I smashed my talus into lots of pieces 3 years ago
after the first 18 months I had made some big gains, but was disappointed with the amount of pain and lack of range of use - the last 18 months have seen more gains and I am optimistic that things will get better. I fully expect to continue to make gains for another few years
at 18 months there were some really painful parts of the foot/ankle as you describe - they have got better - in particular the skin on the bottom of my foot took forever to get tough again
stuff that helped - all of this made it really hurt, sometimes for days, but it was worth - I managed not to make it worse
walking around the edge of a bouldering pad to get used to sideways twistyness
loads of hopping - at first in running shoes, later bare foot, eventually progressing to hopping on the ball of my foot
controlled jumping onto pads - I used the ladder on the kids' slide and worked my way up the rungs - I think impact helps with bone strengthening?
balancing on one foot without shoes - surprisingly hard on the weak foot
walking on rough/soft ground - start on flat grass in parks, progress to walking up to and down from the plantation
climbing definitely helps
adaptations..
wear (more) socks in climbing shoes
wear soft cheap trainers (Aldi and Lidl running shoes etc) for day to day wear- they squidge into the right shape for my mis-shaped heel
wear really soft shoes for approach walks - the flex in the front part of my foot helps to compensate for the limited side movement in the ankle - stiff shoes don't allow this
learn to land differently, if space allows I hit he floor with both feet and fall/roll sideways like a parachutist - with less space I plan for using my hands/arms to absorb some force
get used to the idea that after hammering the ankle/foot I will have to use co-codamol for a day or two
I'm sure I'll think of more stuff
