Clinical and social status following injury to the lateral ligaments of the ankle. Follow-up of 144 patients treated conservatively

Abstract

Out of 174 patients treated conservatively for injuries to the lateral ligaments of the ankle 144 were seen at follow-up after 3.1--6.1 years (mean 4.2 years), and clinical as well as social sequelae were recorded. The diagnostic criterion was a difference in talar tilt of 6 or more degrees between the injured and uninjured foot on inversion stress radiographs. Occupational and athletic injuries, almost equally represented, made up a total of 64 per cent. Residual symptoms were present in 21 per cent, mainly in the form of functional instability, but only four patients (3 per cent) reported daily complaints. One patient had developed reflex dystrophy, and this was the only patient who had been referred for further orthopaedic treatment. There was a close correlation between pain on movement in the ankle joint and residual symptoms which were, incidentally, unrelated to the degree of primary talar tilt. All the patients seen at follow-up had normal range of movement in the talocrural and subtalar joints. Two patients with residual symptoms had stopped working, while in the others the working ability was unaffected. The period off work had been twice as long for patients having heavy and fairly heavy work as for those doing light work. All football players with residual symptoms had had to give up playing, but only a few had daily complaints. This indicates that some symptom-free patients have in fact latent symptoms, elicited only by fairly severe strain.