Immediate weight-bearing post ankle ligament surgery may yield faster recovery vs. casting
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Immediate weight-bearing may offer benefits vs. casting for rehabilitation after ankle ligament surgery.
- Immediate weight-bearing with a hard brace was associated with a faster return to unsupported walking.
According to results published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, immediate weight-bearing after arthroscopic ankle ligament repair may yield faster return to walking compared with cast immobilization.
Yujie Zhao, RN, from the department of nursing at Huashan Hospital and Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and colleagues performed a randomized controlled trial with 88 adults (mean age, 30.26 years) who underwent arthroscopic anterior talofibular ligament repair for chronic ankle instability between August 2021 and December 2022.
Zhao and colleagues randomly assigned 44 patients to perform immediate weight-bearing activity with a hard brace on postoperative day 1. The remaining 44 patients were assigned to receive cast immobilization with no weight-bearing activity. The interventions were performed for 2 weeks, according to the researchers.
Postoperative outcome measures were assessed at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year and included American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society scores, Karlsson ankle functional scores, ankle range of motion (ROM) and time to return to unsupported walking, jogging, work and sports.
Overall, Zhao and colleagues found no significant differences between the groups in median AOFAS scores, Karlsson scores or ankle ROM at 3-month, 6-month and 1-year follow-ups.
They also found no significant differences between the immediate weight-bearing group vs. the casting group for time to return to work (median 52 days vs. 61 days), jogging (median 90 days vs. 97 days) or sports (median 155 days vs. 136 days). However, they found the immediate weight-bearing group returned to unsupported walking faster (median 15.5 days) vs. the casting group (median 26 days).
At final follow-up, Zhao and colleagues found 100% of the weight-bearing group and 95.1% of the casting group returned to work successfully; 97.6% of the weight-bearing group and 95.1% of the casting group returned to jogging; and 97.6% of the weight-bearing group and 88.9% of the casting group returned to sports.
“Given that casts often cause patient discomfort, disruptions in daily activities and complications such as thromboembolic events, neuromuscular deconditioning and chronic regional pain syndrome, immediate weight-bearing after arthroscopic ankle ligament repair is believed to be a more ideal postoperative rehabilitation option,” Zhao and colleagues wrote in the study.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts