Anyone have experience skiing with a subtalar fusion (fused ankle)?

[wasatch_rat]

I broke the lateral process of my talus last january, but they missed it on the initial x ray, thinking it was just a badly sprained ankle. Like an idiot, I kept skiing on it until april, then I finally got a CT scan that revealed the break, and it showed that I had obliterated the cartilage by skiing on the broken bone for so long.

I got surgery to repair the talus bone, but the doc said it was only a matter of time before I would have to get the joint fused. He basically said to do lots of PT, tough it out for as long as I can, but once regular tasks like walking start becoming too painful, that I would have to have the joint connecting the talus and calcaneus fused. Basically I won't be able to invert or evert (roll) my ankle at all.

Anyone have experience skiing after this surgery? The surgeon said that skiing would actually be better than most things because of how much support the boot gives you, but things like basketball even walking on an angled roof will be impossible. I'd like to still be able to jump and ski aggressively and not just ski like a beater, but IDK how its going to go. Anyone have experience here?

 

[Icelantic.cheese]

I also broke my talus last may, and I've got the same questions as you. But I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to ski at 90% this season. When EP broke his leg I'm pretty sure his foot is paralyzed and he still skis fine (he's got some weird custom boots tho).

**This post was edited on Sep 13th 2022 at 11:29:19pm

 

[JAlps]

Personally haven't heard the stories after the fact about what skiing is like, but what thing I want to put on the radar as a boot fitter is you won't be able to get into a two piece shell ever again so basically go get full tilts. (rip)

I'd imagine that since one of the goals of ski boots is to lock your ankle joint in place you should be fine mechanically, I couldn't speak for the pain tolerance with impact though.

 

[wasatch_rat]

Personally haven't heard the stories after the fact about what skiing is like, but what thing I want to put on the radar as a boot fitter is you won't be able to get into a two piece shell ever again so basically go get full tilts. (rip)

I'd imagine that since one of the goals of ski boots is to lock your ankle joint in place you should be fine mechanically, I couldn't speak for the pain tolerance with impact though.

I was a boot fitter for a long time and I don’t think that’ll be a problem. There’s 2 types of ankle fusions, the one I might end up getting won’t restrict plantar or dorsal flexion, it’ll restrict eversion and inversion. 2 piece boot should be fine