Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability
Ankle sprains are the most common injury suffered by athletes. When an ankle sprain happens the ligaments that support the ankle are stretched or torn. Ligaments are bands of strong tissue that hold bones together keeping your joint stable. Most sprains happen by your foot rolling inward thus stretching the outside ligaments of your ankle.
The most common scenarios in sports are: cutting and pivoting movements, jumping and landing, uneven surfaces, and player to player contact. Runners will typically sprain their ankles when stepping on a curb or uneven surface. Basketball players sprain their ankles typically when coming down after jumping for a rebound. Tennis and pickleball players will twist their ankles during quick direction changes. Soccer players most frequently sprain their ankles while quickly changing directions or after stepping on another player's cleats.
The good news is most ankle sprains will heal well with the proper rehab protocol, and this is why it’s so important to visit your Sports medicine foot and ankle specialist. We can make sure that your Return to Play (RTP) is both the fastest and safest in order to reduce the chances of reinjury. Most sprains are treated successfully with bracing, splinting, rest, and physical therapy. Returning to sports too early with inappropriate rehabilitation will cause you to injure your ankle and can cause long term complications with instability greatly increasing your RTP. Each grade of ankle sprain has a check list of criteria that need to be satisfied in order to RTP the safest.
When to consider surgery?
Those who have frequent sprains or have failed to rehabilitate their ankle sprain appropriately may develop a condition known as Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability. Patients will often complain they have “weak ankles” or that their ankles are giving away. This condition leads to a very unstable ankle joint causing numerous ankle sprains during both sports and regular daily life activities. It can often lead also to chronic pain and discomfort with inability to perform sports activities at the level performed prior to injury.
When patients have failed extensive conservative measures, a surgical procedure known as a “Broström-Gould repair with augmentation” can help. During this operation your surgeon will reconstruct the ligaments on the outside of your ankle. New advancements in medicine have given us the option now to cut the time it used to take to initiate physical therapy and RTP in half by reinforcing the repaired ligament with a special strong flexible tape. This tape protects the ligament as it heals. Athletes can be expected to return to sports in 4-6 weeks sometimes.