Do You Need Ankle Surgery?

ID-100215465If you injured your ankle, whether in a pickup game of soccer or the state football championship, we are here to help. In fact, most ankle injuries do not need surgery. Even if you rolled your ankle and sprained it, a simple brace or cast—as well as maybe a change in the shoes you wear—is all it will take to fix it.

However, there are situations where ankle surgery will be required to fully solve a problem. In these cases, surgery is seen as the last resort. So how can you avoid having ankle surgery?

Make Sure You Are Wearing the Right Shoe

Your ankle is heavily affected the footwear you use every day. First, if your foot is not getting enough support, your ankle will feel it more than any other part of your body. Second, if your foot is not properly secured and supported, it will be all the more likely that you will roll your ankle or get serious injured. If you are wearing the proper footwear for your foot and activity, you will drastically cut back on ankle injuries.

In many cases, even if improper footwear did not cause the accident, orthotics or a shoe change will be required for full healing—especially if surgery is involved.

What Situations Require Ankle Surgery?

As previously mentioned, the vast majority of ankle injuries can be resolved and healed without surgery. However, there are a few that will need some extra help.

For example, let’s say you are a high school football player. In a game, you find yourself running with the ball and suddenly you get tackled. However, the way the other players hit you, you find your self on the bottom of a 12-person dogpile—and your toes are completely touching your shin. Your ankle is completely shattered. Obviously, this is an example of when someone would need ankle surgery. In this case, it would be completely reconstructive and involve a lot of metal rods and screws.

While not all ankle surgeries are this extreme, this example demonstrates how easy it can be to repair the few injuries that get far enough for surgery.