Hi all! I had a trimal with dislocation of my right ankle back in September 2025 and had subsequent ORIF. I had been having clicking/catching/pain in one spot on the medial ankle, pain with loading weight in dorsiflexion and stopped making progress in PT. About 2 weeks ago (~7 months from initial ORIF), I had ankle arthroscopic debridement and removal of my 2 medial screws. My surgeon found a small cartilage defect on the medial talus (exactly where I was having all my pain!!) and elected to microfracture it. He thinks I’ll have a lot of improvement given what he found and what he was able to clean up. I was under the impression pre surgery that I would be weight bearing immediately after but because I had to get microfracture of that defect, I’ve now been NWB for the past 2 weeks in a splint. I’m going back to my surgeon in 2 days to have the splint removed, sutures out and transition back into the boot to weight bear as tolerated.
Before arthroscopy/partial HWR, I was walking with virtually no limp except for after long days/lots of activity at the end of the night. I’m wondering if anyone has had similar experience with having to have microfracture with arthroscopy and what your return to normal life was like? How long did it take for you to transition from the boot back into a sneaker or get back to at least pre arthroscopy function? Anyone with any similar experience, I’d love to hear from you!!!