Question
In ’93 I shattered my ankle and had a plate and 7 screws put in, then in ’03 I had 4 spurs and 2 bone chips removed. The ankle never went back to normal size, after the first surgery. After the second surgery the dr. told me that it was bone on bone, and now I am having problems with my knee and the pain can be made barely tolerable.I am asumming that the problem with the knee is due to not being able to walk correctly because of the ankle. Has there been any impovements on the replacements in the last few years? If you have one repacement done about what is the life of it and can another been done in later years? I am a machinst and work on my feet on concret all day. Will this shorten the life of the ankle? And what is the recovery time before I can return to work?
Answer
Ankle replacements have been improving over the past few years but there is no doubt that your work puts increased stress on the ankle and will shorten its lifespan. I would defer your other questions to a specialist in foot and ankle surgery.
