Ankle Prosthesis

Ankle Prosthesis

Ankle Arthritis Symptoms?

Ankle joint arthritis is a discomfort that we often see in elderly patients, those with obesity problems, those who stay standing for a long time, and individuals who do heavy work. Ankle joint arthritis is a degenerative disease that progresses slowly over time and manifests itself with symptoms such as pain, swelling, limitation of movement and inability to give load to the foot, which causes the cartilage tissue between the joint bones to be damaged and the joint bones to contact each other and wear the bone surfaces.

In patients with ankle arthritis, walking distances shorten over time in direct proportion to the progression of arthritis and the patient inevitably switches to a more sedentary life.

For a definitive diagnosis, X-ray images show joint openings and in some cases it may be necessary to evaluate further with CT and MR images.

Causes of Ankle Calcification?

The most common cause is the wear and tear of the load-bearing joint cartilage tissue due to obesity and aging.

Rheumatoid arthritis is another cause of arthritis in the foot joint like all other joints.

Joint inflammations and bone marrow edema also start to damage the joint if not treated in time.

Trauma is another cause of joint calcification. Sprains, fractures in the ankle manifest themselves as calcification, especially in the joints after a while.

Ankle Calcification Treatments

There are 2 types of treatment for advanced ankle arthritis, the 1st of which is ankle prosthesis and the 2nd is ankle freezing (foot arthrodesis). The main difference between them is that in prosthesis, the patient does not lose the range of motion of the ankle, while in arthrodesis, the ankle is fixed.

Prosthesis treatments are treatments that are used as a last resort in advanced arthritis in the knee and hip, which have the possibility of long-term healing and are widely known when it comes to prosthesis, but unfortunately, this treatment is not sufficiently recognized because arthritis in the ankle is less common compared to the knee and hip.

Until recently, ankle arthrodesis (ankle freezing) was the first treatment method used in advanced ankle arthritis, but now this situation has started to remain in the second plan compared to ankle prosthesis.

The treatment to be applied in advanced arthritis of the ankle should be explained to the patient in detail with the pros and cons of all treatment options and the patient should be helped to make the decision himself.