LONG-TERM FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME AFTER PRIMARY REPAIR OF THE LATERAL LIGAMENTS OF THE ANKLE

We retrospectively reexamined a total of 100 patients 6 to 8 years aft er primary repair of ruptured lateral ligaments of the ankle. Fifty-ni ne percent of the injuries had occurred in sports; the other main caus es of the injuries were accidents at work (12%), in traffic (10%), and at home (4%), Almost two-thirds of the sports injuries were sustained in volleyball, The most common type of injury was a combined rupture of the anterior talofibular and the calcaneofibular ligaments (66 pati ents). According to subjective assessment, 74 patients had excellent o r good results, For the anterior drawer sign test, 75 patients showed no sign of instability in their injured ankles. The scores in our perf ormance test protocol of ankle injuries were classified as excellent o r good in 65 patients, fair in 27 patients, and poor in 8 patients, Th e overall long-term results were acceptable in the majority of the pat ients. Prospective, randomized studies are needed to clarify if nonope rative treatment (i.e., early controlled mobilization) would give simi lar long-term results.