My OH had the surgery last year when he was 31 after trying all sorts of contraptions.
They declined the surgery, first of all, saying he was too young and he just needed to do less (my OH runs many times a week, cycles, and works out at the gym 7 days a week – all because he was a VERY fat teenager and he never wishes to return to that again) The x-ray was horrific, his actual foot looked to have splayed out much more than other foot.
In the end, we got the funding on mental health grounds as he couldn’t do all the exercise that kept him sane due to excruciating pain, and has 2 rods in his foot now.
He recovered well, was back in the gym in his boot within 48 hours doing non-impact stuff and went swimming as soon as the wound healed to help build it up. He’s now faster and fitter than ever – it’s worth going to the Drs and looking at surgery!