Hello @ankle1969. If I understand correctly from your other post, you fractured your ankle in 1969, so it's been many years since that happened, and now you are thinking about ankle replacement surgery? I fractured my ankle badly 2 years ago, and I'm hoping not to do further surgery on it, but my surgeon did tell me it was likely I would need an ankle replacement in my future. I am doing everything I can to prevent that. I did have the surgical fixation plates removed a year ago because of pain and chronic hives, and that helped a lot. How has your ankle injury affected your quality of life? I understand that you have pain.

My elderly mom went through ankle surgery to lengthen her Achilles tendon. Her foot had twisted and turned, so she could not put her foot flat on the ground or put weight on it. That was after a fracture of one of the long bones in her foot (and pelvis fracture) that happened from a fall, and because she was in pain, and unstable, she didn't walk, and that let the tendons shorten up. I took her for several opinions, one was to fuse the ankle joint, and the one she chose was to lengthen the Achilles and reposition some of the muscles on the foot itself to correct the deformity as much as possible. She wears Dr. Comfort shoes (for diabetics) that she got from her podiatrist, otherwise it hurts to put weight on her feet. She uses a wheelchair and doesn't walk, so it's just transferring to and from her chair. One thing to keep in mind is how not using an ankle leads to muscle atrophy, and it my mom's case another surgery. Physical therapy and stretching is very important in recovery. I stretch as much as I can and rotate my ankle around to reposition it. I do walk, and when my ankle is too fatigued for the day, I get off of it. Can you tell me what has led you to consider ankle replacement surgery?