What is Total Ankle Replacement?
A total ankle replacement is an artificial joint that resurfaces both sides of the ankle joint in order to relieve pain caused by arthritis and maintain range of motion of the ankle. The ankle joint connects the leg to the foot and is made up of a cartilage covered surface at the end of the tibia (or shin) bone which joins with a cartilage covered surface on the talus (or ankle) bone. A total ankle will replace the cartilage on these two surfaces with a metal on polyethylene “bearing” surface that are firmly attached to the bone. Motion between these two joint surfaces is what allows the up and down movement of the foot. When an ankle joint replacement is preformed it will only resurface the ankle joint itself and would not be expected to help arthritis pain that is coming from joints of the foot.
