Author Topic: OCD Surgery - 10 months  (Read 3270 times)

Offline Dunkerguy89

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OCD Surgery - 10 months
« on: February 14, 2018, 03:26:36 PM »
Hi All,

Quick background - I'm a 24 year old male who twisted my ankle pretty badly playing basketball March 2014. Eventually my foot healed but it never felt 'quite' right after the first year. There was pain in the dorsiflexion motion but could walk/run without a limp + discomfort when playing basketball for too long. My explosiveness on the court seemed to be wading also and that's when I knew something had to give.  Went to an orthopedic surgeon...got xrays, MRI, and ultrasound on my foot...let's just say the damage was somewhat extensive!

Basically I had a completely torn ATFL, a tarsal coalition, bone spurs, and you guessed it..OCD of the talus. Since it had been so long since the injury and we pretty much tried conservative options..doc said he can go in and fix all of it or I can just live with it. The procedure would be part arthroscopic/open. He'd clean the extra debris floating around + shave down the spurs while repairing the torn ligament and filling the hole in my cartilage. He basically poked a bunch of holes in it and let the (low) blood flow start and then put diced up pieces of cadaver tissue in to replace it to hopefully promote healing. I opted for surgery back in March 2017 and wanted to let you guys know where I am at.

Let me start off saying I would consider my surgery a success. The pain that I had pre surgery is completely 100% gone and that was a big concern of mine. I was 8 weeks NWB and went through PT for about 8 weeks. I started playing basketball again 5v5 in July 2017 (4 months post) with the OK from surgeon + therapist. Of course I was a little sore getting back into it but that was expected and every month I had significant improvements.

The only issue now is my dorsiflexion...I'm still somewhat limited there. When I do a knee to wall test, I cant get my knee past my toes...not even close. I stretch my calf for a little bit and work the motion and after about 5 minutes I can successfully go knee to wall with not too much resistance. If I sit down in about 5-10 minutes my ankle will stiffen right back up. I've expressed this to my doctor and for whatever reason he doesn't seem too concerned and just says keep stretching it everyday....sometimes it just takes people longer to get that back. It's just a little discouraging as it feels I'm not making much progress in that area especially being almost a year out.

Other than that I can pretty much run walk climb whatever for as long as I want with (slight) soreness the next day but it isn't enough to cause any limp or stop myself from play if I REALLY wanted to on back to back days.

The only question I have for everyone is how long did it take for dorsiflexion to return? Do you think that is lacking from the OCD repair? Feel free to ask me anything as well because I'm sure I left something out!

Offline ocdnetadmin

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2018, 12:10:22 PM »
I'm so jealous (and happy) for you that you can play ball again without pain!

Maybe try not to overdo it.. let the ankle heal the day after for a few days until you get back to the courts.

I don't know anything about dorsiflexion.. maybe someone else can chime in, sorry. But i'm happy to hear that you're almost back to full strength. Thanks for sharing your story.

Offline clipsky

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2018, 09:26:40 AM »
I had an allograft about 5 years ago, and my dorsoflexion was terrible for a while and eventually it did get better, but I had to stretch the heck out of it, every day, multiple times a day. And that was the key. Don't give up, you'll get there. It won't be comfortable, but you should get your range back.  Mine did stiffen up a lot too, and I'm guessing it's normal.
I did need a second clean-out surgery (for scar tissue) about a year and a half later, but that was because of pain, and not due to stiffness. 

Offline Dunkerguy89

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2018, 04:31:57 PM »
Just wanted to give a quick update!

March 2018 I went in for my 1 year check up. Everything looked good but I told my surgeon about my concerns with my dorsiflexion. He recommended doing a CT scan for spurs but said sometimes it just takes longer for people to get range back (if they do). I told him I'd hold off a little since I was in the process of switching jobs but would contact him over the summer.

So finally I had enough and saw virtually no changes to my dorsiflexion. I got the CT order from him, did the scan, and went over the results with him about a week ago.

A few of my bone spurs returned on my Talus and Tibia literally clashing against one another when I try to squat. It made complete sense why I couldn't bend...especially since one of them looked to be a decent size. Said ODC repair looked fine from what he could see too (whew)

He started moving my foot around and pressed his thumb in a very specific spot on my ankle while I simultaneously yelped in pain. His response was, "oh btw there's a spur there" gee.....thanks doc  ::).

He warned me back in March that if there are spurs and I still have the "blocking" feeling the only way he could fix it is to go back in. I told him I had a few months to mentally prepare for a 2nd surgery and did not hesitate to schedule it for September.

This time around he said he'd probably go in through the middle...make a vertical (3in or so) incision and remove the spurs and clean up the scar tissue. He said he cant guarantee much improvement but he'll clean it out and test out how many degrees he can get back when I'm still knocked out...even though I'll probably lose some of that when the dust settles.

My recovery will be MUCH different this go around....5 days NWB (removes stiches on day 5), then walking boot (wants to order a dynasplint to force my ankle to stay in dorsiflexion position to prevent stiffening), start PT around week 2 or 3 and return to normal activities somewhere between 4-6ish weeks.

I'm very excited and anticipate this procedure going well as those spurs seem to be the main issue for my lack of dorsiflexion. I'm still young so will be very aggressive in my PT because I do NOT need it to get stiff again (which I honestly think was caused by the 8 week NWB for the first surgery). Will update later this year on my progress!

Offline Crews

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2018, 10:16:23 AM »
Hey Dunkerguy89, I am a 25 year old ahlete with an ocd in my ankle also. Amazing to see how your weight loss pills use and first surgery went. Hope you are recovering well in your second. I was wondering what surgeon you used?

Good luck with the second procedure, Dunkerguy. I'm sure it'll go well. You seem to be on top of this, judging by your posts! Looking forward to your update in a few months.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2023, 04:24:34 AM by Crews »

Offline MmaFighter145

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2018, 03:52:26 AM »
Hey Dunkerguy89, I am a 25 year old ahlete with an ocd in my ankle also. Amazing to see how your first surgery went. Hope you are recovering well in your second. I was wondering what surgeon you used?

Offline LewisLac

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2019, 12:53:25 PM »
I feel like I'm in the beginning stages of what you went through, Bustersmaid. I'm just unsure of how to proceed. I just know I can't ignore it anymore.

Offline Bustersmaid

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Re: OCD Surgery - 10 months
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2019, 04:49:13 PM »
You got it sorted quickly. I was a fool and left mine so long that subtalar fusion is my only option. I'm.aure that because you've been sensible you'll do allot better than me. And the fact you aren't ignoring it and you've got your surgeon doing everything he can means you'll have much better results.
If I'm honest. My surgeon didn't have much experience with this type of injury. And I think he was only looking at the cyst rather than the OCD. He couldn't even tell me what size it is.
So I expect when I see him in a few weeks to go over the surgery he will be telling me everything else that's been found by his peers. Keep going. It sounds like you are in safe hands . Best of luck mate :)