Arthroscopic treatment of traumatic anterior bony ankle impingement

Abstract

Background Ankle impingement is a common orthopedic problem in sports athletes. It usually results from repetitive ankle sprains, which may lead to long-lasting pain, compromising the athlete’s performance. Impingement syndromes of the ankle involve either osseous or soft-tissue impingement and can be anterior, anterolateral, or posterior. Pain is typically provoked by dorsiflexion of the ankle and palpation of the tibiotalar anterior joint space. Objective The objective of the study was to evaluate the outcome of arthroscopic treatment of the anterior bony ankle impingement syndrome. Patients and methods Fifteen patients (12 men and three women), with a mean age of 37.7 years (27–52 years), who complained of chronic ankle pain and were diagnosed as having bony anterior impingement of the ankle, grades I–III lesions, due to a trauma, without therapeutic response to conservative therapy over 3 months, were treated by arthroscopic excision of the bony spur and debridement of the impingement tissues. The results were evaluated with the American Orthopedics Foot and Ankle Society hindfoot score. The study was designed as a retrospective case series. Results At the end of follow-up, seven patients had excellent scores and were very satisfied with the results and six patients had good scores and were satisfied with the results; hence, about 86.7% had excellent or good results. Two patients had fair results, accounting for 13.3% of all patients; there were no poor results. Conclusion Arthroscopic resection of bony spurs, either tibial or talar, or both, after repeated ankle sprains was proven to be a reliable therapeutic approach for post-traumatic impingement syndrome of the ankle that does not respond to conservative treatment.