Clinical Resource: What is a Total Ankle Replacement?

One of the most rewarding surgeries that we perform here at UAMS is a total ankle arthroplasty similar to a hip replacement or  a knee replacement. This is where we go in and actually remove both sides of the joint  and put an artificial joint back where the original ankle was. Often times this is in older patients but as our indications for this surgery have expanded a lot of younger patients are also  achieving excellent outcomes with this surgery. As opposed to hip and knee replacements a lot of times people who have or who need an ankle replacement need that surgery because of a  previous trauma whether that’s a fracture in the past it was either treated with surgery  or no surgery or somebody who has had recurrent ankle sprains and the wear and tear has worn the cartilage out in their ankle. Total ankle arthroplasty is typically performed as either an outpatient procedure or as a one night observation hospital stay. Quite a bit of planning goes into  an ankle replacement. For the majority of our patients before surgery we obtain a CT scan and we have specific cutting guides that are made for your bone so that during the surgery we know what  size implants we already are planning to use and also makes our cuts much more accurate and really  improves our outcomes. The recovery time can be a little bit specific to each patient. For the most  part the first four to six weeks are spent in a cast non-weight bearing so that’s either using  crutches or a knee scooter or a walker. Usually at the month to six we postoperative point we place patients in a walking boot and have them start bearing weight. Often times physical therapy or at least prolonged physical therapy really isn’t required and the walking motion itself  is all the therapy that people need.