BROKEN ANKLE
About eight months ago, I had an Accident while go-karting. I fractured my left and right calcaneous, my fibula and had a compond dislocation and break of the talus in my ankle. The breaks were set and after a problem with the post opeartive management of the injury, I have a deformed ankle joint which is causing a degeneration of the cartilage in the ankle joint, and subsequent joint space narrowing. I have almost no pain when the ankle is not bearing any weight, but it is very painful once the ankle bears any weight at all. I have thus got great difficulty walking.
I am an airline pilot and need quite a lot of deflection to perform my duties on the flight deck, thus a fusion is not an option at this stage. The ankle has enough deflection, and the leg is strong enough to bear a lot of force. The main problem I have is walking.
I have looked into the options of an ankle replacement, but due to the fact that I am only 36 years old, this also doesn’t seem to be an option, as it is only recommended for over 50’s.Does anyone know of any treatment or an avenue to explore to correct this situation to some degree?
2 comments
Vivian Abrams DPM
Without examining your ankle I can’t say anything for sure.One thought I had was possible an Arizona brace or a Richie type brace. There are variations of this.If that is not acceptable, then it may end up that you are not going to be able to perform your present job.
David J. Kuhn
Thanks for the advice. Could you please expand on the types of ankle supports that you recommend and where I may purchase them?Regards,Dave