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Broke my talus bone (the one above your calcaneus) in 3 places and put a hairline crack in my calcaneus in January 2022. Thought it was just a horribly sprained ankle before finally getting a CT scan 4 months later that saw all the damage. Had surgery to repair my talus in May 2022. My doctor was very clear about one thing, my initial injury had sheared off the cartilage at the top of my calcaneus that separates it from the talus, and spending the next 4 months trying to recover on my own only did more damage to the cartilage in the subtalar joint. The surgery to repair my talus was successful, but my doctor was very clear that arthritis and lack of mobility in the subtalar joint was guaranteed. He said that I would need to get a another surgery to fuse the talus and calcaneus together, which would help with the pain, but I would not be able to roll my ankle anymore. He said it was a question of when, not if, and that it was up to me based on my quality of life and willingness to go through recovery again. I was no weight baring for 3 months, spent another 2 months in a boot, and have been walking in regular shoes and doing pt ever since. Between 7 and 11 months post surgery, I stopped noticing any real improvement. I'm at almost exactly a year post surgery, and it basically feels like I have a couple legos in my shoe, but between my talus and calcaneus, all the time. I can run, I can jump, I can ski, but it goes from uncomfortable, to painful, to extremely difficult to even walk on it, depending on how long I choose to let those legos grind up my bones. Right now I can hike about 1.5 to 2 miles on uneven terrain before I start limping, and if I ski for more than about 3 hours, I will be limping that night. I can usually do a full day of skiing pretty hard, but I always end up paying for it and limping for the next day and a half or so. I've had to completely quit skateboarding, but luckily the ski boot stabilizes that joint enough that I can still ski at about 80-90% of what I used to, I just have to plan to limp that night and the next day.
Everyone that wasn't a medical professional, and I mean everyone, told me that I just needed to be positive, do PT, that doctors are pessimistic, and I would be fine eventually. Most people in this lifestyle are young, and they are used to injuries always recovering eventually. Arthritis sounds made up when you are young. They'll point to injuries that they have had that took a year, or talk about how doctors are wrong sometimes, or they'll point to tanner halls injury, or talk about alternative medicine and all kinds of things. The fact is that my bones grind together now, and it fucking hurts. I have a pain tolerance, I spent time walking, working, and even skiing on my broken foot before I got surgery, but arthritis is a different kind of pain that I am not used to. I've had a second opinion from another surgeon, and literally everyone who has seen my diagnostic images says the same thing. The cartilage is gone, its not coming back, there is no space between the bones, and the pain will almost definitely not improve unless I get the subtalar fusion. I'm very nervous to have this next surgery, as it is irreversible, but I'm only 32, I'm too young to have to tell my friends that I can't go on a 5 mile hike with them due to arthritis. Both doctors that I have seen speak very highly of the subtalar fusion in terms of pain reduction, and that I already have almost no motion in that joint, so I won't be losing much by getting them fused. Hoping for the best, but this injury has also forced me to start to identify ways to be happy without high impact sports, which has been hard, but I do think its ultimately a good thing that everyone goes through eventually.
I'm telling you this not to be negative but to be realistic. Listen to your doctor. He literally opened your foot up and put it back together, he knows what kind of lasting damage there is. If he says that you will be able to ski, then you probably will. Write down a list of all the questions that you have for your doc before your next appointment, so that you don't forget. "Will I be able to ski hard, including impact and jumps? Will I have lasting issues with pain? How is the cartilage? What sports and exercises should I avoid, and which ones could be beneficial?" Questions like that go a long way. Every injury is different, you may make a full recovery, especially given how young you are, but the person with by far the most insight is your doctor. You need to be your own advocate and ask as many questions as you have, because anecdotal cases from the internet are nowhere near as reliable as an experienced surgeon, especially if he understands the sports and lifestyle that you are trying to get back to. Good luck, and I hope the best for you
