The Basics of Ankle Arthritis

The conditions of ankle arthritis can be really painful since the entire body weight is on your lower extremiteis while walking.

Conservative treatment can involve NSAIDS, physical therapy, injection therapy and ankle braces. Surgeries involve ankle arthroscopy (scope), implants, ankle stabilization procedures and fusions. The treatments of ankle surgery are not always successful like knee and hip implants.

The configuration of the ankle joint is difficult to formulate. Also the surface area to weight ratio is a challenge to duplicate. The problem can be tackled by seeking advice from a foot surgeon. Presently the United States and for many years Europe has been using a remarkable technique for this problem. It is known as ankle arthrodiastasis.. The process simply distracts the ankle joints and regenerates the cartilage which decreases the pain.

Currently, various institutions are combining the above procedure with joint replacement therapy. The procedure of joint fluid replacement therapy is not yet currently FDA approved for use in the ankle joint, so the patient must be fully informed of such.

Family Foot and Leg Center in Naples has been doing this procedure with good success in patients between 80%-90% improvement in pain. This is a good substitute to ankle fusion, which is a permanent procedure in which the surgeon puts two bones together to act as one, taking away the painful joint.

In fact, rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of feet disorder. It is a degenerative disease of joints which involves the breakdown of cartilage. The symptoms are aching of feet and severe immobility in certain cases. It usually attacks the joints which render them to become weak and eventually prone to such dysfunctionality.