Hello all
I am Thanos from Athens, Greece.
18 months ago I broke both of my heels. After the surgery (6 pins and a plate) in each heel I stayed 3 months in a wheel chair and 2-3 months with crutches.
From the very first moment (after removing the metal stitches) I was “pushing” my recovery with exercises at home and a lot of swimming (sea and every day at least one hour swimming pool for 3-4 months).
I have to say that I am an alpinist and climber so after the accident all I had in mind was the mountains.
All this time I have gone to many doctors. All (except one – the last) told me that I have to forget of the mountains, that I will have problem walking on rough surface and that my heels (especially the right one) have “subside” (I don’t know if this is the right word) causing pain to the sub tailor joint. One of them told me that he could “fix” the problem with a fusion surgery but I didn’t found a very good idea “locking” my joint at the age of 30.
The last doctor who saw the tomography told me that I have nothing and I can do all my previous activities. Indeed I have return to my activities, or at least I am trying. After 3-4 hour of walking my ankle joints are “locked”, my heels pain on the side where the plate and screws were installed and my Achilles tendon hurts me (especially on the right foot). This also happens after a running exercise (4 km the maximum I have done with a slow tempo).

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my doctor and I will discuss with him the possibility of removing the hardware.
My questions are the following…
I will see any difference when I remove the pins or not? Ok, I know that my heels will never be the same but will they be better?
How much time does it take all this procedure. The doctor told me that I will be on crutches right after the surgery but it will take 1 ½ month to fully give weight on my heels. And then what? I will return on my activities soon or after a long period of time?

Thank you for your patience and your effort to understand my greek English.
I am looking forward for your answers.

Thanos

Hi Thanos, my injury was not to the heels at all, so take what I say with skepticism.

I am also something of an alpinist, although my love is for skiing, and in my condition right now, I don't have a hope of returning. But like you I am anxiously exploring options to improve my condition.


Have your doctors determined exactly what is causing the pain? Have your doctors advised you that the activities which cause your pain will harm you in any way?
If not, then it's just useless pain, cause by a damaged body. If your activities won't harm you, then you might want to explore pain management before surgery, a TENS machine (or in your case two) might help greatly in your recovery)

What about your achiles tendon, how badly does it hurt? Mine bothers me often, usually just when I get up or after physical activity. I wonder if it's just a symptom of the lengthy time I was unable to bear weight on my right foot.

Finally, I remember talking with my surgeon about different common foot injuries, and he was telling me about the difficulty in reshaping badly broken heels, as they are nearly impossible to restore to the original shape, so hardware was always neccesary. I would be carefull about the removal of the plate.

Like I said, my injury is very different (comminuted fracture to the navicular) but hopefully I can offer something in terms of your recovery and return to
sports.

God bless,

Lorin