Ankle Arthroscopy testimonial

Jose is a patient of ours that was suffering from ankle pain for many years. He loved to play Basketball and ride his Felt road bike on the weekends. He had an ankle sprain 10 years ago and was told it’s not bad. But it never got better it always felt like a deep pain in his ankle and never felt right. He did not have instability. Now he is 30 years old and wants to be more active and just can’t survive on the court for more than 15 minutes without getting pain in his ankle.

cartilage defect

He came to my office and after a thorough physical exam and a digital gait exam and a digital x ray. We found the culprit on X ray, it was an osteochondral defect. The next move was an MRI. The ankle MRI showed a medial talar dome defect of 9mm in diameters which was unstable. Jose told me ” I have been to many doctors but you were the first to be able to figure out what was wrong with my ankle. Jose’s journey to a healthy ankle was just beginning.

Ankle Arthroscopy testimonial

Jose underwent an ankle arthroscopy. The procedure is done in an outpatient setting , meaning you go home that day. You are bought into the operating room and given a sedative to relax you. Then the anesthesiologist puts you to sleep. We use a special distraction technique to pull the ankle apart gently while letting the camera into the joint. In Jose’e case we put the camera in the joint and identified the defect in the cartilage. The bad cartilage was removed with special instruments and a donor cartilage graft was put in its place. we use two to three tiny poke hole incisions and they get one or two sutures a piece. After some physical therapy and a few weeks of letting the cartilage integrate Jose was back to light activities. Three months later he was able to do some moderate activities. and then one month after that he was back on the court .

Jose wrote to me in an email ” Dear Dr Wrotslavsky Thank you for helping me in getting my ankle better. This is the first time in years I am pain free in my ankle. Just the other day i was able to play basketball for an hour without any pain , I am grateful for your work. “