Hi, this might be a long story, so apologise in advance. I have a case of anterior ankle impingement. I have had a large number of ankle sprains and injuries over the years, and can't get me knee more than 1cm past my knee during weight bearing dorsiflexion. Seen a few phsios , and after it started getting "grindy " in the morning i finally saw a specialist. Mri revealed a few bone spurs at the anterior ankle, and lateral ligaments very loose. Arthroscopic and a ligament tightening procedure performed. I'm just over three months post op and still get impingement, with no improvement at all, but I now get medial ankle pain as well! So, it seems that surgery wasn't the answer in this case. So, has anyone else had ankle impingement and successfully overcome it?
The ankle is a very touchy joint.. I broke my ankle in 4 places two years ago.. had surgery and whenever I try to get in a little extra strenuous exercise, the ankle gets more and more painful.. I went in 2 weeks ago to get it evaluated after I felt something pull and then pop while doing a light run.. well, turns out that I have bone spurs where the ankle joint joins into the leg. I was told I had 3 options, one was a steroid shot into the joint, the other two were surgical based where the orthopod would go in and grind the bone spurs down and if it continued, another surgery would be needed to grind down the bone even more and the surgical removal of some of the metal supporting the ankle.. I was also told that I needed to wear an ankle support on a full time basis now.. that really limits the flexibility as arthritis is effecting the range of motion
I am sorry to read about your ankle sprains and injuries. All this is so troublesome. I broke my ankle two years back and got all possible treatments but there were no results. Then my friend suggested visiting a local acupuncture clinic for the acupuncture therapy. It really worked. So I suggest you too to try that.
Have another two weeks till I see my surgeon. I might try the acupuncture after I see the surgeon. It's such a complicated joint! I'm having trouble finding much info on the tendons around the medial malleolus as that's where I feel the "pinch" when I do a lunge type of move.
I have, since the above posts, been to a second physiotherapist. He has given me some new exercises, one of particular note is the lunge test/stretch. He has advised me that due to the immobility of the joint, the talus has become stuck.....it needs to glide backwards apparently. So he has given me a band to place around my lower ankle, and pull my ankle backwards as I lunge forward. It has helped immensely!! I have also had my regular physio do joint mobilisation techniques as well, and have seen some great improvement. Still a long way to go, but I can see improvement finally!