The Recovery

During my fun filled trip in Montana, I had noticed that my ankle was hurting off and on more than usually. It had hurt before in previous months but it usually went away after a day or two. So disregarded it since it didn't bother me all the time. When I returned, the pain seemed constant so in mid June I went to see my doctor and he looked at it and thought I had athritis in my ankle and took an xray just in case. A few days later the fun began.....I had a osteochondral lesion of the talar dome.

Talar Dome Lesion

What is a Talar Dome Lesion?
The ankle joint is composed of the bottom of the tibia (shin) bone and the top of the talus (ankle) bone. The top of the talus is dome-shaped and is completely covered with cartilage—a tough, rubbery tissue that enables the ankle to move smoothly. A talar dome lesion is an injury to the cartilage and underlying bone of the talus within the ankle joint. It is also called an osteochondral defect (OCD) or osteochondral lesion of the talus (OLT). “Osteo” means bone and “chondral” refers to cartilage.
Talar dome lesions are usually caused by an injury, such as an ankle sprain. If the cartilage doesn’t heal properly following the injury, it softens and begins to break off. Sometimes a broken piece of the damaged cartilage and bone will “float” in the ankle.

Reference: 2010  |  American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS)



This is an x-ray of my injury. The defect is in about the same spot as the sketch above. If you look close, you will be able to see the lesion.

My ankle had began hurting so much I had to use a walking cast. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon to begin to plan the next steps to help fix this problem.

June, July, August, and the first couple weeks of September, I remained in a walking cast. My surgeon and I decided that surgery would be the best option for me. I was able during those months to get some outdoor activities in before my ankle wouldn't allow me.

September 13, 2010 I went for Surgery at the Willamette Surgery Center in Salem, OR
These are photos before Surgery

And these below are after surgery during the recovery process.

It's been over a month and I seem to be recovering very nicely. The swelling has gone down and I'm able to wear shoes on both feet now. I still have another month and a half on crutches before I am able to walk on both feet again.

I'm a little down because I am not able to do my winter activities this year like snowboarding or snow camping, but there is always next year. By spring I hope to in good enough shape to continue my love for the outdoors.