SURGERY VERSUS FUNCTIONAL TREATMENT IN ANKLE LIGAMENT TEARS

A prospective study was performed to compare surgical treatment (prima ry repair plus early controlled mobilization) to functional treatment (early controlled mobilization alone) in severe (Grade III) lateral li gament injuries of the ankle, Thirty surgically treated patients were compared with 30 age, height, weight, gender, and sporting activity ma tched, functionally treated similar patients, In both treatment groups , all but 1 patient had a stable ankle at 9 months, Compared with the functional group, the range of motion of the ankle joint was restricte d in the surgical treatment group at 6 weeks but did normalize during the followup, The functional group showed no restrictions, A specific scoring scale developed for subjective and functional followup evaluat ion of an injured ankle also was used as an outcome criterion, Nine mo nths after the injury, excellent or good scores were achieved in 87 % of the functionally treated patients and 60 % of the surgically treate d patients, respectively, The results of this study indicated that ear ly mobilization gives better results than surgery plus mobilization in the treatment of the complete tears of the lateral ligaments of the a nkle.