I’m looking for individuals who have gone through a subtalar joint Fusion . It’s a relatively new process as generally all three joints in the ankle are fused at the same time. Mine only needs to be fused in the subtalar . I’m curious to know how your life improved after the surgery. Did you have a lot of pain? Can you walk on uneven ground still (the subtalar joint main job is to move the foot on uneven ground)? How are your knees? How you developed arthritis in any other part of your foot due to the lack of movement in the subtalar? Can you run normally?
my background
I am a 33 year old athletic female . I run practice CrossFit, and practice Shaolin Kempo Karate. I have been in pain in my left ankle for knocking on 20 years. it wasn’t until I was 31 where it was discovered that I had a tarsal Coalition in my left foot. I went through tarsal Coalition surgery which ultimately failed as they bone grew back together. a recent MRI revealed that I have tendonosis and all the tendons in my left ankle and foot , plantar fasciitis , and degenerative arthritis . have so little cartilage left in the subtalar joint it’s almost not even visible on the MRI . So basically bone on bone which is really fun 
I tried all the other conservative I tried all the other conservative methods; cortisone shots to the Joint, Orthotics, myofascial release, physical therapy, and my recent Adventure is PRP injections to the joint and tendons. Those do seem to help the most, but they’re more of a Band-Aid because until the joint can move correctly all the tendons are going to be continuously stressed and the bone will keep hitting bone. Plus at $700 and injection every 3 to 6 weeks it’s not really a long-term option
Hi Sara,
Sorry to hear you having these issues. I, like you, had a tarsal coalition in both my left and right foot - which I removed at when I was in my twenties (2010 and 2012), as well as tarsal-tunnel releases. Those, like you, failed, despite months of physical therapy and injections. In 2014 had the subtalar fusion done on my left foot, then in 2016 had the subtala fusion done on my right foot.
My left foot so far is holding strong - minimal stiffness and pain - but occasional discomfort, especially when needing to bend on the lateral (left and right) - so, uneven ground, like the beach and whatnot give me issues. Recovery takes every bit of 12 months before you fully regain strength and mobility - and you must be vigilant to follow the rest - no weight bearing for the first 6 - 8 weeks while in your cast.
My right foot, as a result of the added stress added to the talonavicular joint, it failed, and am currently recovering from a talonavicular joint fusion.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Just know that depending on the condition of joints around your subtalar joint, you may, in time down the road, need another one.
Let me know if any questions.
Thank you so much for replying. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had such issues. its such a bummer when our bodies betray us. the beach sand is a concern for me as we live on the beach :/. Are you able to run at all on flat even surfaces?
To be honest, it’s difficult and painful to run, but, my right foot, had more issues than my left.
I’ve had custom orthotics made - and will need new ones with this latest fusion, but, being on my feet all day, or heavy activity, causes some struggles. I about died when I went to Disney World and walked all day.
I found for me, the best exercise, is cycling / stationary bike. The low impact really helps.
Now, you may respond better, because you only have one foot to correct, where as, I knew going in to it, I had to have both feet corrected - so, it’s been several years in the making.
Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Its a hard decision to make especially considering I will.have to most likely give up my favorite activities. but such is life.
best of luck on your journey
I think it depends on your overall Quality Of Life.
For me, even with the limitations I have now, are better than what I experienced before.
Sara:
I too am a martial artist. For the past 45 years I have been involved in judo and I am the owner of a local dojo. Unfortunately through my competitive Martial Arts experience, I have worn out both of my feet. I was recommended to have a subtalar and navicular fusion on my left ankle Before so doing I obtained a second, third, and fourth opinion. My surgery was in October 2017. Unfortunately, I have had a poor outcome including the development of poly neuropathy of my left lower leg, a broken screw and possible nonunion of one of the fusions. So, on the good side, my ankle no longer sprains on a monthly basis. On the bad side however, I live with daily pain and neuropathy which I’m currently treating with CBD oil (topically and sublingually). In so far as mobility, I must avoid soft surfaces and unstable surfaces still. I have not been able to return to the judo mat I realize that my outcome is not typical, however, I do want you to be aware that problems can and do happen with the surgery. I would be absolutely certain that you have no other options before undergoing the surgery.
Thank you for the reply. It is so good to hear from another martial artist. My heart and mind love the arts, my body does not. It isna bummer to know that my dreams and goals are being downgraded by my stubborn body. Ive decided to run my leg to the ground, in the name of passion. I will be living and loving my dojo for the next few months until I can no longer bear the pain, at which point I will have the fusion. at least I can go put knowing that I gave it all, just in case I cannot return.
I am sorry you’ve had such a bad experience. Look into PRP. I just had another series done on Monday. although I have zero cartilage left in the joint and my tendons are flaming pissed I am currently pain free. Its a constant thing, so short cuts but it does work.
Hi! I had subtalar fusion on my right ankle when I was 33. My history: I had had pain since I was 7 or 8, wore orthotics when I was young but continued to dance and be an active teenager. As an adult I got into hiking and backpacking, running a little. I was just living with the pain, stubborn and wanting to do everything. I even became a server, working on my feet. In my early 30s I decided it was getting too bad and went to an orthopedist. He diagnosed me with talocalcaneal coalition. It all made sense. I got the subtalar fusion as quickly as I could. I’m not going to lie, the surgery and recovery were brutal. I had to have the screws removed 6 months post surgery (and that wasn’t even the bad part). But ultimately it was successful and I’m back to my life as a server, backpacking and hiking, working out 5 times a week. I had the surgery 6 and a half years ago. My mobility is really good, I do everything I used to, but with less pain. Within the last month my heel has starting having a lot of pain and I jumped back on here trying to find if anyone else who has had a similar response to the surgery is having similar long term results. I thought maybe my information would be helpful to you, even though our medical history is pretty different. You may even have had the surgery by now! If so, I hope your healing is going well! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Meg
hi I hope you are well I am due to have a subtalar ankle fusion but I am terrified not been able to walk after surgery I am an active person and I have read after haveing both subtalar fused it causes pain when walking up hill and on beeches can anyone please advise if anyone has more information as I am only 31 and don’t want to end up in a wheel chair after 10 years thanks
Hopefully I can help. In January 2014 I fell from my attic 10 feet to the garage floor. I was 61 at the time. I had a non-displaced, comminuted intra-articular fracture of my left calcaneus. It changed my life. I had great doctors and they recommended against internal plate fixation initially. I was a runner and that ended that day. 15 months later I had a subtalar fusion. I am now 67, 6 years post surgery. I believe my surgery was successful. I am not close to my pre-injury condition, but I can walk 3-5 miles with minimum problems. I had a little nerve damage, so I have some numbness and tingling. I do have some balance problems in boats, on soft or uneven ground. It can be a little uncomfortable on hills or in sand. I’m glad I had the surgery. The arthritus was too painful. It is stiff and can swell a little if I push it. I worry about my compensating joints. I don’t want to go through this again, but I would recommend surgery if too painful for you . Good luck, Michael
Hopefully I can help. In January 2014 I fell from my attic 10 feet to the garage floor. I was 61 at the time. I had a non-displaced, comminuted intra-articular fracture of my left calcaneus. It changed my life. I had great doctors and they recommended against internal plate fixation initially. I was a runner and that ended that day. 15 months later I had a subtalar fusion. I am now 67, 6 years post surgery. I believe my surgery was successful. I am not close to my pre-injury condition, but I can walk 3-5 miles with minimum problems. I had a little nerve damage, so I have some numbness and tingling. I do have some balance problems in boats, on soft or uneven ground. It can be a little uncomfortable on hills or in sand. I’m glad I had the surgery. The arthritus was too painful. It is stiff and can swell a little if I push it. I worry about my compensating joints. I don’t want to go through this again, but I would recommend surgery if too painful for you . Good luck, Michael
Hopefully I can help. In January 2014 I fell from my attic 10 feet to the garage floor. I was 61 at the time. I had a non-displaced, comminuted intra-articular fracture of my left calcaneus. It changed my life. I had great doctors and they recommended against internal plate fixation initially. I was a runner and that ended that day. 15 months later I had a subtalar fusion. I am now 67, 6 years post surgery. I believe my surgery was successful. I am not close to my pre-injury condition, but I can walk 3-5 miles with minimum problems. I had a little nerve damage, so I have some numbness and tingling. I do have some balance problems in boats, on soft or uneven ground. It can be a little uncomfortable on hills or in sand. I’m glad I had the surgery. The arthritus was too painful. It is stiff and can swell a little if I push it. I worry about my compensating joints. I don’t want to go through this again, but I would recommend surgery if too painful for you . Good luck, Michael
Fractured my calcanium 18 months ago, no surgery but left with severe arthritic pain. Subtalar fusion carried out 3 months ago,8 weeks non weight bearing with foot elevated no swelling no pain. Last 4 weeks in aircast boot swelling and lots of pain, the pain is not arthritic but muscular/ tendon/ ligament?
I see consultant in two weeks .
From what iI can gather reading the forum this is normal progress and it can take 9 to 12 months to feel benefit, hopefully you are all correct.
The subtalar is not part of the ankle but the foot, so this would not be an ankle fusion. Have you had a fusion since posting this and, if so, what has been your prognosis so far?
I’d be very interested to hear your prognosis and how it’s been going?
Hello. I was in an accident in a race car with my son at the end of 2017. I suffered a broken left foot and left ankle, 2 ribs, and a broken neck at C2. neck fusion came first in April of 2018. my left foot and ankle had continued giving me serious issues. I was 50 at the time of the accident and had never broken a bone in my body so all this pain was new to me. getting up and walking after sleeping was like I was 95 years old for the 1st few min or after sitting for as little as 30 min. so I went and got x-rays and later an mri. there was a dime size chunk of bone the broke off and was sitting between 2 tendons so that was nice… but even worse was at my subtalar I was completely bone on bone. they said within 5 years it will become absolutely debilitating. there was a younger podiatrist in the office doing almost nothing but subtalar fusions and so made the appointment. so it sort of had to be done. surgery was right around Feb 2019. they gave me the cortizone shot to hold me over until the surgery. my scar I believe is on the opposite side since she had to remove the broken bone piece as well. I had the nerve block done before surgery so first few days after wasn’t bad. recovery though is just awful. absolutely no weight and for me it was 8 weeks because after xray she wanted 1 more week. I have wood floors in my house and had a few Wipeouts on the knee scooter so that was fun. crutches for another 8 weeks with the boot and slowly increasing weight bearing. after the boot removal and crutches were done there was still lots of swelling and stiffness. I mean there are 2 huge screws going in at your heel through the subtalar. for many many months there was lots of pain and stiffness and swelling when on my feet for a while. she also said my gait wouldn’t change just the uncomfortable feeling when on soft or uneven ground like sand. … um trust me that’s a lie. just stepping on the end of where the area rug meets the wood floor was like a sharp pain every time. more than anything… my gait has definitely changed. that roll like my right foot where the heel strikes 1st and then slightly the outside edge of my foot and then the foot just naturally rolls in… thats gone on the left foot. there is essentially zero movement side to side and zero rotation in the foot so my left foot just lands perfectly straight and flat. not really noticeable unless I look for it. also, during all that my right calf is much bigger than my left. so a lot of that happened from the 4 months of the scooter and crutches and times you will be hopping around on one foot… standing in the shower on one leg… and I think some is just from this new gait. with zero flex side to side its like a lot of the muscles from the normal roll transition my right foot gets… those muscles are no longer getting activated. it’s like screwing your foot down to a block of wood… once the bone is fused there is no more movement and for me it still heel strike put a perfectly flat straight transition through to the toes. tilting the foot fore and aft is about the same as my normal foot… just the left and right and tilt inside outside are just solid.
would I do it again… absolutely. there is no more inflammation or arthritis pain now that the joint is closed. I have some balance issues… stand on 1 foot and without thinking you are activating that subtalar joint subtlety transferring weight in different directions. when its locked up and fused and you stand on that leg no longer can you just roll your ankle around transferring weight to keep the balance… you have to use your body arms and such and it feels very uncomfortable if you try to roll that joint around because instead of your foot being flat you’re more using your knee area and putting your new Frankenstein foot on its edges instead of rolling the joint around. at least that’s my experience and way of trying to simply explain it. lol… but anyone having issues and lots of pain from arthritis and if the subtalar fusion is the proposed solution… I say some balance loss and discomfort is much better than the alternative. also recovery varies widely… when I was in PT they said I was leaps and bounds ahead of another patient who was 10 months post op and still completely swollen and unable to do much. i did a lot of hobbling around for a long time it seemed and I’d say at 2 years I’m feeling pretty good. lots of swelling up even at the 1 year mark after some long time on feet and discomfort on uneven surfaces was much more apparent at a year then at the 2 year… so even though you are fused… I believe it’s still a long long road. this was so much worse of a recovery than the broken neck and fused c2/c3 I will say that. hope this helps and I’m sure everyone’s experience is unique but this was mine.
Hi Sara,
I am 27 years old and have had subtalar fusions in both feet. I would love to share my journey with you and would have loved a community like this when i had my surgeries. I was diagnosed with the tarsal coalition when i was a few years old. The doctor and my parents decided not to do anything because it did not cause me any pain and it didnt make sense to break a childs feet. However, they did tell my parents that my feet would start bothering me once i was older and full weight bearing… they were correct.
I grew up as a dancer from age 4 through my young adult life. Dancing almost every day, competing, teaching, etc. It was my life. It wasnt until high school that my feet started having pain. The pain was primarily any time I was on my feet consecutively for more than a half hour. The pain was excrutiating and my feet would “lock up” from the swelling in the hind foot. I also was bone on bone with no cartilage in between to prevent rubbing.
When i started exploring the option of surgery, I first saw a surgeon that wanted to do the fusion. The surgery and recovery sounded so extensive that we looked for a second opinion. We found a surgeon who suggested a “resection” where they take cartilage and fill the space between the bones to provide cushion. Unfortuantley, after about 6 months of being back to weight bearing i was back to bone on bone. It was a waste of a surgery.
After some time i started the process again and decided to do the fusions. I will be honest…the surgeries and recovery process are not fun. It will feel like you made things so much worse and wont be able to see yourself walking again. But im here to tell you that the pain and life change of being non weight bearing for 12 weeks is temporary and will EVENTUALLY be a distant memory.
On a day to day basis I do not experience the same pain that i used to. I can walk for a significant amount of time without having pain during and for several days after. I have recently tried to start dancing again and i do not think my feet like the impact of jumping/twisting side to side. It is frustrating but i dont think it makes me question my decision to have the surgeries.
If you choose to go through with the surgeries, here are some of my top recomendations to get you through…
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Get a leg elevation pillow…it is a million times better than trying to stack pillows.
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Get a shower bench but wait to use it until after the two week bed rest once you start to get stronger.
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If you can, treat yourself to a hair blowout every two weeks. I would get so frustrated trying to wash my hair in the bathtub.
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Rent a knee scooter.
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Buy pads for your crutches.
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Once you get to the walking boot stage you might look into a shoe leveler. I had a lot of lower back pain from the uneven-ness of the walking boot.
I hope this helps and i would be happy to answer any questions you have. Hang in there!
All the best,
Kelsey
hi… I am going into 5 weeks post op. I have a few questions, please!
I was just moved from the cast to the boot. when I remove the boot for a short time during the day, several times a day… I move my foot just because it feels good, my question is am i hurting anything? I am still not weight bearing this just resting on sofa or bed.
my 2nd question is my toes tingle since the surgery, its not terrible but just asking if anyone has dealt with this?
I too am so happy i had the surgery and cant wait for the next several months to go by. The pain pre-surgery was getting to the point I could barely walk and the swelling was forever ongoing.
Thank you for any feedback that you are anyone else can give me!
Hi I was wondering if you got it done? what was your experience?