Total Ankle Replacement

Osteoarthritis, post traumatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis are a few things that can weaken your ankle overtime and make movement more painful.  If you’re ankle has or is becoming arthritic, there is a solution that can maintain ankle movement. 

A Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement or STAR is a surgical procedure that Gulf South Foot & Ankle has adopted and is seeing patient success. This surgery is an alternative to ankle fusion surgery, another treatment for arthritis.  In an ankle fusion surgery the surgeon melds the bones of the joint into one element, whereas with a total ankle replacement hardware is inserted that aids the ankle to provide a more natural movement.

The total ankle replacement hardware was designed to make the ankle move naturally.  This surgery is intended to replace the parts of the ankle that are injured, arthritic, or painful.  The overall goal is to alleviate pain and increase the quality and strength of the ankle. The total ankle replacement surgery uses metal components to connect the talus bone of the upper foot and the tibia bone of the lower leg.  Between the metal components that have been added to the ankle there is a piece of surgical grade plastic that moves with your ankle and allows the bones to glide more organically.  

This surgery is designed to treat and replace painful and compromised ankle joints.  The pain could be caused by a number of things like post traumatic arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.  The ankle replacement’s main goal is to maintain movement in the ankle, whereas other options don’t have that ability and the ankle remains fixed in place.  Patients of this total ankle replacement state that pain started to alleviate in as short as 6 weeks and was virtually gone within the year.

To learn more about the STAR ankle replacement, click here.

You can view patient testimonials and get a better look at the STAR ankle replacement here.