Calcaneus Surgery ORIF Success Stories?

Roger that, cheers mate

Just found this site-- it is encouraging. I'll try to make my story short. I'm 53 now. Fell off a ladder 9/3/216. Broke calcaneus into 4 pieces. Also fractured my L2 & L4 vertebrea.

ORIF on heel 9/14/16. Back surgery on 9/30/16. Twelve wks NWB in cast. Was taking about 6-8 10mg oxycotins per day during this time. One month air-cast/PWB with two crutches.

Returned to work from disability 12/6/16. Twelve weeks PT. Diagnosed diabetic on the day of the accident. Lost 55lbs since then & am working out 3-4 times/wk since PT ended. 25lbs to go.

Walking with a limp and much pain. Especially going down stairs.  The upstroke on the injured foot causes the pain, not the downstroke. I find this odd.

I have had 3 sympathetic nerve blocks in attempt to ease pain.  Little if any improvement seen. Additional issues with coccyx pain that back surgeon can find no cause for.

Now my big question is:

Remove hardware or not?

Dr says if so, twelve more wks of NWB. I can hardly bear the thought of that and also the thought it may make the pain worse long-term. But my research online

seems to indicate that 70% of folks see an improvement in pain levels and functionality. I spent much of Oct-Dec of 2016 wishing I had died. The pain was so bad. An unsympathetic foot surgeon that wouldn't renew Rxs for oxycontin didn't help the situation--either physically or emotionally. I found myself living in fear that the back surgeon would cease to write scripts in lieu of the foot surgeon--who should've been providing them.

 I'd like to hear from anyone that had their hardware removed and what, if any, issues you encountered because of it. Would you do it again?

 Thanks,

 Paul

Thanks so much for the replies. The foot surgeon wants to do a subtalar fusion. I am not convinced what the benefits of this might be...or the risks of not having it done. Anyone have any advice on this?

I have only around 20% of my subtalar joint left on both feet.  The joints were "dusted" was the medical term. I had 30 shatters total in both my heels.  I also herniated 4 discs in my back.  My feet hurt worse.

I basically have a natural fusion although I'm better than people with a real fusion.  Its not by much.  I Still climb 9s and 10s.  Sustained cracks are a thing of the past but who wants to do that anyways.  

I am in discomfort 24/7.  Your not getting rid of the discomfort.  It will always be there.  Your older so that doesn't help but I now have the feet of a 65yr old with my arthritis and lack of ROM.  Your call.

Heel injuries have no place for sympathy.  It is just going to hurt and ache.  Want my advise ditch the pain killers.  Its a crutch.

Drink some beer.. always worked better for me.

I still have my hardware and as far as I know the first person to walk a highline and climb El Cap.  All because I wanted too.

I have heard of Prolo injections which I got one round.  I think it helped.  I'm honestly not sure.  Ask your doc, I think it is experimental medicine so probably not covered under insurance.

At least you have 1 good foot :)

Rhett,

I take very few pain killers now, too afraid of becoming an addict. Beer is out with my diabetes. :) I just don't see the point of having surgery to remove the existing hardware, only to have more hardware put in. My goal is just to be able to walk without a limp & sit without pain.

Paul I had my injury July 20 on August 11 plate and screws I still had pain on outside of ankle. I had CAT scan in march and it revealed cartilage damage and I elected to have subtalar fusion and bone graft below knee on march 23 then 11 weeks off it and in a cast. I only had pain in the foot for about a week after surgery it was waay different from ORIF surgery but my knee is still sore. I had the hardware removed and now have two long screws in the heel. I had the cast removed last Thursday and I was able to walk on Friday in an ankle brace and construction boot without using crutches or Cain it was an amazing accomplishment. I still am using the crutches and walking some short distances in the house and started rehab today. Now listen to this I like all feared the word "fusion"  but to be honest I have almost  exactly the same amount of movement I had before the fusion it's almost like I did not have anything done at all they measured all my movement at the rehab center and compared them  to what they were when I left rehab from the calcaneal surgery and three of the four are the same and one is off some. Now I have a long way to go till I'm work ready but every day it gets stronger and less painful but the nonstop  achy pain is now gone that alone is a blessing. My view of the fusion was to get it done now and get this  nightmare over with and put it past me. If you want the hardware out get the fusion done also,  especially if that's what your surgeon suggests. #dontfearthefusion! /Terry

Thanks Terry for sharing your story. I  am currently in the process of getting a 2nd opinion regarding the fusion. It's not the fusion per se that I am worried about--it is the additional hardware and the bone graft aspect that concerns me....

Wow it was so wonderful to read all of your positive stories.  I can't tell you how encouraging they were.  I am not a rock climber or into mega sports but i love to hike and enjoy nature.  I had my ORIF  on 4/19 /17 so I am a newby, however, i had the same experience with my surgeon giving me the worst case scenario.  "you will never be the same, etc".  So needless to say it has been a depressing experience.  i have a plate and 9 screws. My cast was removed 5/19/17 and i started range of motion exercise.  Have to say my left foot (injured foot) has about the same ROM  as the right foot.  the difference is i feel a resistance/tightness not painful, but not natural. sort of like my foot belongs to someone else.  also i have numbness along the back of the heel, ankle area, scar area and the bottom and interior surface of my big toe.  i do my range of motion therapy religiously 3x per day with no pain.  i have some soreness and sometimes some swelling.  tomorrow i see the ortho surgeon to get the go ahead for partial weight bearing.  today a 2nd opinion ortho PA looked at an x-ray she ordered and said one screw appears to be a little long extending beyond the cortex (not sure what it means exactly but can only imagine it means it may be problematic).  anyway her point was i should mention this to the ortho surgeon.  i forgot to mention i live in italy and the surgeon is italian.  the PT AND PA are american on a military base where i am doing the PT. so i am wondering what to expect when i do start partial weight bearing PT in terms of pain, balance, etc.  Also, id it best to get the hardware removed if the bone is healed.  mine fracture was like a piece of splintered wood.  How soon after can the hardware be safely removed.  the ortho said he would leave it there forever unless it bothered me or my body rejected it.  having to deal with the italian and american medical systems complicates things a bit but hearing your experiences is inspiring.  all the other blogs are gloom and doom.

Like everyone else I'm happy to find a calcaneal fracture group that's not all doom and gloom. 3 months ago I completely shattered my left heel in a paragliding accident. Severely displaced, comminuted, and intra articular. I underwent ORIF  2 weeks later and got 12 screws and links. Last week I finally got cleared to full weight bear without the boot. Also got cleared for yoga and body surfing. Doc says climbing and skydiving will be a few months yet, but the goal is to get me back on a surfboard this month. I still deal with a lot of pain, but I feel just a little bit better every day. I'm optimistic that I will beat this injury and return to my former adventure lifestyle. I'm interested in the Facebook support group so I sent a join request. 

Thank you all, my journey is just beginning. My 8' fall into our basement happened on 6/30 and my surgery is tomorrow morning 7/10/17. Rt foot heel break in 3-4 pieces thru the joint, plus fibula fx. I am terrified, but this thread has helped. I am 62, work 60 hours a week and (was) on my feet a lot. Not a climber but a camper. I have read all of the gloom and doom and heard the same "life changing break" story from my surgeon. Glad to see there can be hope too.

Mary,

Best of luck to you on your surgery tomorrow.  So sorry that you have joined the 'many' with this injury.  Yours sounds much more serious than mine.  Keep the faith, this is a marathon not a sprint.

 Lin

Paul,

Below is the Calcaneus group:

Broken Heel/Calcaneus Support Group on Facebook.  Closed group, but ping and request access.

Below is the ankle fusion group:

www.facebook.com/groups/anklejointfusion.  Closed group, ping & request access.

Lin

Thanks Hong-- Terry Mushat added me to the groups. Facebooks search engine doesnt seem to work very well for groups.

So Happy I found this group earlier today it was all Doom and gloom. Shattered my heel(12 Pieces) bouldering outside of Stryn Norway July 13 - dropped from a highball and my left foot went between the 2 crashpads we had pushed together. Surgery with 3 small incisions the 27 July, they put 3 screws in. Apparently the ankle joint itself is perfect... but the the surgeon opened with "it wasn't as nice as I wished* ... all wishy-washy. Traded my cast for a boot this past Thursday. Reading all your stories makes me optimistic for my future, I want to get back in the weight room as soon as possible but i feel like it will be sometime before i can deadlift and squat what I used to.... hopefully 9 years of that will have made some difference in healing time?

I'm not a climber or hiker but I am a very active person. Have a small hobby farm & love boating, fishing, camping. My calcaneus fracture surgery injury occurred from a serious high impact car accident. 2 lane highway where the driver at fault turned directly into the path of my car at 55 mph resulting in a head on collision. Trying to brake and minimize the impact shattered my right calcaneus & fractured my mid nervicular joint bone in late June. Implant surgery and 9 screws wasn't able to be done until mid July due to intense swelling from soft tissue damage. The pain, well I'm not even going to go there, but I highly respect my surgeon from being honest with me. I'm still dealing with an area of my incision that is being difficult to heal, we are working on measures to get it to heal from the inside out. I've heard my next appointment in 2 weeks will be x-rays and that I could possibly begin bearing some weight. Along with the rest of you this boot is going to drive me insane! Lol I'm so tired of lugging this thing around. Im counting the days until I can at least limp again & burn these crutches & knee scooter!! Lol My house has mostly deep pile carpet which scooting is even exhausting plus my scooter won't adjust to my short little legs but crutches should be outlawed for injuries like ours! They are fine for minor injuries short term like sprains. But why insurance won't approve other means of assistance is beyond me for injuries with long recovery injuries. I had to pay out of pocket for my knee scooter. My question to you guys is how much weight did y'alls Drs allow when they released you to start bearing weight? I feel sure the boot will still be required but was curious on how much. Boot with weight bearing crutch assistance possibly? Thanks for any info. :)

Heather,

So sorry for your injury.  I fell from a ladder onto concrete, fractured calcaneus  Dec 5th. Had ORIF surgery Dec 9th 2016.  Plate, cadaver bone & 8 screws.  At wk 13 the Dr released me to PT, and partial WB with crutches & 25% weight on foot.  I had PT 3 times per WK.  At wk 16 PT wanted me on one crutch with 75% weight on ft.  Did not happen.  Felt like I was walking on rocks.  With Dr. permission I ditched the boot, went into a pair of Altra tennis shoes with a gel heel cup inserted.  2 grueling wks later I was using one crutch.  Then down to a cane.  Used the cane because the ankle was really week.  9 wks of therapy and walked into Dr's office no cane.  From release went straight to gym, trying to bring myself & the leg back after 3 mos of nothing.  Still working on that.  

Lin

Posted earlier, 5 weeks after surgery - Ive started being able to put on my hiking boots and weight on the toe (i have an aircast but I wanted to try) had my first physio appointment and have got the basic exercises, at 5 weeks Im missing about 10 degrees flexion in my left foot. Waking up with a stiff achilles in the mornings.

I can really feel the one screw bothering me - which the surgeon has said it could and that they would remove it if need be. How easy is it for them to go in and take something like that out?

Hey guys, good to see your positive feedbacks.

14 July 2017, I fell from a height of 20 feet, both heels and right hand fractured. 1 plate and 4 screw in left heel, 2 screws in right heel and two plates in right hand with screws.

It's 7 weeks post op, I can stand on my both heels as advised by doctor. Haven't yet started walking.Abt the pain , I get some pain in my ankle but no pain in the heel so faar.

Hope I start walking in couple of weeks.

Good day all.

Any advise will be appreciated.

Hi

I found this site!

I was in a car wreck early feb head on collision caused by distracted idiot right into my lane and bam. I got the right calcaneus in 3 or 5 spots, the right kneecap, the left tibia at the kneecap, the hip dislocated and blown out the back of my butt, shattered the cup acetabelam and also busted the hip bone at the femur where it hooks up. Additionally had 10 broken ribs and a collapsed right lung from one of those ribs.

I was helicopter and hospital, trauma with the dislocation, hip surgery at day 3, and then wait wait wait with the heel for swelling. I was in the hospital 29 days until the heel surgery. The recovery room from that was hell incarnate. I was absolutely dying and everyone else in the place was in a lot of pain. It was about as bad as pain gets, until it gets worse J Got out and had 3 months of wheelchair at home zwb bilateral. Got the ok to walk finally in mid May.

I got to walking with a walker for a week, and then walking without it, and etc. I have put my best resolve against this thing and I am winning.

I played a concert on memorial day weekend no wheelchair but sitting and wearing knee braces. I played a gig on July2 and was on my feet and moving around very well and using a wah pedal on my right (ankle/heel) foot. Hurt like hell? Yes indeed.

My good news is that at therapy on Monday this week, my dude cleared me to run. I have pain out the yings on the right ankle but I have been walking and working really hard on the calf muscles. I can’t push down on my toes hard enough to stand on my toes on right. That has been the worst of it and all the ligaments are completely hosed have been moved or are really jammed up, all the muscles in your entire foor.

I got on the treadmill and he walked me for a minute and then ran me for like 7 minutes. I had gait problems but I did it. Feels like your foot is a piece of wood that hurts, basically.

INterstingly, he cited me for favoring my left leg (hip surgery) and using the right to compensate (calcaneus).

The burn the next day indeed, I have a completely destroyed right foot (as per the “surgeons”) with 75% a nice goal and I am running with that foot being the strong side.

Work out people. Keep moving! It’s not the end of the world but it’s a bitch. I am probably healthier by far now, than I was before being pretty much killed in a car wreck.

I hate running, but I may decide to marathon or get into some crazy mountain biking shit just to show them I am …….drewzee87t

Keep pushing the wheelchair, the theraband, the dumbbell and whatever you can push.

Long post, sorry. I am not even into adrenalin sports very much, but the people here aren't ho-hum okay I can't walk or run or whatever. Very nice thread here and it has helped me a lot. I am 6 months from surgery calcaneous in about a week. I ran.