Surgery helped a lot. Right after, my leg pain got a lot better, however it has only recently disappeared almost completely. it still hurt really fucking bad for a while and it still flairs up when I do a lot of activity. A lot of walking/running will do the trick, as you just said for yourself. The reason I was rushed to surgery was because of that dead foot. There was a risk that it could become permanent. After the surgery my foot mobility came back and is now fine. I was also able to return to the gym without any/only a little pain. I don't deadlift anymore. I switched to trap/hex bar deadlift instead. I also squat without pain now which was not possible a few months ago.