Left Page: Rating Total Ankle Replacement

Abstract

Abstract Total ankle replacement (TAR), also known as total ankle arthroplasty, has been used since the early 1970s, but, because of improvements in both techniques and materials, the procedure is used more frequently, and examiners are asked to rate permanent impairment resulting from TAR. The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, (AMA Guides) is silent about rating ankle impairment following arthroplasty but does provide a two-step method to rate the results of total hip and knee replacements. Using tables in the AMA Guides, examiners can rate disability associated with TAR. To provide a standard method for reporting the clinical status of the ankle and foot, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) published rating scales for four anatomic regions, one of which (the ankle-hindfoot scale), can be used to rate the clinical status of ankle, subtalar, talonavicular, and calcaneocuboid joints before and after treatment. The AOFAS scale includes neither patient satisfaction nor many other functional, physical, and radiographic findings, and the AOFAS ankle-hindfoot scale is not and never was intended to be comprehensive. Examiners can follow the same procedures for rating hip and knee replacements, substituting the AOFAS scale for rating clinical outcomes. [Two Quick References in this issue of The Guides Newsletter provide tables and figures relevant to rating upper extremity sensory and motor deficits and to measuring impairments of the hand and digits.]