Ankle injuries are incredibly common. In fact, 25,000 people sprain their ankle every day in the United States, and over one million people visit the emergency room each year for some type of ankle injury.
While ankle sprains, strains, and fractures are often thought of as sports-related injuries, walking on uneven surfaces can be enough to force your ankle into an awkward position and subsequently injure it.
Despite their commonality, you may still wonder: Does your injured ankle require conservative treatment or something more aggressive, like surgery, to help it heal properly?
Since this is a commonly asked question, our team, led by podiatry experts Matthew Hinderland, DPM, Jordan Cameron, DPM, Trevor Whiting, DPM, and Shane Sato, DPM, at Foot and Ankle Institute of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Colorado, seeks to answer that question in this month’s blog.
Before examining treatment options and qualifications for surgery, it’s helpful to better understand the different types of ankle injuries.
The type of ankle injury you have is defined by the part of your ankle that’s damaged. Your ankle is made of three bones held together and stabilized by fibrous bands of tissue called ligaments. Tendons connect bones to your muscles to allow proper foot and ankle movement.
If you break any of the three bones in your ankle, it’s called a fracture. When any of your ankle ligaments are stretched too far or torn, that’s referred to as an ankle sprain. If you incur a strain, it means that any of the muscles or tendons in your ankle have become inflamed and damaged due to an acute injury or long-term overuse.
Any of these injuries can range from mild-to-severe, depending on how much damage the bone, ligament, muscle, or tendon incurs.
Surgery is rarely the first treatment used for an injured ankle.
When you visit our team for ankle injury assessment, your provider performs a physical exam of your ankle, discusses your symptoms, and does any necessary imaging testing to gather more information about the location and severity of your injury.
Most of the time, mild-to-moderate ankle injuries, including sprains, strains, and fractures, respond well to rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE method). You may need to wear a brace or splint for several weeks and undergo physical therapy to make sure you regain strength and mobility.
However, if your provider determines that your ankle has significant damage, or if your injury doesn’t respond well to the first lines of treatment, surgery becomes the best next step for you to regain full ankle use.
If you have chronic ankle instability, a severe ankle injury, or prolonged ankle pain and mobility issues after undergoing injury treatment, reach out to our team to learn if surgery is the right next step for you.
Our team can sit down with you to discuss the wide variety of surgical options so you can choose the right one for your particular injury, taking into account your activity level and ability to recover.
To schedule a surgery consultation, simply call our office, or use our convenient online booking feature today.
