way it broke and twisted. Just seeing if anyone has had an injury like this and if you can still ride? I will be off work for 9-14 months. Any feedback would be great.

Thanks!
I shattered my talus and broke my fibula in 2000. Had four and a half hours of surgery on it to put right screws and a plate in. It's a shitty injury to be blunt. I managed to avoid having mine fused. But I listened to the doctor as far as staying off of it for the most part and it paid off in avoiding that aspect. I'm able to do anything I want, but I don't have a full range of motion. It also gets painful for repeated pounding such as running. It's fine with the support of a boot on for riding though.

You'll get back on the bike. If they push fusing it, get a second opinion. Do yourself that favor.

Shane
has been
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7/28/2014 7:37pm
Broke both at the same time. They used a bone graft from my right hip and 6 screws to put them back together. 3 months in a wheelchair, but back to riding in about 6 months. I was 16 at the time, so youth was on my side. Limited range of motion and the expected aches and pains are the only major problems. Get it fixed and do the physical therapy, you'll be fine. Sorry about the bad luck and I wish you the best.
Jeremy
JeepnMike
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7/28/2014 8:55pm
Didn't Torco1 just break this too?
seth505
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7/28/2014 9:05pm
Broke mine clean through but at a 45 degree angle. Doctor said it was really weird/rare. No hardware and had cast but now my foot naturally points inward, it sucks. That said I can ride fine, just hurts if I were to try running a lot.
fullfloater
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7/28/2014 9:10pm Edited Date/Time 7/28/2014 9:13pm
I think Torco broke his badly a while ago and again in the recent crash. If I remember correctly he had a lot of swelling that never went away.

We should start a support group because it's a nasty injury. Smile

I broke mine 12 years ago and I hobble around the house every morning. I started racing in 1982 so, given that, I've been reasonably fortunate with injuries. However, if I could have a do-over for any one crash, I'd back off for the talus one.

I broke mine in half. Two screws but I had them removed later because I was in constant pain and the bone had some avascular necrosis.

Still going strong. I run now but couldn't for quite a few years. Short distance stuff because I'm always scared of the bone.

Recovery is a long one. Glad to hear that there are some on here without major lingering issues. Wait until it's strong and do all of the PT. Best of luck.
MX690
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7/28/2014 9:22pm
I broke my Talus and had a 4 hour surgery to put it back together, used 6 K wires to hold it together, surgeon said he couldn't use screws because they just would have made a mess of it. Was off work for ten and a half months, walked with a limp for a good 12 to 18 months after it. The reason it takes so long to heal is because the blood flow to the Talus is so poor. Good thing is it doesn't affect my riding at all and I have full movement. But occasionally it will flair up and my limp will resurface. Must be the weather.
mxj621
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7/28/2014 9:55pm
Thank you all for the feedback. I was just nervous about riding. This is the 3rd time I've broke this ankle/foot but never like this before.

Right now I have an external fixator on my foot and through my shin bone. It's been on there for about 10 days. Tomorrow is surgery and is going to be 5 hours roughly. So it sounds like mine is pretty much on the same lines as some of you. I'm just a lot more positive hearing you guys still ride ok.

Lots of time off and PT and I should be good to go in a few months it sounds. Thanks goodness haha
al8
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7/29/2014 3:38am
I broke my Tib/Fib and shattered my Talus in 2007. Sounds like you have the same fixator that i had. It took 5 surgeries 3 plates and 18 screws to fix mine. I lost about 10 degrees of movement in mine. Put an end to my riding so good luck.
ga_pike
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7/29/2014 5:20am
I broke my Talus when I was 14 in the last moto of the regional LL qualifiers at Steel City (didn't even crash, just came down on it wrong). Came out of the cast the Monday of Loretta's and ended up not racing. I re-broke the same exact bone in the same spot when I was 18 while running stadium steps and ended up having surgery to remove a piece of the bone that didn't heal correctly the first time.

I'm 36 now and have no problems or pain in that foot. Although I no longer ride or race, I wouldn't have any concerns about doing so.

Good luck!!
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SKIDLID
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7/29/2014 5:30am
Broke talus and tib fib in my right leg. No hardware installed in my talus. Healing basically fused itself, I have very little movement in it. I can still ride and run, broke 4 metatarsal in same foot last summer and had lid franc injury fused. Took lots of work but back to running. Once pt is approved work as hard as possible and stay active! Sitting idle is not good for it, the more active you are the better you will feel.,
mxj621
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7/29/2014 5:38am
Wow I didn't realize it was this popular a lot of people around me never heard of anyone breaking their talus and part of their tib/fib at the same time. I'm glad to hear all the success stories on here gives me a lot more hope!! Thanks for all the replies! I'm on my way now for my 2nd surgery today so hopefully all goes well. Here is what I currently have



8/31/2016 2:41pm
So i thought id post my story as it seems that this is quite a rare injury and with all the seriousness behind it i guess it will be good for someone to read!

So i broke my talus on the 17th of july shattering it into a shit ton of pieces and also cracking my tibia. i ended up with a hawkins type 3 fracture and had surgery on it to insert 6 screws and a plate into my talus and tibia.
I was then put into a plaster cast for initially 12 weeks with a review at the end to see how it had healed, being that i live in england the NHS our public healthcare did next to nothing saying stay in bed and see what happens?
i cannot stress right now how serious it is to get a ankle specialist to look into your situation as it is now the 31st of august and thanks to the specialist I'm out of cast still non weight bearing but into a range of motion boot to gain back the motion i will have lost. he said that if i was to stay in the boot then i would very likely have lost some of the motion in the ankle!

I have a little pain in the ankle when extending during physio but as i said today is the first day out of cast so expected but he has told me to swim and physio as much as i deem the ankle can take so that in 6 weeks i should be weight bearing and back on my feet to a certain extent!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that i went from 12 weeks in a cast with another 4 weeks in a boot to then see how it got on to 7 weeks in a cast and then hopefully 6 weeks until I'm back to normalish! the doctor said he will be surprised if i do get back to 100% but 80-90% is good for me considering i left the original appointment with the other doctors thinking i would have trouble walking and riding would definitely be out of the question!

So don't let all the negative stories get you down i know i did and sitting around with nothing to do its hard to stay positive but all i can say is get a specialist who has done the surgery and then smash the physio as much as you can and fingers crossed well all end up having speedy recoveries!

Drop me a message if you have any other questions i know what its like when the doctors are so vague!!

Good luck!
mark1960
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8/31/2016 2:55pm
Best wishes, why do we continue to do this to ourselves?
1
mxj621
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8/31/2016 5:39pm
Skusey123 wrote:
So i thought id post my story as it seems that this is quite a rare injury and with all the seriousness behind it i guess...
So i thought id post my story as it seems that this is quite a rare injury and with all the seriousness behind it i guess it will be good for someone to read!

So i broke my talus on the 17th of july shattering it into a shit ton of pieces and also cracking my tibia. i ended up with a hawkins type 3 fracture and had surgery on it to insert 6 screws and a plate into my talus and tibia.
I was then put into a plaster cast for initially 12 weeks with a review at the end to see how it had healed, being that i live in england the NHS our public healthcare did next to nothing saying stay in bed and see what happens?
i cannot stress right now how serious it is to get a ankle specialist to look into your situation as it is now the 31st of august and thanks to the specialist I'm out of cast still non weight bearing but into a range of motion boot to gain back the motion i will have lost. he said that if i was to stay in the boot then i would very likely have lost some of the motion in the ankle!

I have a little pain in the ankle when extending during physio but as i said today is the first day out of cast so expected but he has told me to swim and physio as much as i deem the ankle can take so that in 6 weeks i should be weight bearing and back on my feet to a certain extent!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that i went from 12 weeks in a cast with another 4 weeks in a boot to then see how it got on to 7 weeks in a cast and then hopefully 6 weeks until I'm back to normalish! the doctor said he will be surprised if i do get back to 100% but 80-90% is good for me considering i left the original appointment with the other doctors thinking i would have trouble walking and riding would definitely be out of the question!

So don't let all the negative stories get you down i know i did and sitting around with nothing to do its hard to stay positive but all i can say is get a specialist who has done the surgery and then smash the physio as much as you can and fingers crossed well all end up having speedy recoveries!

Drop me a message if you have any other questions i know what its like when the doctors are so vague!!

Good luck!
I appreciate the goodluck wishes and speedy recovery! I actually found out that my foot, ankle and bottom of my leg was basically not repairable it was never healing correctly. I ended up having over 6 different doctors do surgeries and probably 5-7 other Doctors give opinions. We finally made the decision to amputate it. I had my fusion surgery done in July 2015 by October I was walking with so much pain I would of rather not even have it. Basically my talus was so smashed, even after 3 bone graphs and fusion it was dead, alone with having so many surgeries, metal and open wounds (I guess) I ended up getting septic and osteomiolitis in my bones.

That's amazing that you, as well as others have had so much success breaking your talus, calcaneus and tib/fib is no good and definitely not fun.

I wish you well and hope you keep going up!! I'll be back riding I hope by this spring at the latest if not earlier!!
Bruneval
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8/31/2016 5:59pm




I broke my left talus clean in 2 with a fairly hideous dislocation where my foot was in the 4 o'clock position as I looked down. Once they put the dislocation back in, which I was awake for, the X-Ray didn't identify the break.

When they opened up to operate as th surgeon was suspicious that such a bad dislocation didn't have a fracture, the 2 separate parts of the talus were sitting neatly together like a perfect jigsaw. A couple of titanium screws, 3 months in a cast and I was back walking on it with a boot. Within a year I was running, parachuting (was in the Army at the time) and racing again.

It's now 5 years from when it happened. I do everything I did before, feel little pain, but the range of motion is probably 40% of what it was before. I have also destroyed my right knee by over compensating. I have nerve damage where I still can't feel the outside of my foot, and it is stiff in cold weather.

That said, I feel very lucky in that I can live a perfectly active life. Best of luck with your recovery.

P.s. I was treated by the NHS too....
kkawboy14
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8/31/2016 6:23pm
mxj621 wrote:
Hey guys was wondering if anyone ever had this injury? I broke my Talus, and cross broke my Tib and Fib. The doctors are really concerned...
Hey guys was wondering if anyone ever had this injury? I broke my Talus, and cross broke my Tib and Fib. The doctors are really concerned that I may have to have it fused because the way it broke and twisted. Just seeing if anyone has had an injury like this and if you can still ride? I will be off work for 9-14 months. Any feedback would be great.

Thanks!
Wow that's tore up, hope it all goes well!
ga_pike
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8/31/2016 6:30pm
I broke my left talus landing off a jump. Didn't crash, just landed with my foot off the peg. It didn't seem to go all the way through (at the time). Just looked like it lifted about a 2 inch section from the top of the foot. Fast forward a few years while running stadium steps in high school, I came down awkward on the left foot and rolled it. Broke the talus again in the same spot. Had to have surgery this time but waited 3 weeks for football season to end (senior year and a playoff run). Ortho went in and pulled the raised bone out. Found out it had actually broken completely off the first time and had simply fused back with cartridge. So the second time, I simply tore the cartridge and the original break was loose again. Old bone was dead. Had to wear a walking cast for about 4 weeks and was good to go. Haven't had any problems at all since.
Bineano
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8/31/2016 8:29pm
I had the pleasure of breaking both talus' at the same time :-) in 2012 (MVA, not moto)
My left side was considerably worse (shattered calcaneous, sub talar fusion) than my right, but oddly enough the "better" side gives my wayyy more grief than the fused side. 6 surgeries so far (3 per side) for me, with 2 more later this fall...woot woot!
I see a few dudes that can still run after their break, but godammmm...If my house caught fire I STILL couldn't run out, sigh... That is out forever for me :-(.
Physio is HUGE though, take advantage of that if you can, then go live life to the FULL!
sroy41
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10/24/2016 11:55am
Hey guys, just wanted to share my story, July 30th 2016 raced an arenacross, cased the finish line triple.

Shattered my talus (body and neck) screwed that one by landing by approx a foot short. My skid/footpegs is what hit first. I am now 12 weeks post surgery. I have an apt with the surgeon tomorrow, we will see how it looks in there. So far i have a decent up down motion, still non weight bearing. I dont expect to be for the next 6 weeks. I have been doing everything in my favor to heal up and avoid AVN. Has anyone required a Fusion due to avascular necrosis ? if so how does this affect your lifestyle. Many say a fusion was the best in their case due to less pain. As much as i wanted to sell the bike when this happened you need to hold off and wait till your back to yourself.

Now only time will tell if i hopr back on the bike and twist some ponies out of it !

Great group !




mxj621
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10/24/2016 12:25pm
sroy41 wrote:
Hey guys, just wanted to share my story, July 30th 2016 raced an arenacross, cased the finish line triple. Shattered my talus (body and neck) screwed...
Hey guys, just wanted to share my story, July 30th 2016 raced an arenacross, cased the finish line triple.

Shattered my talus (body and neck) screwed that one by landing by approx a foot short. My skid/footpegs is what hit first. I am now 12 weeks post surgery. I have an apt with the surgeon tomorrow, we will see how it looks in there. So far i have a decent up down motion, still non weight bearing. I dont expect to be for the next 6 weeks. I have been doing everything in my favor to heal up and avoid AVN. Has anyone required a Fusion due to avascular necrosis ? if so how does this affect your lifestyle. Many say a fusion was the best in their case due to less pain. As much as i wanted to sell the bike when this happened you need to hold off and wait till your back to yourself.

Now only time will tell if i hopr back on the bike and twist some ponies out of it !

Great group !




I won't get into my complete story, as I don't want to scare you, not to mention I've seen over 10-12 doctors all over the country and mine was the worst case they have all seen basically, so I don't want you to compare your situation to mine. I tried a fusion, for 6 weeks, it did feel decent. I have 2 friends that have fusions and feel great they say it's the best decision they have made! It takes some time to feel better if that's the route you choose, but both of them ride again and both of them can lightly jog, so it's not that bad of a choice if it boils down to it. I will say depending on the severity of your injury, to go get second, third and fourth opinions before you listen to just one doctor.

Good luck I hope you heal quick and stay positive!!
GregDVT
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10/24/2016 12:39pm
Just started walking after I snapped my tib/fib on august 10. I broke it on the knuckle of the bone that connects to the talus, so even though it isn't the same, it is the same joint. up and down ROM is about 90% side to side 70%. The worst thing i notice is at night sometimes it starts tingling, like RLS. or random cramps in the muscles on top of my foot. I was worried I wouldn't be able to ride a bike again but my doctor and PT told me I might be able to play indoor soccer this winter.
GregDVT
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10/24/2016 12:41pm
Also didn't Nico Izzi do something similar? I think he literally blew a hole through the bottom of his foot a few years back and he raced RBSR this weekend.
sroy41
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10/26/2016 1:16pm
Thanks guys appreciate the feedback. I visited my ortho surgeon yesterday and it wasnt the news i was hoping for, it appears that the bone is in fact dying. nevertheless he said it may take up to a year to see if it will take up again or if it will in fact die. If this is the case he said a fusion would be needed. I wasnt too keen on getting this done as it is pretty serious but by what i hear people find it a pretty decent alternative. On the other note has anyone ever heard of the options offered by Stryker...Star ankle replacement etc...

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