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If you have mild or moderate arthritis, your healthcare provider will likely recommend other treatments, such as pain medicines, special shoe and foot inserts, physical therapy, or corticosteroid injections. If you still have severe symptoms that interfere with your daily activities, your healthcare provider may recommend ankle replacement or another surgical procedure.
The ankle joint (tibiotalar joint) is where your shinbone (tibia) rests on top of a bone of your foot, the talus. Over time, due to arthritis, the smooth cartilage on the surface of the bones wears away. This can result in pain, inflammation, and swelling of your joint.
During a total ankle replacement procedure the surgeon makes an incision through the skin and muscle of the ankle in order to remove the damaged portions of the shinbone and talus. Next, the surgeon attaches the new metal joint surfaces into the pieces of the remaining bones and inserts a piece of plastic between the new metal joint spaces, so they can glide easily against each other.
Raymond Kilbourn was used to living an active lifestyle. If he wasn’t on the lake fishing you could find him playing a round of 18 on the golf course. However, after suffering an ankle injury, he was forced to put his favorite past time on hold. Read more..