Ankle Sprains & Foot injuries are a common occurrence that can result while playing your favourite sport or maybe from a fall you experienced climbing down a flight of steps. It may also result passively on account of inherent foot deformities and unwanted foot and ankle pain.
Torn or injured ankle ligaments can cause a lot of discomfort and pain given that foot and ankle bear weight of our body.
In such situations, experienced Foot and Ankle Specialists are the best persons equipped to prescribe the right treatment. Sometimes one can get away with rest and change of habits, or with non-invasive therapies. And at times it may need Ankle Ligament Surgery to correct the issue.
So, in this post we’ll touch more upon Ankle Ligament Surgery, its Pros & Cons and the alternatives. Read on…
What do Ankle Ligament Procedures entail?
Surgery is what your physician will do to help repair a torn ligament due to an injury to the ankle area. This is used to help treat your ankle when you’ve had a serious sprain or if you’ve had instability in the ankle due to an injury.
Ankle ligaments that are most commonly injured are the ones on the outside. They are Ateral calcaneofibular, anterior and posterior talofibular, and the anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments. Ankle ligament procedures may involve repair/reconstruction or by drilling small holes in the bones and rerouting the tendons to take the place of the ligaments. But the complexity of procedure really depends on the seriousness of the ligament tear
Common Ankle Ligament Surgeries
Lateral Ankle Ligament Reconstruction
Also known as the Brostrom procedure, this is where the physician will repair one or more of your ligaments in the ankle. It is because you’ve had multiple sprains in your ankle, your ankle has become weak over time due to injury, or there may be a defect in the ankle area that this can help to correct.
If you’ve dealt with problems such as hindfoot Varus, midfoot cavus, or a disease such as Ehlers-Danlos where your ligaments are very loose, this is the surgery that can help you to get some stability back in your ankles. There are some risks involved but you should consult with your physician on your personal risks.
The procedure will involve you being put under general anesthesia or just some local anesthesia depending on the severity of the surgery. The surgeon makes a small incision and uses instruments to carry out the procedure if the surgery is a minimally invasive one. In some situations, the doctor will need to make a longer incision for severe cases.
The Foot/Ankle Surgeon may either shorten your ligaments, remove them, and attach your ankle differently (re-route) to help give it stability, or do other constructive means to help give the ankle the strength it needs. Harvesting a tendon to replace your damaged ligament is generally involved in such procedures
Peroneus Brevis Tendon Rerouting / Loop / Split
In Rerouting procedure, the tendon is transected above the ankle, rerouted in a distal-to-proximal direction through a surgically created tunnel in the fibula, and then reattached at the initial transection site.
In Loop Procedure the tendon is transected above the ankle and rerouted through the fibula but is not reattached at the initial transection site
In Split Procedure the tendon is split longitudinally, with half of the tendon separated proximally from the intact peroneus brevis muscle-tendon unit followed by rerouting.
Conclusion
Surgeries & procedure such as ligament reconstruction, tendon rerouting or splitting can assist you in getting back on your feet. Once you’ve gone through the rest period of about six weeks after surgery, you can start to bear weight on your ankle and getting back to life.
The Foot and Ankle Specialists at the Singapore Sports & Orthopaedic Clinic supported by a qualified medical team have helped patients with treated and recovery from Ankle Ligament conditions. Book your appointment today and be on the path to good health and active life again.
