Ankle Surgery Walkers

[brandielou]

Hi all!

I am new to the Fitbit community and so far love it but I was wondering if there were any ankle surgery recovery folks out there for advice on good shock absorbing shoes.  My ankle surgery was about 6 years ago but it involved, basically, an ankle replacement from a bone donor.  I had an injury called Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the talus.  I had what they called an "abnormal cyst" inside my bone (which in that one area left it hollow with a then piece of bone that my ankle joint would push against). The implantation is only done in extreme cases because of the loss and fragmentation of the cartilage (they try to save as much as possible and "stuff" it back between your talus bone and your ankle joint).

Needless to say, due to the sever pain upon recovery, most patients like myself never get back to where we were because you can't be as active in physical therapy as is really needed before the bone heals. Then you're stuck with constant pain trying to do therapy and you limited in what you can do. 

So I do have some fusion, cartilage loss, limited range of motion and scar tissue.  I have actually found Crocs are fairly good for shock absorption because I want to do 10,000+ steps a day because I'm completely healed (although with arthritis at 32).  Does anyone have experience with a great shoe for shock absorption?

[MarciM]

Hi @brandielou Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've had a quit a long road of recovery, so congratulations for sticking it with and continuing to push thru your pain. I'd like to make a recommendation for a daily wear shoe, All Birds these really are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. I just came back from vacation wear I walked 10-20 miles every day and wore these shoes. I had limited luggage, so was only able to bring 1 pair of shoes and these did the trick. I'm sure you will receive lots of recommendations for walking/running shoes, but I wanted to share these because I think having a great shoe you can wear all the time would be valuable to you. Best of luck!

[wmchapman]

Ankle issues are not uncommon when you first start 20-30k step days as your body is still carrying extra weight forward - yours sounds extreme, wow, what you must be going through to get moving again. Admire your determination.

I can't help with your specific condition since I have no medical knowledge or wisdom to offer; just experience getting through those first tough 6 weeks getting moving, not necessarily about cushioning, for me it was about support...got me through a 123 mile week and that first annoying 5 lbs.

This helped me @brandielou :

[brandielou]

Thank you so much, I will certainly look into that!  I've been torn on trying Vionic shoes because their flip flops feel so uncomfortable when I try them on - but then again I'm usually wearing Yellow Box so maybe that's how a good sole should feel

[brandielou]

Thank you!  When I got back on the work out wagon, I somehow developed Planter Fasciitis on my good foot LOL (doing leg presses I believe) but thankfully it went away about 6 month later.  These will probably be great!