What is an ankle sprain (ankle instability)?

An ankle sprain is an injury to the bands of tissue (ligaments) that surround and connect the bones in the ankle joint. Ankle sprains can happen to anyone at any age. The injury typically happens when you accidentally twist or roll your foot inward. They can occur while participating in sports, or just walking on uneven surfaces. This can cause the ligaments that hold your ankle bones to stretch or tear.

All ligaments have a specific range of motion and boundaries that allow them to keep the joints stabilized. When ligaments surrounding the ankle are pushed past these boundaries, it causes a sprain (stretch) and possible tear of the ligaments. Sprained ankles most commonly involve injuries to the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. It can take several weeks or months of protected mobilization (crutches or bracing) for a sprained ankle to heal completely. Ankle instability is a debilitating condition including persistent sprains, pain and repeated instances of giving way.

What are the symptoms of an ankle sprain?

Treating an ankle sprain properly is important to promote recovery and to help prevent further reoccurring instability or secondary injury. Your doctor may recommend you to stay off of your injured ankle until the pain subsides. This can lead to considerable time off sports and daily activities.

Once you can stand on your ankle again, your doctor may prescribe some sort of physical therapy to strengthen your muscles and ligaments and increase your flexibility, balance and coordination. Later, you may resume regular activities with your ankle taped or in a supportive ankle brace. Roughly 20% of ankle sprains lead to surgical intervention.

Some swelling or bruising can occur as a result of these tears. You may also feel pain or discomfort at the injured area when you place your weight on it. The ankle area is usually tender to the touch and hurts to move it. Some skin discoloration can be noticeable.

How is an ankle sprain treated?

Surgery is recommended and may be performed when the damage to the ligaments is severe or when the injury doesn’t improve with nonsurgical treatment. This decision can be made based on patient history of past sprains.

Surgical goals include restoring normal anatomy and ligament length and strength before injury. Doctors commonly use suture anchors to tie down the repaired ligaments to the ankle bones (talus and fibula). InternalBrace ligament augmentation, an innovative advancement to this treatment, is now commonly incorporated to the procedure and provides time of surgery strength and expedites the recovery process.1,2 The InternalBrace construct acts like an internal seat belt over the ligament to help prevent excess range of motion during the healing phase of the ligament and may reduce the chances of a secondary injury to that same ankle, similar to how a seat belt acts in a car.

References: 1. Veins NA, Wijdicks CA, Campbell KJ, LaPrade RF, Clanton TO. Anterior talofibular ligament ruptures, part 1: biomechanical comparison of augmented Brostrom repair techniques with the intact anterior talofibular ligament. Am J Sports Med. 2014;42(2):405-411. doi:10.1177/0363546513510141.

2. Watson TS, Lamour RJ. Open modified Broström ankle reconstruction with internal brace augmentation: a novel approach. Orthopedics Today. 2015;35(8):28.

To learn more about InternalBrace ligament augmentation surgery and other orthopedic

procedures, please visit our patient education website —

www.orthoillustrated.com.

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Ankle Ligament Surgery

Ankle Ligament Repair with InternalBrace™ Ligament Augmentation

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or other qualified medical professional on the use of these products. You should talk with your physician or healthcare provider for more information about your health condition, and whether Arthrex’s products might be appropriate for you. The surgeon who performs any surgical procedure is responsible for determining and utilizing

the appropriate techniques for surgical procedures on each individual patient. Arthrex recommends that surgeons be trained on the use of any particular product before using it in surgery. A surgeon mustalways rely on his or her own professional medical judgment when

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level and/or outcomes.